Wow, superb summary. That was incredibly useful. Seems very reasonable. I loved the historical analysis and evolution of function of 'secrecy'. Thank you.
"Vajrayana is seen as dangerous by rulers because it empowers individuals. At worst, it produces Buddhas. That can be disastrous. Buddhas disrupt smooth institutional functioning. They pop up out of nowhere, are accountable to no one, teach strange dangerous ideas, inspire fanatical devotion among their followers, and may act as an independent political force that cannot be predicted or controlled."
No, you cannot become like me by following anything, even something sublime like Vajrayana. So as long as people follow Vajrayana, it's safe. No Buddhas will be produced that way. Just followers, groupies, zombies, etc. The rules were just needlessly paranoid. The real dangerous people are people like me. I pop up and indeed do what you claim Buddhas do. I don't follow suggestions. I am hard to shame or fear. I don't always behave in a way that seems logical (to the superficial mind anyway). But it's not just rules who I threaten. I also threaten people like you, your teachers, your lineage, all your ideas and excuses. I am inconvenient and while I tend to be compassionate, I do not guarantee compassion. Why not? Because to always be compassionate means to put people into a victim role. If I demand accountability from people, I am saying they are not victims, they don't have to be the way they are now. I teach people to share responsibility although I don't always follow that injunction myself. Like a good drug dealer, I don't do the drugs I sell to others.
"There is an advantage to not knowing about a stage of understanding and practice until you are ready for it. If you wait until you are ready, it is fresh and exciting and perhaps a bit shocking. It has more impact. The buffet approach is like getting all your presents at once, without wrapping paper. You might look everything over excitedly and then walk away. This is the biggest internal reason for secrecy."
How manipulative and egoistic. You demand that people stick around with you and appreciate what you have to give them. Of course instead of getting it naturally, you connive a trick. Feh.
"What remain secret are the details of specific versions of practices. This is to make it impossible to do the practice without having received “transmission” from a qualified teacher. For example, any large bookstore has detailed explanations of how yidam practice works. Each yidam, however, has a mantra, and usually a chanted sadhana text. You need those to actually practice the yidam."
No you don't. :) If you really understand how and why the practice works you can make your own mantra. It's like if you understand how the hammer works, you can make your own. You don't need to get a special hammer from the teacher. If you understand the higher-order principle of inertia, every action produces equal and opposite reaction, acceleration, kinetic energy, then you can make your own hammer. I will go further. I will say that if you don't know enough to make your own hammer, you really didn't learn anything at all. If the only way you know how to hammer is with the little worn out hammer your teacher gave you, and you have no idea how to build your own replacement or your own improvement, then you've been duped.
First a comment about mantras. The printed version of Vajrayana mantras are definitely not secret. All of them are available in books. But they are definitely self secret. If you do not know how to use them properly, they have little or no effect. The person that has probably done most to make public Dzogchen teachings that it is not necessary to keep secret is Nkagchang Rinpoche. It seems he is the only person who has made the man-ngag-de teachings available, but as he says, they are self secret. If you do not understand these teachings immediately, they will remain secret and unaccessible.
It is also interesting that he has given detailed instructions on the Vajrasana in one of his books, even if I can see no reason to keep this secret. On the other hand, this asana is an essential part of a certain Vajrayogini practice that seems to be so secret that it may have been lost in most lineages. That is the danger of oral and direct person to person transmission.
Nkagchang Rinpoche and Aro gter has been the victim of much criticism and controversy. How Ngakchang Rinpoche teaches in the Aro community I know very little, but the teachings he has made public is one of the most important contributions to contemporary Vajrayana and Dzogchen teachings that has been made available in the west. So there are at least two persons with a very good understanding of Dzogchen among us westerners: Ngakchang Rinpoche and Keith Dowman.
And a concluding remark, David. I disagree with you on one point: Dzogchen is compatible with everything. Whether you are following the path of renunciation of Buddha Shakyamuni, or the techings of Padmasambhava, they are in principle the same. Or to quote an unknown Tibetan monk: I belong to the Buddha School. Is there any other?
Thanks for your good and very important work!
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Comments
Wow, superb summary. That
28 Nov 2010
Wow, superb summary. That was incredibly useful. Seems very reasonable. I loved the historical analysis and evolution of function of 'secrecy'. Thank you.
