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Illusory Flowers In An Empty Sky

Wednesday, September 29, 2010
A Leash Around Your Neck

Tokusan was studying Zen under Ryutan. One night he came to Ryutan and asked many questions. The teacher said:
"The night is getting old. Why don't you retire?" 

So Tokusan bowed and opened the screen to go out, observing: "It is very dark outside."

Ryutan offered Tokusan a lighted candle to find his way. Just as Tokusan received it, Ryutan blew it out.
At that moment Tokusan was enlightened.
- The Gateless Gate

One of the toughest challenges any Dharma teacher faces is in keeping students from viewing him/her as
a superior or even perfect being. America is a messianic culture; religion tells you that you need a deity to
make you happy, and TV shows like Sex and the City tell you the same lie from a secular angle - that you
must find The One, the person who can make you happy.

This is poison, but it's tasty poison, and Americans can't get enough of it.

The reality is that nobody can make you happy. Nobody can enlighten you. Nobody can empower you in
any way. You have to do it yourself. The Buddha didn't do it for anyone other than himself - he taught his
students how to do it for themselves. The Bible declares that Jesus raised the dead and walked on water -
but it makes no claim that he made anybody happy.

And yet people still look toward supernatural beings, or flesh-and-blood people, to fix them, make them
happy, tell them how to live. It seems that so many people would rather live a life of slavery, with
everything decided for them, than take responsibility for themselves.

These are the people who imagine Dharma teachers as otherworldly beings with supernatural powers. If
you suffer from a debilitating mental illness, or are just badly damaged emotionally and not dealing with
it, you might meet with a teacher, and when he/she sees what's going on (because it's obvious to anyone
who looks) and tells you, it can be easy to imagine that this person has wisdom so great that it's a
superpower that lets them see right through you. (I've had students who were standing there quivering
with anger, and yet were stunned by my mind-reading ability when I said, "I think you're an angry
person.")
This is a view that unethical, power-tripping teachers will encourage. Ethical teachers will only turn you
back towards yourself. An ethical teacher will not give you the approval you want or the disapproval you
fear, because that's just a way of taking control of you. It's how dogs are trained, and the vow of a Dharma
teacher is to help the student realize their own Buddha-nature, not to train the student to be an obedient
pet.

No Dharma teacher is wiser or more enlightened than you. The Buddha wasn't wiser or more enlightened
than you, because you are the Buddha. What makes the Buddha, and every other great master, different is
that they realized their true nature. No teacher can give you something, because you already have it. You
just have to see it, then know it, and then go beyond seeing it and knowing it and fully realize it. A teacher
can guide the way, but you have to walk by yourself. Anyone who claims to be able to take you there is
really just fastening a leash around your neck.

Posted by Dogo Barry Graham at 3:41 AM

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Labels: america, bible, dharma, enlightenment, jesus, practice, responsibility, the buddha, zen

4 comments:

Roy said...
Dear Mr Graham,

First time visitor. Thanks so much for this post. Very helpful.

- roy - holding palms together

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 7:27:00 AM MST

Dogo Barry Graham said...

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad it helped

Wednesday, September 29, 2010 5:16:00 PM MST

rengetsu said...
YES.

loved this, b. nine deep bows.

Thursday, September 30, 2010 10:18:00 AM MST

ladyofthelog said...
here via rengetsu. Thanks for making this post - it's great food for thought, and has affirmed my
pursuit of the journey within.

Thursday, September 30, 2010 10:10:00 PM MST

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"The awesome Barry Graham" - American Book Review

Dogo Barry Graham

Author, journalist and Zen teacher. Native of Glasgow, Scotland, now based in Phoenix, Arizona.
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