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 Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:55 am
HOW TO RECOGNIZE VARIOUS TYPES OF FAKE BUDDHIST TEACHERS FROM QUITE A LONG WAY AWAYby Brad Warner
Gosh. I think I got more mail in response to last week's article than I've gotten for anything I've put up so far. So, just like that teacher I saw last week, I figure I'd better give the people what they want!
Actually, it's an important topic. Early in my study of Buddhism, one of my greatest fears was that of being taken in by some bad teacher. I reasoned that since I didn't have any real background in what authentic Buddhism ought to be, nor was I Enlightened, I could easily end up following someone really crappy without knowing it. Since I trusted my first teacher, I used to always try to find out who he liked and stick with them. When he said something nice about Krishnamurti, I went out and bought tons of books by Krishnamurti. When he said Paul Reps was a dork, I threw out my copy of Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (OK, actually I sold it back to a used bookstore).
That was dumb. Though I still like Krishnamurti a lot and I can see why he didn't like Reps, it wasn't really necessary to try to adopt his tastes. The fact is, unless you're seriously retarded you'll only be taken in by crappy teachings if you really want to be. It was hard for me to believe that, and I've known several students of Nishijima who adamantly refuse to read books or attend lectures by anyone else because of the same fear I had. So I thought I'd try and write up some of the warning signs of Bad Buddhism.
MONEY: This is not the most important topic. But I'm putting it first since most of the people who wrote me focused on it. It is not necessarily a bad thing when money changes hands in the course of Buddhist teaching. I am writing a book on Zen and when it gets published I'll get paid royalties (I hope). When I hold lectures or retreats everyone (including me) pays a fee to cover the expenses. Most teachers charge money for such activities. For some of them this is an important source of income. Personally, I have more trust in someone who charges a specific fee than one who offers his services for "free" with the suggestion that the participants really ought to donate. Some extraordinarily good teachers like Krishnamurti and Shunryu Suzuki made their living from teaching. Everyone, including Buddhist teachers, has to make money somehow. What you should do is take a hard look at what your donation is paying for. Ask yourself if you want to pay for that. I buy most of my CDs from a certain small shop in Tokyo because I like the people who run it and I want their business to do well. Look out for anyone who promises you some nebulous reward for your donation. Does the teacher suggest that your donation will increase your good karma and lead to your receiving more money in the future? A teacher who plays to your greed is not to be trusted. Joshu Sasaki, a Rinzai Zen teacher, talking about bad Buddhist teachers who want your money said, "Instead of giving it to them you ought to give it to me!" Or as Johnny Rotten said about the Sex Pistols reunion, "It's not a rip-off if you tell people it's a rip-off." If you are honest with yourself, you won't get taken in by someone who's not honest with you. If you send money to me I will use it to buy punk rock CDs, guitars and old dinosaur books (write me for the address).
DON'T GET TAKEN IN BY THE WHOLE ATMOSPHERE OF THE THING: This is the most important factor. Come to everything as if you have no previous experience. I was talking to a friend of mine at work about that Tibetan teacher I saw last week. This friend of mine has no background at all in Zen, though she's always willing to listen to my rants. When I told her the guy had said, "I can bring you to full awakening in five years," her reply was brilliant. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked. If anyone listening to that guy last Saturday had been able to ask such a direct question, the guy would've been dead in the water. Guaranteed. Though I knew his comment was nonsense, I was too tainted by decades of Buddhist nonsense to come up with a question like that. The guy had created a demand for "full awakening" just the way McDonald's creates a demand for Big Macs. Everyone wanted this thing he had and now he was prepared to sell it. No one thought to ask why we ought to want such a thing or indeed just what exactly it was he had us all wanting.
WATCH OUT FOR ANYONE WHO'S TOO CHARMING: Real Buddhist teachers are very direct, very honest. They don't care whether you like them or even whether you respect them or not. They might be likable or funny. But they won't be trying to win you over. A fake will try hard to win your affection and respect. Charm doesn't always equate with being personable either. An attitude that's too controlling is another way to be charming. People want authority figures. Teachers who play into that role ought to be avoided. That being said, though, groups need leaders, and the difference between leadership and authority is often very subtle. Just stay alert.
PROMISES, PROMISES: Anyone who promises you enlightenment or full awakening is not to be trusted. No one can bring you to awakening. You have to do that yourself. If someone tells you otherwise he's lying. Promises of speedy enlightenment are especially obnoxious. Don't fall for them. Anyone who suggests you need to do something, or to have something which only he can provide is a fraud.
