[Buddha-l] Jhanas in Mahayana & Tibetan

[Federico Andino]

>
>
> The ordination robes look 'traditional' but the ordination isn't.
>
> There is no support for ordained sangha and there is no personal
>
> spiritual direction from Kelsang Gyatso as would be customary
>
> elsewhere.
>
>
>
> Even the NKT themselves pertain to be a 'new tradition'!
>
>
>
> Kelsang Gyatso might be 'recognised' in person as a 'Geshe' although
>
> he has been expelled from Sera Je monastery, but in practice no other
>
> Tibetan group (apart from the two Shugden centres in Europe and US and
>
> the Chinese supported Shugden affiliates) accepts his initiations and
> ordination
>
> as fully valid.
>
>
> What would be your criteria for 'recogition' by other groups? At what
>
> point does a 'splinter' not become it's own 'school' if the original
> sources,
>
> systems and values are radically changed?
>
>
>
>
Dear Carol:
You raise some valid points, but let me argue them nonetheless.
 Far from me to defend the NKT, but still, it seems to me a little different
than what we are talking about.
For one thing, while the NKT shows all the symptoms of a cult, most of the
readings are quite easily found in other systems (Geshe Chekawa, Santideva,
etc).
I concur with you in the position that while the NKT may have started as a
splinter group, it has quite obviously separated from the mainstream Gelug;
in this case, the Shugden controversy is more of a red herring than
anything. Gangchen Rimpoché, for example, while creating his "World Peace"
movement has never ordained monks different that the Gelug. The Shar Gaden
monastery still studies the main Gelug curricula. Both are Shugden
supporters, but they remain a part of the Gelug tradition, at least in form.

In the NKT, the reliance on a new structure points to the fact than, yes,
they have become a "new buddhism movement" as Kay terms it. But my original
point is what Laclau would describe as a legitimation by origin; the need of
a strong leadership (a quasi-fascistic strongman) who rises as a champion of
the people against established institutions, whose only function is to
obscure the needs of the said people, disguising them as a dialog. In
Laclau´s terms, all populists movements tend to make reference to a golden
era, to build demarcation lines so they can marshal people and resources and
to create a polarization; a description that fits the NKT to a T, I would
say.

However, it remains the problem than the leader must come from the political
side of the people, or in buddhist terms, from a recognized tradition, to
fit the theory. In Kelsang Gyatso´s case, whatever his status now, once he
had the approval of the most powerful school in Tibetan Buddhism. That does
not happen usually with new systems; just like the GWV would have benefited
by some social proof in our society if its founder would have been, at some
point at least, a monk of ANY school of buddhism. We like social proof; only
in pentecostal and evangelist movements can a preacher gain respect out of
his charisma, regardless of his religious education and start a socially
accepted movement. Do you imagine a charismatic and enterprising young man
who created a new christianity out of his reading of the bible and after a
couple of years, gained acceptance by the Vatican? A new way of judaism, by
a young woman who hasn´t studied to be a Rabbi? Or perhaps a new tradition
of Islam by a lesbian matron?

However, in buddhist countries, the formation of new interpretations seems
to be, at least in the past, more flexible. Ra Lotsawa´s sorcery induced
conquest would seem like a bad case of Dungeons and Dragons in our
Christian-centric society. Shinran´s faith in Amida, at least in my opinion,
would have sounded very strange to the Sariputra that we know in the Pali
canon. And let´s not go into Lu Sheng-yen and the TRUE BUDDHA SCHOOL!

What I´m clumsily pointing at is that it seems to me that Buddhism, at least
in east asia, is more tolerant to the idea that, say, the pizza man who has
a pizza place two buildings down from my house can read, say, the
Samdhinirmocana and start a movement on how the buddha-nature of the
muzzarela its really covered by the kleshas of tomato sauce. If it is so in
east asia, why can´t it be here in what most people call the west, or even
here in Argentina, that most people call "that place of the Evita musical"?

Well, to be honest, I hope it can´t, because that man does make good pizzas.

Best regards

Federico

PS: Just rereading, a small disclaimer: I don´t, nor ever, have started a
new buddhist movement (I am part of the Palden Sakya tradition) but on
reflection, I would if it somehow would make the state supply me with
pizzas, beer and icecream daily.