Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!gatech!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!eagle!data.nas.nasa.gov!news
From: simmonds@demon.siemens.com (Tom Simmonds)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Gurus
Message-ID: <1991May22.193018.17384@nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 22 May 91 19:30:18 GMT
Sender: news@nas.nasa.gov
Organization: Siemens Corp.Res. Inc.,Princeton, NJ
Lines: 56
Approved: prabhu@amelia.nas.nasa.gov



I know that most of the religious traditions from the East emphasize the
importance of an enlightened teacher.  Even Zen has a tradition of the
"mind seal", which is supposedly passed personally from master to student.
Maybe I'm too cynical, but I've never been able to believe in that.

First of all, it seems to me that, if there is some Truth or Reality to be
seen, I should be able to see it for myself.  I don't believe that any person
is superior to others in that respect.  It there is a Reality, it's there
for all to see.  If you want to see it, you will; and nobody can see it *for*
you.

Secondly, the belief in the need for someone to guide me to the Truth/Reality
implies that reality is some secret and mysterious thing, hidden behind
a dark veil, very difficult to find, and revealed only with the aid of the
best experts.  That just doesn't make sense to me.  What reason is there to
believe that reality is such a mysterious and difficult thing?  After all,
it's right here, all around and everywhere, right now and always - so, what's
the big difficulty?   There's nothing else to see.  All I have to do is
look at it.  What could be simpler?

I think that the only thing that stands in the way of seeing reality is
preconcieved notions of what it is or isn't, how it should or shouldn't
behave, etc.  All a teacher can really do for you is to help you expose,
and dispose of, the conceptual artifices that you get stuck on.  It is
you who must drop the attachments to those ideas; and it is you who must
do the seeing.  The teacher can't give it to you, like some kind of zap
from a magic ray-gun.

Sure, a teacher can help you get unstuck, but if you're serious and persistent
you can do that yourself.  Maybe some guidance is necessary in the beginning,
so that you learn to recognize when you're stuck and what to do to get
unstuck; but it seems to me that, as long as you're relying on someone else
to do the seeing for you, you'll never see for yourself.  You'll never be
free until you realize that the teacher can't give you anything.

I don't think you can get enlightenment from some external source, even if
it's Buddha himself.  The only place to find reality is in your own
experience.  If you can't find it there, you can't find it anywhere.

It's not necessary to sit on a mountain somewhere.  The sun shines just as
brightly here as it does in Tibet.  There's no more reality in an ashram or
a zendo than there is in your own living-room.  You don't need any magic
words, secret rituals, mystical zaps, "mind seals", or other forms of
snake-oil.  You already have all the reality you need, right here and now.
Just sit back and let it go.

"If you meet the Buddha, kill him."  (from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones)
"There aint no guru who can see through your eyes."  (John Lennon)

--
 ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
  ))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))tom simmonds))))))))))))))))))))
 ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
  ))))))) "True beauty consists in purity of heart." - Mahatma Gandhi ))))))))