I want to go back one more time to Douglas Todd's article, discussed in the last post, about the participants at Thich Nhat Hanh's Vancouver retreat. Todd shared some comments he had received from John H., who heard Thay speak. John H. wrote:
"We saw Thich Nhat Hanh on Sunday.... I think he has a lot to offer that I can benefit from.� At the same time, much of it also seems quite simplistic and I assumed that he was keeping the message simple for a large mass audience."
I've attended some mass-audience teachings by famous teachers, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and yes -- it was very simplistic, very basic.� Teachers present the dharma in a way that is appropriate for an audience, and when an audience contains many people who are new to Buddhism, then the presentation is going to be simple. Most of the time, I suspect, the same teacher will give a very different presentation to his own senior students.
"One thing I wondered listening to TNH is that every time I've heard a talk like this it's always been pretty much the same. Do practitioners like hearing it repeated a lot?"
Yes and no. It's often the case that teachings don't sink in until you are ready. Sometimes a passage from a sutra or teaching you've already heard several times suddenly lights up and reveals something you hadn't noticed before.
However, if the only dharma talks you ever hear are those delivered to a mass audience by a visiting teacher, there are vast depths of wonderful teaching you probably will never know. This is one of the advantages of working with a regular teacher; you can take time to explore many subtle facets of the dharma together.
However, those who go to a few talks and read a few books that all say about the same thing� may assume they've heard all there is to hear about Buddhism, when in fact they haven't yet skimmed the surface. I run into that a lot.
"One side of me couldn't help but query whether some people were on Aldous Huxley's soma -- it was as if the usual critical thinking and Western skepticism of things religious was shelved for awhile, and people were super nice and super smiley."
Listening to a great teacher can be very inspiring. There's something compelling about a skilled dharma talk even when one doesn't entirely understand it. However, without a foundation of sincere practice the effects of the talk will likely be temporary.
Some of the attendees of the Vancouver retreat were members of the Mindfulness Practice Community there. This is a community of people dedicated to practicing in Thay's tradition. So there was a foundation of practice for many who were there.
On the other hand -- I think people often go to see famous teachers because they are looking for an experience of spirituality or mysticism. And there's nothing wrong with that; it's how many of us begin our spiritual journeys. But there's a danger, I think, when people flit from this experience to that one without putting down roots in any one tradition.
I call this "spiritual tourism." It's very enjoyable, but it also tends to be superficial. The warm glow wears off, and then it's off to the box office for tickets to another famous teacher. Spiritual experiences can become something to give you a brief happiness fix, like new shoes.
Thich Nhat Hanh's books are widely read because he has a genius for presenting complex doctrine in a clear and simple way.� His book The Miracle of Mindfulness played a large role in getting me started on the path, and I am grateful for that. But it's important to remember that enlightenment is not something that someone else can give you.
Attending lectures and reading books, even by a great teacher, can be like collecting travel brochures. It's no substitute for going on the journey yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment