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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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist
Let’s talk sometime about my tentative solution to this: mapping the pre-existing network of learning connections. Google did this with PageRank by mapping in-bound page links. Same could be done with spiritual networks so that we get network-validated teachers. AwakeRank?

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Replying to @VincentHorn
That sounds awesome. I was really impressed by http://PragmaticDharma.Network when I saw it a while back. Looks like the map is not public anymore. Can anyone join the network, or is it meant for particularly high-profile teachers/community leaders?
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Replying to @Failed_Buddhist
It was a simple prototype that I had to put on the back burner. It was meant to be for anyone who identifies with the pragmatic approach.
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I see. FWIW I think it's a really great idea. Hopefully it finds a place on the front burner one day.
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