Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building A Healthy ... (ISBN 1559391391)

A Deeply Flawed Analysis:
I used to be impressed by Alex Berzin's scholarly credentials, which he seemed to combine with practice. Now that seems moot. In this book, at least, his scholarship and understanding do not impress me at all. What Berzin says about cultural differences and how those might affect the format and evaluation of the teacher-disciple relationship is plausible enough. He is right in cautioning the beginner to examine his or her potential Guru carefully. Tibetan Buddhist traditions emphasize the need for caution in establishing such a relationship, and we ignore caution at our own risk. However Berzin has gone way off-mark in his analysis of the "Guru-as-Buddha" or "Guru-as-Perfect" idea. It is not merely a salutory fiction, as Berzin suggests. Granted that "The Guru is Perfect" is a potentially dangerous idea, if applied to the wrong person. But applied to the right teacher, it is not merely an idea. It is a direct experience that is incontrovertible for the student blessed to see his or her teacher in this way. Here it is not merely a case of "seeing is believing", but rather "truly to see, is to see the truth". Seeing in this way carries a conviction and joy that defies all analysis. To see the Guru as a Buddha is to be in the presence of Buddhahood, which is universal. Based on what he says in this book, I would have to conclude that Berzin has never really been able to fathom the practice of Guru Yoga. Otherwise, how could he explain the practice of seeing the Guru-as-Buddha as merely some kind of intellectual exercise? To get to the point of seeing the Teacher as Buddha, one must throw all caution to the wind. One must take a plunge that defies reason. It sounds reckless, doesn't it? From an ego-centered point of view, it is reckless. Ego is the seat of our survival instinct, the instinct that keeps us trapped in the beginningless cycle of attachment and aggression. But the death of Ego in the expanse of timeless awareness is a risk worth taking. And it is hardly more reckless than remaining in an intellectual, rationalizing, denatured form of spiritual practice. Such practice is ultimately fruitless. It reduces spiritual life to a hobby, to a clever and sophisticated thought process. Taking the plunge into the vastness of the Teacher -- or "God", if you're a theist -- is frightening and difficult for most people. But it is a plunge that every authentic spiritual path requires. People who try to console themselves with rationalizations and psychobabble, such as Berzin dishes up here, will postpone their progress indefinitely. Who wants to be stuck in the traffic of ordinary concepts forever? What a drag. This is not merely a teaching of Tibetan Buddhism. All the great mystics are emphatic on this point: to know God, or Buddha, one must allow the personality of God, Buddha, or the Guru to eradicate one's selfhood. What Berzin and other Buddhists of his social-scientific, psycho-babbling persuasion do not seem to understand is that the "personality" of the teacher (or God) is not something that exists in time, and that consequently, the "leap" that one takes into that personality, the leap that shatters the shell of the self, is not something that one can willfully accomplish. One must surrender the self in the light of the embodied presence of Buddhahood in the Teacher. The self is thus burned away, in the same way it is effaced in other mystical traditions where devotion is a crucial factor. We cannot will this process to occur because will is a factor of the self. As long as there is a calculated attempt to revere the Guru-as-Buddha, such as Berzin outlines in his book, there is no real union with the Teacher's Buddha-mind, and no chance of enlightenment. Thus I think Berzin's understanding is fundamentally mistaken. In Buddhism the personality of the Teacher is the Three Kayas, or Embodiments of Buddha-nature. These are all-pervasive and already always-present in the teacher, as well as in oneself. So there is no contradiction in seeing the Teacher as Buddha, or in surrendering one's limited sense of selfhood to the presence of the Teacher as Three Kayas. However, Berzin misses this very crucial point which is made in all the Buddhist Tantras. He seems to think that Buddhahood and the Three Kayas are something that are to be achieved in the future through a process of Tantric mental gymnastics, by the creative imagination of creative fictions. He ignores what all the Sutras, Tantras and practical instructions of Tibetan Buddhism teach: that Buddhahood is uncreated, undestroyed, all-pervasive, identical with the true nature of all things. Instead, Berzin views Buddhahood and the relationship with the Guru through the ordinary lens of time, space and achievement, as though it were a credential to be gained like a Harvard Ph.D. The "Buddhahood" that one might achieve through Berzin's method is not even worth the parchment of a Harvard Ph.D. At least that parchment will get you published!