CREDENTIALS: The biggest mistake I made when setting up this page was to try and establish my credentials. An early version of the top page said "I am a Zen Master." I wanted this to be an ironic contrast to the photo of me in the Alien Benzen costume as well as a way of tearing down people's concepts of Zen Masters as some kind of spiritual superbeings. I thought I ought to be up front about my lineage because I have very ambivalent feelings about the whole thing. I almost refused to accept Dharma Transmission because of those feelings (see this article for more). Truly awful Buddhist teachers have no problem with this and will list all kinds of credentials and claim all sorts of famous people have recognized them as "Enlightened Beings." The Enlightened Beings Club is a scam. It's like saying you were recognized as a Super Model by Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell. What's a Super Model apart from people like Naomi and Cindy? A big part of establishing one's self as part of the Enlightened Beings Club is to recognize other Enlightened Beings who in turn can support your claim to be an Enlightened Being.
DUMBASS TITLES: Guys who get off on being called "His Holiness" or "Roshi" or any other goofy sounding title are suspect. It's not necessary for a teacher to say, "Call me Bill," every time someone starts to refer to them with some honorific title. Lots of people like calling their teachers by some kind of title and lots of good teachers allow this. But teachers who create an atmosphere where folks are expected to call them by some title should be looked upon with some suspicion. It's a yellow flag rather than a red one. There are good teachers who feel that if students have some sense of them as an authority those students will pay more attention and maybe eventually break through the whole authority B.S. Just be careful here.
BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF: Bad teachers always look for potential suckers -- sorry -- students who are want Enlightenment right now with minimum effort. It won't happen. Buddha himself worked at it for years as did every single one of the great Buddhist teachers. If you're impatient, you're more likely to get taken for a ride.
PARADOXES: Buddhism is full of paradoxes. That's its nature. But bad teachers often abuse this. It's sometimes hard to tell real paradoxical Buddhism from just plain old nonsense. But don't worry a whole lot about this one. Teachers who are bad enough to resort to spouting non-sequiturs and calling it Buddhism are usually pretty cartoon-y in other ways. (Oops. That kinda describes me, doesn't it?)
ECLECTICISM: This is another yellow flag. Most of the really bad fake Buddhist teachers I have seen like to tout the fact that they have very eclectic backgrounds. They're always "well versed in numerous spiritual traditions including..." followed by a long list of anything and everything from Sufi-ism and Rosacrucianism, to psychotherapy and advanced Ping Pong. Though it would appear logical to think a good teacher would be one who has gathered the best of a variety of different traditions, this does not seem to be the case. What usually happens is that these guys have a superficial knowledge of a variety of traditions from which they have extracted those portions of the teachings that suit them personally. They bounce around from temple to temple never really getting to know any of them very well. In a single human lifetime it is simply not possible to delve deeply into numerous traditions each of which takes decades to fully comprehend. You're better off with someone who is well versed in a single tradition. Extensive traveling is another yellow flag (this is coming from an Ohioan who lives in Japan, mind you). It impresses people, but it's not at all necessary to go to some distant land to understand Buddhism. Extensive adventuring tends to make people dull, unable to appreciate the beauty of their ordinary surroundings.
At a certain point anyone who studies Buddhism sincerely enough will come to the realization that everyone and everything in the Universe is nothing but himself. This realization has one very nasty side effect. A person who truly understands it, not just intellectually but right down to his bone marrow, can begin to think, "Heck, everyone in the world is me, so if I rip somebody off, I'm really only ripping off myself, so what's it matter?" One of the reasons Dogen and other teachers do not place a very high value on so called "Awakening Experiences" is because it is entirely possible to have an authentic awakening experience (or several of them) and emerge as an even bigger butthole than you were before. I have no doubt that the dude I saw in Tokyo last week was an "awakened being." But that alone was not enough to make his teachings worthwhile.
