Buddhist Reformation

New offering at the Integral Spiritual Center, in the ISC Teachers Series, with Patrick Sweeney and Ken Wilber commenting on a question by yours truly. Intro notes:

From an Integral altitude, we can see both the good news and bad news of the situation that Buddhism in the West finds itself in. Having blossomed in a largely postmodern context in both Europe and North America, Western Buddhism has inherited many of the qualities of its green, relativistic backdrop, including the inherent limitations. In this week’s featured audio, Diego Sobol (a.k.a. Hokai) of Croatia poses this problem to Patrick Sweeney and Ken Wilber.

To begin with, Patrick reminds us, this samsaric realm is without end. The process of translating Buddhism in the West is beyond its infancy, but has reached somewhat of an adolescent plateau. From this plateau, one can become complacent, using Buddhist practice to avoid personal issues, and perhaps to reclaim aspects of power or control that one is insecure about.

Ken adds that the notion of structure-stages and states-stages is very helpful here. Few contemplative teachers—let alone their students—are aware of the vertical dimension of growth through structure-stages. As always, state experiences are interpreted from the stage that one is at; in this case, extraordinary experiences of awakening are interpreted from a green altitude, from which one is unable to see their own embeddedness. From this altitude, certain limitations become apparent. Non-conceptuality—and by extension, anti-intellectualism—is subtly identified with Emptiness, in defiance of a remarkable intellectual tradition. Absolutistic thinking is confused with absolute truth. And any challenge to the green altitude is taken as a challenge to Buddha nature itself.

The great teachers, in Patrick’s experience, all had a common denominator: they were unwilling to let themselves become permanent objects of awareness. In every case, they placed the onus of interpreting his experiences squarely on him. They insisted that he take responsibility for his own growth, and just when he would begin to get comfortable, they would pull the rug from underneath his feet. As the Buddha himself said on his deathbed, “be lights unto yourselves, that you may discover that which I’ve realized.” There are no guarantees on the spiritual path; in Western, green-oriented Buddhism, this is difficult to accept.

Patrick’s suggested way to move forward: a truly Integral Buddhism. But in its absence, the tradition has taken on several flavors in the West. In one form, “Boomeritis Buddhism,” a tradition known for its selflessness is adopted with utter narcissism. In another, a scientific materialistic view prevails, reducing profound states of consciousness to the brainwaves they exhibit.

When initially posed with the question of Buddhism in the West—and its green underpinnings—Patrick hilariously responds, “I myself am the question.” Few people have experienced this problem as directly and as consciously as Patrick. The stakes are enormous: as Patrick points out, understanding the context and its potential traps can take decades off of a student’s journey…

LINK to audio (members only)