The problem, seen over and over again, is that most students really, utterly fail at that. There are better ways to get from there to here, IMO, especially for people expressly conditioned to cling to everything. If you can integrate into the culture, say a Zen temple, OTOH...
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The inability to recognize the cultural contingents of practice is a problem that repeats over, over and over again. The failure of yoga in the West is a good example. Buddhism, too.
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Interesting point - please say more.
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I am in the fortunate position of being two links of association away from many of those tasked with this stuff; too far to be entangled, close enough to understand broad strokes. You can't just bring the practice into a foreign culture. It won't "click". Too much baggage. E.g.:
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- Metta, compassion and love-based yogic practice DO NOT WORK for majority of westerners. - Social structure inimical to gurus, ashram, sangha etc. Those that flourish often (really often) are cults. - Scientism vs. mysticism; porting language is hard, stuff lost in translation.
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Replying to @Triquetrea @SonOfEmerson
Well said. Your last bullet point is especially important, perhaps one of the biggest obstacles to Buddhism in the West. It certainly delayed my practice for a while as a skeptic without any understanding of the subtleties and nuances of dharma.
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There are most likely ways to introduce the theory behind it in an entirely different way that would achieve the same practical result (i.e. getting people to awakening), while making it more intuitive than mystical language, which may be more effective in other cultures.
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist @SonOfEmerson
The problem is the attempt to rationalize mystical or existential questions in scientific language. "Here's a scientific explanation for unobservable, difficult-to-replicate phenomena. I am not an idiot."
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As totally distinct from the attempt to scientifically investigate meditators, meditation, enlightenment et al, which is producing very interesting results (and non-results).
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I despise both the scientistic need to "legitimate" everything through the language of science, and the far worse destruction of scientific rigor through unfalsifiable claims, made on "scientific" grounds.
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Oh I totally agree. But if that's what needs to be done to get people to engage and potentially gain experiential understanding, then I'm willing to let it slide (within reason, obviously).
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