Thu, 01 Apr 2010
When Teachers Go Wrong
I'm taking a break from the Heart Sutra to set down what I've been thinking recently on how spiritual teachers go wrong. so I can get the thoughts out of my head. First, I want to make clear that I respect all traditions, and teachers in no tradition and it's not my intent to exalt one tradition over another. But teachers can make mistakes, just as students can, and here are a few of them.
The first mistake is confusing conceptual understanding with realization. This comes in two forms. In scholarly traditions with abstruse philosophies one can confuse undertanding with realization because of the effort needed to master them. "Now I finally understand Nagarjuna (or Shankaracharya.)" Maybe so, but that isn't realization. The other case is traditions emphasizing no path and no method. Here, whatever one understands is taken as sufficient, because to think otherwise is to fall into the error of thinking there is a path. So one is left with a conceptual undertanding, because it is rare that something more profound spontaneously arises on hearing the truth.
The second mistake is teachers who have realized the truth, but don't teach a method to their students to do the same. No matter how clear or insightful a teacher's explanation of the truth may be, explanations are not sufficient, because all explanations are conceptual and it is our conceptual thought which blinds us to the truth. Explanations are a starting point, but more is required, usually a meditation practice to calm our unruly minds and reduce the conceptual thinking which blinds us to the truth. Related to this is "enlightenment porn," teachers who talk at length about the freedom and joy that comes with realization. A little of this might motivate the student, but mostly this is unhelpful, just as a description of a good meal won't satisfy hunger.
The third mistake is teachers who teach before they have stabilized their realization. Realization is not a once and for all thing. Not only does it need to be deepened, but the teacher can be carried away by a strong emotion, any realization is temporarily lost, and the teacher is no different than any ordinary person. If the teacher has cast aside the rules of morality, thinking that they have no need for them becuase they are realized, terrible things can happen. And anyone who has followed the history of Eastern religions in the West over the past generation knows this. Rather than rush into teaching, someone who has realization should know that the converse of the statement "when the student is ready, the teacher appears" is also true. "When the teacher is ready, the students appear." There is no need to advertise or seek out students. Students will be drawn to a teacher with deep realization, even if they live in a cave in the wilderness.
