OOPS!

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/19/00 8:02:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, fisher1

writes:

 

<<

 

A teacher is extremely important... someone who's new to K. needs a guide

who knows more about it, who knows the dangers and the practices that can

be helpful and can watch over his practice >>

 

Dharma, et al:

lt's me again, apologizing first for the accidental

premature sending of the previous post ( l hit Send Now vs Send Later!). The

question which l most wanted to address was the one about a k awakened person

going to a teacher. l think that your post was filled with good advice,

Dharma, but on this one issue of going to a teacher l think l have a slightly

different perspective than you do. l call it a perspective, not an expert

opinion, because l'm surely no expert on k. l can speak only as a witness

from my own experience, and as a result l think it's risky if you're k

awakened to go to even a so called master.

 

After my problems began, over the

next 6 years l either personally saw or got opinions from several more

experts. These included Swami Chetanananda (a well respected swami in the

Kasmir Shaivism tradition), Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche (a renowned Tibetan

master), a respected chi kung master from China (who swore he could help me),

a respected lndian swami from an ancient k lineage who's supposed to be an

authority, and other eminent contemporary k teachers. ln each case in which l

followed practices or other forms of recommended treatment, my condition was

made much worse. ln most cases the teacher contradicted much of what the

previous teachers had said. Some teachers said that the other teachers didn't

know what they were talking about. ln the end the ones l respected most were

Norbu and another high lama, because they were humble about it --- they were

the only ones who from the beginning told me not to attempt any sort of

practices or to listen to any teachers but to simply rest and take it easy.

 

l could write a nice, long post talking about what happened with

these teachers, but in order to minimize boredom l'm presenting it in summary

form. The long and short of it is that l don't personally trust k "masters"

who can guide us all thru k problems. l can accept that others have been

helped, but l still believe it's risky. And from talking to El and others l

know l'm not alone. l've heard other reports of people being thrown into

psychosis and other problems after interacting with reputable k teachers. l

also know that several of these teachers refuse to even attempt to help

someone with problems, feeling they're unable to do so unless the student is

one of their own.

So, what's the answer? l

certainly agree that a new k experiencer needs guidance. But l'm still

concerned about any k awakened person interacting energetically with a

teacher and even doing any prescribed practices. l've learned the hard way

that the only expert on my process is myself, and l agree with your

statement that one's inner spiritual guide is the best guru to have in most

cases. lf l sound like l'm spouting off opinions here, then l'm not

expressing myself well, because truthfully, this whole thing is still rather

bewildering to me. lt bothers me enormously that l was unable to find not

only assistance, but even a consensus among these "experts". jerry

[Guest guest]

Sorry, Oops! Didn't mean to post A Place twice! Don't know how that

happened as I wasn't even home when the second posting showed up!!! Oh well,

hello and goodbye.

 

Jessica

[Guest guest]

Dear Mark & Michael,

 

In skimming some of the posts, I inadvertantly (in my last post) referred to

Michael's questioning, when it was actually Mark's (with regard to his

brother). : (

 

Love,

~jessica