The teacher/lineage system in Buddhism (and other spiritual traditions) has continually been getting exposed as the corrupt and harmful spiritual circus it is. However, to dismiss the concept of teachers, or even lineages, altogether is just as harmful to genuine spirituality. 1/
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The idea that spiritual authority is all bullshit is just plain wrong. I don't mean authority in the sense of unquestionable power. I mean that there are clearly some people are more spiritually mature than others, and that are more qualified to individually guide than others. 2/
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We need to find ways to create effective, ethical, and transparent structures and institutions that embrace the indispensable use of qualified teachers. To have a system by which we can discern who is qualified is important. Otherwise the marketplace is a free-for-all. 3/
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This is why lineages were useful in the first place. The problem is that lineages have traditionally not always been subject to oversight and transparency, and the the guru always has the last word. There needs to be accountability and group leadership rather than dictators. 4/
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We need something like a spiritual democratic republic, where people who have a track record of being qualified to teach and morally mature are trusted to train and certify spiritual teachers in both practice and ethics. If any are shown to be corrupt, they are shown the door. 5/
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Teachers also need to have the resources to know what to do when something goes wrong (e.g. if a student requires professional mental health support). That way we have a complete and nuanced system for human psychological development. 6/
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I have no idea what such a system would look like, let alone how to achieve it. But this is something Western Buddhists absolutely need to be discussing and exploring (and thankfully many are, though sadly not many in the mainstream spiritual community). 7/7
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