Recently I have been listening to the teachings of a number of Western Vajrayana Trainied Buddhist. There is something to be said about those who have grown up within my world and can bring the Buddha-Dharma to me in ways that connect with my world.

There are simply cultural and societal issues which Western teachers can bridge. I look forward to the day when the Buddha-Dharma has some fully realized teachers from Western roots.

There are definitely cultural differences which make it difficult for Asian masters to relate to a Western audience. I think that the great Masters are 100% accurate when it comes to one on one interaction. When they get into group environments, the cultural differences do affect their ability to relate to the group.

One of the big differences in our worlds is the natural focus of our attention. We in the West are more outer directed. When we start talking about disturbing emotions, we immediately start thinking about people around us. When teachers talk about result karma, we immediately think about others. We start thinking about some poor unfortunate child somewhere.

While this is far from my most eloquent writing, I felt that it needed to be stated as fast as I could write it:

We need to stop thinking about how the teaching apply to others. We need to seei how the teachings relate to us. How they relate to you!

The teachings of Buddha and all great masters are communicated for us to apply to ourselves.

If I could tell one thing about us Westerners to the great Buddhist Masters coming from Tibet, I would tell then to watch out for those questions from us that are directed about others. Turn the question around and focus on the person asking the question. If they are unwilling to look at themselves (ourselves), then the teacher should not even bother to answer the question. Why? Because as soon as we are outer directed, we have completely missed the point.

Even when it comes to others suffering, we are still only able to deal with our response and our actions to others. How the other person feels, is not for us to determine. From a Buddhist View, they are a Bodhisattva who has manifested in pain only to provide us an opportunity to respond with love and compassion. It is not for us to decide why. We only need to decide how to respond to the suffering we see….and act compassionately.

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff