the guru, part two

The whole guru thing doesn't really occupy a lot of my thoughts. It's more an abstract side issue and I'm happy just to reiterate that my current attitude towards gurus may be a point of personal karma. It's conditional and will change with karma and conditions. I'll probably have to deal with it in some lifetime and I'll leave it at that.

That's all good and well since as soon as one touches on the issue of the guru, it does get really murky really quickly. It gets into psychology. It gets into controversy. It gets into history and cultures clashing. Who needs it? I don't. But people do get into the guru thing and the attendant issues and possible messes.

For example, I've read that when you've accepted a guru, you give yourself completely over and never doubt their teachings or methods or authority nor the compassion and wisdom behind it. But one part of my current attitude towards the guru is that I tell myself I could never give up critical observation over any purported guru. It's something hard-wired into me that I don't believe in never questioning something right in front of me that seems wrong, even if it's a teaching or method by a guru who I've accepted as legitimate.

Even though I think my attitude is healthy, independent thinking, maybe it's actually a block, a karmic obscuration, a negative result of something in past lives that's essentially impeding progress on the path. An unwillingness to submit, an attachment to ego. *Me*. I think that's questionable. I think that sounds wrong. It's seeing the form of something and thinking it's one thing because of my adherence to my subjective view and interpretation when the substance is something completely different. That's actually not a bad point. It's just the tip of the iceberg how messy it gets.

This exact issue is part of the heart of the controversies regarding allegations of sexual abuse by Tibetan Vajrayana gurus that have started to be reported. The truth can be very tricky in these cases because of the multiple levels of perspectives and subjectivity, which includes the "secret" aspect of some of the teachings.

One bottom-line starting point for me considering the issue is to believe the accuser, although various layers of nuance may be forthcoming. There's a power dynamic involved and the person in power, the guru, doesn't get immediate benefit of the doubt. It's the guru who is responsible for having proper discernment who is ready for whichever teaching.

It is proper discernment that when effectively applied prevents sexual abuse scandals. If a scandal arises, it's the guru's failure to protect the teachings, practice and vows. On the other hand, if a guru explains himself adequately, then the burden may shift to whether there were circumstances regarding the student that the guru wasn't aware of and was mistaken or misled. The subjective harm might still remain, but there might be no criminal or improper intent.

That power dynamic is a very poor foundation for a guru-student relationship, and may be related to why I'm so averse to the guru idea. The student wants something and perceives the guru as someone who can offer it. In a near-best case scenario, a qualified guru does have it, but it may turn out to be a minefield of figuring out how to deliver it.

It really breaks my heart to hear of these abuses because they just shouldn't be happening. It breaks my heart because it violates one of the most sacred and beautiful (and misunderstood) aspects of tantra. It confounds me why it's happening. Is it the teachers' fault? Is it the students' misunderstanding?

One thing seems clear to me is that there must be an immediate moratorium on any purported practice that even remotely touches on sex between teacher and student. There's just too much room for misunderstanding and abuse in the current climate where Tibetan gurus in exile can gain rock star status (which wouldn't exist in Tibet) and western sensibilities aren't fully understood and westerners are cultural newbies and susceptible to abuse.

My understanding is that the Tibetan tantric tradition and practice developed over centuries and became a thing. But that thing is not something that can be plunged into the deep end of the west without controversy, conflict and misunderstanding. Personally I do think these teachers have lost their way, confused by how westerners reacted and responded to them. They are being overcome by emotions of pride and lust brought on by wealth, fame and power that wouldn't emerge in traditional Tibetan contexts. There would've been self-/community-imposed checks.

Those checks are needed now and need to come from the larger Buddhist community. I thought the same thing when I was outraged by Buddhists in Myanmar using their position to practice violence and hate towards Muslim Rohingyas. I was thrilled when the larger community actually did speak up in a widely-circulated letter condemning what Buddhist monks were doing in Myanmar. They didn't have any authority, I'm not sure what effect the letter had (apparently not a lot), but it was important to say something.

The Dalai Lama would be an appropriate person to call for a moratorium since Sogyal Rinpoche, who he considers a friend, was involved in a scandal and has stepped down from all official roles. The Dalai Lama did the right thing in declaring that Sogyal Rinpoche had been disgraced/disgraced himself, which coming from the Dalai Lama was tantamount to a complete loss of credibility and authority to teach and that he should go into extended retreat. Mind you, as far as I know, Sogyal Rinpoche has never accepted fault nor expressed realization of his error.

Mind you further, that doesn't mean that Sogyal Rinpoche's international bestseller "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" has lost all credibility and is worthless. My detachment from the guru concept includes not being disillusioned by his downfall. The teachings are not the guru. People who were inspired by the book should not confuse the disgraced Sogyal Rinpoche with what they found so inspiring from the book, which was something inside themselves all along.

Despite a moratorium (which actually would have to be secret, an internal memo, because publicly it would draw all sorts of unwanted and misunderstood attention) on all sexual contact between teacher and student in the name of tantric teachings, the principles could still be taught to students who are ripe for them. The practice should be stopped even with students who are ripe for them and instead the scandals must be confronted and the teachings should focus on why the practice is being temporarily stopped. The errors of the teachers accused of abuse must be explored and explained where they went wrong. And truth to tell, I don't think it's all that complicated. Just go back to the very beginning and take a refresher course of Theravada Buddhism and review all basic, Mahayana and Samaya vows. It doesn't take a zen master to not get involved in a sex abuse scandal.

I don't know if the recent reports of sexual abuse in the Tibetan Vajrayana community is an outcropping of the #metoo movement, but reversing the disempowerment of women, I hope, is a global movement and I wouldn't expect Buddhist institutions to be immune. If there are problems Buddhist institutions perpetuate, they must be confronted and rectified.