Comment policy
I want this site to be useful to you. But I don’t know for sure what you will find most useful. I have an outline with dozens of pages that I may never get to write. What I say, and how, and when, will depend on your questions, suggestions, and interests.
Most of the pages on this site have an “add new comment” link at the bottom. Please use it; that will be helpful to me, to you, and to other readers.
Web discussions somehow tend to produce vicious shouting matches. For that reason, and to eliminate spam, comments appear only after a delay. Please practice the fundamental Buddhist commitments of kindness and openness. Paul Graham’s excellent essay on how to disagree productively could be helpful. Tough questions are welcome; I will try to give real answers. (Writing each web page of content takes me a full day, so I will not be able to provide detailed responses to every issue at once.) I may delete comments that are “mi kha” in Tibetan. Mi kha includes one-upmanship, put-downs, gossip, slander, defamation, harassment, abuse, and so forth.
Most bloggers, and most forum participants, are anonymous, hidden behind “nyms.” Originally I intended to publish this site anonymously. The infinitely wise Lama Shardröl Du-nyam Wangmo persuaded me to use my real name instead. That makes me clearly accountable for what I say here; my personal reputation is at risk. Commenters may wish to do likewise—but that is optional. The comment form will prompt you for an email address. If you supply an email address, it will not be publicly displayed. You are also free to leave it blank.
Aro apprentices might do well to identify themselves as such. (I do not want a pseudonymous cheering section.)
As an experiment, I am using the Mollom anti-spam service, which reads comments and tries to filter out spam automatically. See their privacy policy, which basically says that they may read and/or store whatever information you enter. Please let me know if you have any problems posting comments; mollom may be the culprit.
For general questions and comments on this site, you can add comments at the bottom of this page.
You can reach me by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Comments
Some questions
Hello,
Thank you for your efforts. I am sure that many people appreciate, even if they won't admit it.
Here are some questions about Aroter :
- Aro Lamas took part in the criticism campaign against Lama Surya Das (on the Damtsig.org site, etc.), even though I understand that it was nurtured mainly by Traktung Rinpoche. That was one of the main reasons I withdrawed serious interest in Aroter. Why ? Because Traktung Rinpoche and the Aro Lamas (even if in a less explicit manner) have criticised then - and quite harshly - Lama Surya Das for having an agenda of boldlerizing the role of the vajra-master. (1) First, it looked like an unfair attack againts the so-called hidden agenda of a person. It's always easy to attack someone on the basis of his intentions - because those are very difficult to check anyway. That said even if, on the other hand, Traktung Rinpoche made several cogent arguments on the future of the vajra-master in a consumerist society. (2) Second, Lama Surya Das has not disparaged the central role of the vajra-master : in his organisations, he takes on that function, and the notion of lineage is all important ; - he has published a book about his master which shows his devotion to his lineage and master, in a plain vajrayanic way ; - the ideas about "western buddhism" which he promoted were related to general buddhism (or Sutra, if you will), and not to Tantra. (3) Third, Lama Surya Das has done two three year retreats in France, in a center of world repute, and has a written letter by his root-teacher, late Nyoshul Khenpo, whereas Traktung Rimpoche comes out of the blue, as it were. (4) Fourth, Lama Surya Das has received many empowerments from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Dudjom Rinpoche. Hence, bashing him like this looks like a samaya-break on the part of people who claim to have received empowerments form the same Lamas.
-Aro Lamas have given support to Traktung Rinpoche. He and his consort were introduced on the Aroter website as "lineage holders" of the Aroter. But now it has disappeared. Why ? It looks like there are two possibilities, and both seem to hace uncomfortable consequences : (a) If the Aro Lamas are still supportive of Traktung Rinpoche, how do you explain that the Dalaï Lama's Office doesn't recognise him, when the Aro website said that he was recognized by the Dalaï Lama ? And what about Namkha Rigdzin Gyatso, who was said to have recognized Traktung Rinpoche and taken him as his root-Lama ? Because one can read on Namkha Rinpoche's website that he "disconfirms this as a rumor". (b) If, on the other hand, Aro Lamas have somehow withdrawn their support to Traktung Rinpoche, could you please explain how they could have been so mistaken ? If they were not sure about him, why did they proclaimed him as one of their lineage-holder, above their own senior disciples ? In other words, could you clarify Aroter's relationship with Traktung Rinpoche, or sort out what happened with Namkha Rinpoche ?
I'm not asking you to disparage any Lama. I just want to understand.
Many thanks.
Mostly, I don’t know
Hello, and thanks for the tough questions :-)
Mostly, these are ones I can’t answer, I am afraid. I can answer almost anything about Aro, but almost nothing about Traktung Rinpoche. I have taken teachings from him on three occasions, and I believe him to be a great lama. But I know nothing factual about him beyond what is publicly available on the web. I also know almost nothing about Lama Surya Das—I have not read any of his books, for example.
Rumor has it that Traktung Rinpoche discourages his own students from discussing him publicly, and especially from defending him in any way. Since I have taken empowerment from him, I would not defend him if I could. But since I know nothing, I can’t anyway.
Since I can’t defend him, I am not sure I should leave your comments about him up here. However, since they do seem to be more concerned with Aro than with him, I am letting them stand for now.
It sounds like you know more than I do about who the pseudonyms on damtsig.org belong to. At the time of the debate (when was that? ten years ago, roughly?) I did not know whether my lamas were involved at all. I still do not know the extent of their involvement. I mostly haven’t read the site. [Update, written several days later: I have just gone and looked at damtsig.org for the first time in years, and found that it doesn't use pseudonyms. I guess I was confusing it with the Tricycle bboard argument that occurred at about the same time.] I did not find the argument interesting. I felt that many participants, on all sides, were taking extreme, entrenched, unhelpful positions. I continue to have no opinion. I have not taken ordination because I do not fully understand the nature of vajra commitment. That may change at some point. For now, I am happy in the bardo of apprenticeship.
Traktung Rinpoche has disappeared almost entirely from the web. His own site is down to a single page, and there are few references to him elsewhere. I have heard, third-hand, this was at his request, and that accounts for his pages on the Aro web site disappearing. Since the Aro site no longer mentions him, I don’t think I can say anything about Aro’s relationship with him.
The business with Traktung Rinpoche, Namkha Rinpoche, and the Dalai Lama is a complete puzzle. All I know about it is what I have read on the public web. My understanding is that when the Aro web master was told that the Dalai Lama had recognized him, our web site said so; when it became apparent that he hadn’t, our site was updated accordingly.
Sorry this isn’t more helpful!
David
Problems posting comments
Apparently there's a problem with the Mollom system I was using for rejecting spam comments. I have disabled it, and will reject spam manually until it is fixed. If you have problems, please let me know by email. Sorry for the trouble!
David