Goody-Goody Buddhism for the Dull:
There seem to be two schools of thought on spiritual teachers. There is the school of thought that embraces the idea that sometimes, a spiritual teacher must kick ... to get his or her message across, and that sometimes, the greatest teachers may be the most controversial. Cases in point: Jesus, the Indian Mahasiddhas, Marpa, some Tibetan Tertons, Chogyam Trungpa, etc. Then there is the school of thought that assumes that no authentic spiritual teacher, or no enlightened being, would ever kick someone's (behind) -- even if they need a swift kick in the pants, as it were -- and would never create controversy Why? Because kicking people's "isn't nice", and because controversy is confusing. Cases in point: Alex Berzin, many Western Buddhists, religious conservatives and dullards. I grant that there are some useful and sane perspectives on life to be found in this book. But it also is, I'm afraid, a book that will exacerbate certain prejudices and fears about teachers. This book encourages a mediocre, "middle of the road" approach to a subject -- the spiritual path -- that is not about mediocrity, that is not about avoiding risks, that is not about avoiding what is fearful. So I must give it a "THUMBS DOWN" rating... sorry.

Fascinating:
As well as a fascinating analysis of the many problems and misunderstandings that might arise between teachers and students from very different backgrounds, the book is also a treasury of detail on the history and culture which forms the background against which Tibetan Buddhism is practiced. One learns, for example, that when the thirteenth Dalai Lama sought Russian and British protection against the Chinese at the start of the twentieth century, he addressed the rulers of these lands with the honorific names of the Buddhist figure which indicated their natural roles. The Russian czars were considered to be emanations of Tara and Queen Victoria an emanation of Pelden Lhamo, an extremely fierce looking protector deity especially revered by the Dalai Lama's Gelugpa lineage. The author received a joint doctorate between the departments of Far Eastern Languages and Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Harvard in 1972. He lived in India for twenty-nine years, studying under his main teacher, Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpochey, and other lamas, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This book should be required reading for anyone seriously preparing to embark on the path of the Vajrayana.

intelligence minus romanticism:
Its funny how some of the reviewers here are critical of this book. They speak from an assumed superiority of knowledge, but I'd bet they have NEVER shown the commitment, nor have the experince that Mr. Berzin has. When such folks speak about the spiritual path and what relation to a guru is 'supposed to be like' I always have to chuckle. Mr. Berzin provides an extremely useful anthropological/spiritual text that is more than necessary considering how a few of the imported gurus who rode the wave of the sixties catharsis screwed up, and all the abuses of power. Berzin tells it like it is and when he refers to certain of these individuals, true to his Buddhism, he omits names. he also brings a perspective stripped of the usual unacknowledged romanticism and complete lack of critical thinking ability that is embedded in so much "spiritual aspirants today." When people talk about the guru and suppose they know how one functions it is so laughable considering none of us westerners share any education about, or any cultural context to support that function. If you were to read this book and reread it because you are interested in approaching a spiriual teacher it is hoped that you can think critically, with common sense and avoide so much cultic romantic thinking that has tarnished the valuable functional context of spiritual teachers in our world today. We need more texts like this which should be used in Guru 101 home courses before you end up more confused than ever in some community. In almost any other endeavor in life, we pragmatically research and plan our moves in life. We examine the pros and cons. We don't just but a house based on fantastic hopeful thinking without doing the research. nuff said.

A big need for this book for spiritual seekers - especially Vajrayana Buddhists:
I can advise the book from heart. It bridges in a very well founded way the eastern culture and western culture, it is based on authentic Buddhist teachings and grounded in a deep understanding of misunderstandings of westerners and the topic itself. I think it would be almost impossible to write such a clarifying book by a Tibetan Buddhist Teacher, because he would lack the deep understanding of the neurotic, blindly devoted westerner seeker who most time lacks the ability to look in a broader and differentiated perspective at that topic. Misused by two Buddhist Teachers it was especially Alexander Berzin and his book who cured me and freed me from wrong understandings and thereby deepened my spiritual way on a very basic level. It is very difficult for me to express my gratitude.