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Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:56 am
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Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:58 am
The Rick A. Ross Institute - The Rick A. Ross Institute (RRI) of New Jersey is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization devoted to public education and research. RRI's mission is to study destructive cults, controversial groups and movements and to provide a broad range of information and services easily accessible to the public for assistance and educational purposes. ======================================== Operation Clambake - The Fight Against the Church of Scientology
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Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 10:00 am
Va. Senator Let Rev. Moon Shine (or why our government officials never know jack$hit)(CBS/AP) Sen. John Warner, R-Va., reserved space in a Senate office building for a reception that saw the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, controversial leader of the Unification Church, receive a "crown of peace," the Washington Post reports. Warner's office said the senator did not know Moon was involved and felt "misled," according to a spokesman. More than a dozen U.S. lawmakers turned out for a Capitol Hill reception honoring Moon. Some of the lawmakers later said they were duped when questioned about their presence at the event held at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 23. Moon received a crown that was placed on his head. The crown was carried on a pillow by Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., who wore white gloves. Moon, 85, delivered a lengthy speech at the "Crown of Peace" ceremony. The Post quoted Moon as saying he was "sent to Earth . . . to save the world's six billion people. . . . Emperors, kings and presidents . . . have declared to all Heaven and Earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent." Congressman Davis told the Post that he was a Methodist who disagreed with many of Moon's religious teachings. But the Illinois lawmaker praised Moon's efforts on behalf of world peace. About 100 people were honored for their work on behalf of peace at the local and national level. The Rev. Moon and his wife received "international crown of peace" awards. The bipartisan turnout included both of Minnesota's U.S. senators, Democrat Mark Drayton and Republican Norm Coleman. Both men said they knew nothing of the Moon coronation. The Washington Times Foundation was listed as one of the sponsors of the gathering, and some GOP lawmakers told the Post they attended the reception to honor the conservative newspaper, which is owned by Moon. Moon's controversial career includes a 1982 conviction for tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct of justice. According to the Post, the religious leader told the gathering that even "... dictators such as Hitler and Stalin, have found strength in my teachings, mended their ways and been reborn as new persons." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004...ain630916.shtml
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 1:13 pm
I want to be well versed in ping pong.
I mean in a spiritual sense.
Aside from that, I have nothing to add to this but my thanks. xd
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2005 7:53 pm
Ha ... it is actually quite easily to find out if a teacher is fake or not ... sweatdrop
just investigate ... mrgreen
With Metta ... heart
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:17 am
Good stuff Solaris, I'm looking into taking this course one day. They don't charge, and say you can donate after you take the course, so others may also take the course. Any thoughts or experiences with these people?
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 9:07 pm
I've heard good things about S.N. Goenka smile
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2005 10:04 am
From reading his book, he seemed an honest, down-to-earth guy, who also made for a good teacher. That's good to know his name is reputable.
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Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 11:48 am
This topic was very helpful and interesting.
I think that alot of these false teachings has to do with these people going into Buddhism cause their friends do it and they don't take the time to actually find things out for themselves they just trust everyone else'sl words, and spend no time meditating on things to see if they are really true for them or not. This leads to people who say that they are enlightened so that they can teach just to make money, and have people falsely respect them.
And this is a little irritating... evil and evil.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 5:50 pm
That's a helpful, informative article. Thanks for giving this novice some insight.
But how sweet would a degree in Ping Pong be? I want a degree in Ping Ponging, if possible.
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:52 pm
A very important post for anyone involved in any Eastern religion, or any religion or spiritual system for that matter, to read and keep in mind. False teachers are not exclusive to Buddhism after all. Christianity seems to have the False teacher plague, what with all these televangelists fleecing their fans for money, and using the end times to scare people out of their mind.
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Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:38 am
Ramacharaka A very important post for anyone involved in any Eastern religion, or any religion or spiritual system for that matter, to read and keep in mind. False teachers are not exclusive to Buddhism after all. Christianity seems to have the False teacher plague, what with all these televangelists fleecing their fans for money, and using the end times to scare people out of their mind. ha ... well, ignorance is strong ... and people who are easily misinformed, tend to hold on to the views that they are most comfortable with ( with are usually wrong to begin with ) ... sweatdrop
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:55 pm
As a Catholic I dont really worry about false teachers since all our important tenats and beliefs are watched by the magisterium and the Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei to help prevent heresies, but I can see what you mean as there are tons of people out there who will tell you anything to make a buck, the only books on zen ive read were written by wong kiew kit, and i read his book on zen as well as his books on kung fu and tai chi chuan, in every book he makes his way back to buddhist spirituality, like the book on kung fu is not just about martial arts but how martial arts leads to good health, and with meditation and proper zen practices, you will reach enlightenment, but yeah that's all i have to say
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Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 8:58 pm
Thanks for that advice...that was very informative.
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Reply
