I realize a lot of Buddhists, especially in the West, go it alone. I haven’t really tried to do that as a practitioner, so I can’t speak directly to the effectiveness of such an approach. The cliché (or adage) of course is that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. But I think that holds up in any kind of relationship, and it’s really a matter of do we want to learn or not? If so, then we should be ready for a relationship with a teacher of some sort, at any time. Ultimately, the teacher is our own mind, but since most of us do not live in complete solitude and it usually takes a while to be receptive enough to have this be sufficient, we can look to the interactions of our everyday lives, as well to the more intentional relationships with Dhamma teachers. I have been very lucky with all of the teachers I have had on this path, both formal and informal.* and I’d like to talk a little bit here about the different kinds of teachers available to us, about how to find a teacher and, how best to evaluate a teacher so we know we’re benefiting from the relationship.
All posts tagged buddhism in the west
The teacher
Posted by sharanam on July 27, 2010
https://sharanam.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/the-teacher/
On atheism, the buddha, and the church
What does it mean to be religious? Atheistic? Agnostic? Probably totally different things to different people. But to take an entirely deluded approach and make my own generalizations, I would venture to say that those who are agnostic neither believe nor disbelieve but are non-religious; that those who are atheists believe science and religion are mutually exclusive and tend towards being irreligious; and that those who are religious identify with a particular belief system to such a degree that it can be nearly impossible to communicate or find mutually agreeable language with those in other traditions or systems of thought, causing divisiveness and giving religion a bad name.
Posted by sharanam on June 29, 2010
https://sharanam.wordpress.com/2010/06/29/on-atheism-the-buddha-and-the-church/
The Internet is a perennial source of dukkha
Has any person ever not had the thought, at one point or another, “Wow, I wish I hadn’t said that.”? Or felt remorse after sending an email? I think it’s a pretty common human experience to not always speak or write as wisely as we might like upon reflection. I know I’ve certainly had my fair share of regrets. One thing I’m hopefully learning to do right now is to reduce the opportunity to feel such shame and remorse. By cultivating awareness moment to moment, we can probably avoid saying the wrong thing. By asking ourselves whether what we have to say is 1) necessary and 2) beneficial before we say it, we also will end up speaking less but more meaningfully when we do. I know this is easier said than done, but I can think of few things more important in developing ourselves and our relationship with others.
Posted by sharanam on January 7, 2010
https://sharanam.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/the-internet-is-a-perennial-source-of-dukkha-2/
To be a Buddhist
I’ve always balked at the question, “Are you religious?” because it’s such a loaded question and because the word religion has connotations in the English language limited to its Latin root. Nor have I liked the term “spiritual” because it too has negative connotations (as in New Age, fruit loop, etc.). But this experience has been the thing I’ve done so far in my life that has felt the most true, the closest to my heart, that I’m rethinking how I would answer the question. In Burma, people just assume I’m Buddhist, so they skip the question and instead ask “Is your family also Buddhist?”
Posted by sharanam on November 23, 2009
https://sharanam.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/to-be-a-buddhist/
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On the Precipice is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Excerpts may be used provided that appropriate attribution and reference back to the original source are included.
on the precipice 