Guest guest Posted March 20, 2000 Report Share Posted March 20, 2000 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 13, 2000 Report Share Posted September 13, 2000 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 7, 2000 Report Share Posted November 7, 2000 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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