The Dharma of Liberation The “self-punishing edge” is the flavor of what’s informing American Buddhism. There’s a quality of self-hatred in the American psyche that perhaps does not exist in Europe. A couple of years ago at a conference in Dharamsala, I asked the Dalai Lama of a bhikku’s life-such as accountability, having nothing hidden. If it is a community, there’s the need to express one’s faults to the community. That is the basis of forgiveness. There are situations in this country, such as the predominance of lay teachers, that have not existed in the past. In our community the teachers have tried to create a code of ethical guidelines and a system of accountability for breaking a precept. It’s very difficult without that reference. In many cases, the problem has not only been the actions of teachers but the aura of silence, the fact that there’s no recourse, nowhere to go. It is very important to be open. The power relationship is so unequal in many communities that there is no way to ask questions. j.mp/DharmaOfLiberation
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 00:49:14 +0000