"Vajrayana is seen as
10 Jul 2011
"Vajrayana is seen as dangerous by rulers because it empowers individuals. At worst, it produces Buddhas. That can be disastrous. Buddhas disrupt smooth institutional functioning. They pop up out of nowhere, are accountable to no one, teach strange dangerous ideas, inspire fanatical devotion among their followers, and may act as an independent political force that cannot be predicted or controlled."
No, you cannot become like me by following anything, even something sublime like Vajrayana. So as long as people follow Vajrayana, it's safe. No Buddhas will be produced that way. Just followers, groupies, zombies, etc. The rules were just needlessly paranoid. The real dangerous people are people like me. I pop up and indeed do what you claim Buddhas do. I don't follow suggestions. I am hard to shame or fear. I don't always behave in a way that seems logical (to the superficial mind anyway). But it's not just rules who I threaten. I also threaten people like you, your teachers, your lineage, all your ideas and excuses. I am inconvenient and while I tend to be compassionate, I do not guarantee compassion. Why not? Because to always be compassionate means to put people into a victim role. If I demand accountability from people, I am saying they are not victims, they don't have to be the way they are now. I teach people to share responsibility although I don't always follow that injunction myself. Like a good drug dealer, I don't do the drugs I sell to others.
"There is an advantage to not
10 Jul 2011
"There is an advantage to not knowing about a stage of understanding and practice until you are ready for it. If you wait until you are ready, it is fresh and exciting and perhaps a bit shocking. It has more impact. The buffet approach is like getting all your presents at once, without wrapping paper. You might look everything over excitedly and then walk away. This is the biggest internal reason for secrecy."
How manipulative and egoistic. You demand that people stick around with you and appreciate what you have to give them. Of course instead of getting it naturally, you connive a trick. Feh.
"What remain secret are the
10 Jul 2011
"What remain secret are the details of specific versions of practices. This is to make it impossible to do the practice without having received “transmission” from a qualified teacher. For example, any large bookstore has detailed explanations of how yidam practice works. Each yidam, however, has a mantra, and usually a chanted sadhana text. You need those to actually practice the yidam."
No you don't. :) If you really understand how and why the practice works you can make your own mantra. It's like if you understand how the hammer works, you can make your own. You don't need to get a special hammer from the teacher. If you understand the higher-order principle of inertia, every action produces equal and opposite reaction, acceleration, kinetic energy, then you can make your own hammer. I will go further. I will say that if you don't know enough to make your own hammer, you really didn't learn anything at all. If the only way you know how to hammer is with the little worn out hammer your teacher gave you, and you have no idea how to build your own replacement or your own improvement, then you've been duped.
Hello Anonymous
10 Jul 2011
I like what you have to say—you are doing a good job of explaining a particular point of view, and it's one that I almost share.
Please keep commenting!
Vajajrayana and Dzogchen secrets.
23 Jan 2012
First a comment about mantras. The printed version of Vajrayana mantras are definitely not secret. All of them are available in books. But they are definitely self secret. If you do not know how to use them properly, they have little or no effect. The person that has probably done most to make public Dzogchen teachings that it is not necessary to keep secret is Nkagchang Rinpoche. It seems he is the only person who has made the man-ngag-de teachings available, but as he says, they are self secret. If you do not understand these teachings immediately, they will remain secret and unaccessible.
It is also interesting that he has given detailed instructions on the Vajrasana in one of his books, even if I can see no reason to keep this secret. On the other hand, this asana is an essential part of a certain Vajrayogini practice that seems to be so secret that it may have been lost in most lineages. That is the danger of oral and direct person to person transmission.
Nkagchang Rinpoche and Aro gter has been the victim of much criticism and controversy. How Ngakchang Rinpoche teaches in the Aro community I know very little, but the teachings he has made public is one of the most important contributions to contemporary Vajrayana and Dzogchen teachings that has been made available in the west. So there are at least two persons with a very good understanding of Dzogchen among us westerners: Ngakchang Rinpoche and Keith Dowman.
And a concluding remark, David. I disagree with you on one point: Dzogchen is compatible with everything. Whether you are following the path of renunciation of Buddha Shakyamuni, or the techings of Padmasambhava, they are in principle the same. Or to quote an unknown Tibetan monk: I belong to the Buddha School. Is there any other?
Thanks for your good and very important work!
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