[Buddha-l] modern buddhist teachers

[S.A. Feite]

On Jul 2, 2009, at 6:32 PM, jkirk wrote:

>>>
>>>
>> What about Sogyal Rche, Namkhai Norbu or Tartang Tulku?
>> It has been long since I've been in touch with their fans.
> Perhaps
>> Norbu is not a good candidate because he has become a lot more
>> traditional than he used to be.
>
>
> I would certainly include Namkhai Norbu not only because he was a
> professor at a western university, *but also because he's
> revealing terma cycles that are intended beings in the west.* If
> you agree with the idea that 'there are no enlightened people,
> only enlightened action(s)', you'd be hard-poised to find more
> skillful enlightened action in a teacher.
>
> Steve Feite
> ================
> Steve........
> "*but also because he's revealing terma cycles that are intended
> beings in the west.*"
>
> What's that?


Termas are visionary "treasures", in this case Buddhist teachings,  
intended specifically for a particular place and time but "revealed"  
much earlier. They are "re-revealed" by tertons, or  
"treasure"revealers", yogis with a specific level of realization and  
synchronicity.

Many termas are connected with the tantric Buddha Padmasambhava.  
Basically, he tapped into areas of consciousness, Buddha-dimensions  
(mandalas), that were not beneficial for his middle ages egregore,  
they were intended for later happenstances. So, he "concealed" various  
teachings, some at the physical level, some meant to be discovered at  
the level of various beings awakening--typically for some future yogi,  
at some particular time and place. A good example might the Tibetan  
medical formula Padma-25, which was a medical formula meant for the  
current era and certain cancers, but revealed centuries ago. The most  
famous terma is probably the Bardo Thodol, the so-called "Tibetan Book  
of the Dead". The termas I'm referring to are Dzogchen and Vajrayana  
sadhanas, intended specifically for westerners of this era. The nice  
thing about termas is because they're intended for a particular time,  
they're believed to give faster "results"--unlike "long lineage" or  
older teachings--which tend to become corrupted by over- 
intellectualisms, etc. and experientially less useful. So it's  
essentially a mechanism to prevent an Awakening-school ("Buddhism")  
from dying out, across sequential (consensus or historical) time.

Because of the potential for being faked, scholars (perhaps some on  
this list) and intellectuals are often leery of this system of  
teaching. Of course, it's historical fact that such things have been  
faked, particularly physical or "earth" terma.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terma_(Buddhism)

-Steve