Whereas the political hegemony of Consensus Buddhism is visibly over, its memetic dominance lingers. In particular, all the new alternatives seem to be mostly recycling mid-20th-century export Theravada. Harder-core versions maybe, but can’t we find other sources of inspiration?
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Harder-core Theravada adaptations like TMI or MCTB work well both because all the information is public and because there are online communities where advanced practitioners can guide intermediate ones, and intermediate ones can guide beginners, along with connections to teachers
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Replying to @jplewicke @Meaningness and
They also have Stage 4-style systematic maps of meditative techniques, stages, and effects. Obviously those are going to prove incomplete and need to be left behind at some point in practice, but they're really empowering for beginners/intermediates.
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Replying to @jplewicke @Meaningness and
For an atomized Vajrayana to take off, it'd need to rethink samaya and publish more detailed descriptions of currently secret techniques. It'd also need to find a way to make the transition from one-to-one guidance to one-to-many by providing guidance on public forums.
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The one-on-one guidance is one of the most important aspects to preserve, I think. The one-size-fits-all huge vipassana retreats have a place, but nothing is nearly as effective personalized interaction with a teacher. (Granted, I also have a financial motivation to say so.)
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Yes, this is the critical point. We haven’t got a social structure that we know works, and without that no teacher is going to step up to do the work. The issue is not “the guru model,” it’s apprenticeship.
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Replying to @Meaningness @OortCloudAtlas and
Vajrayana is not information and it’s not techniques. It’s a way of being. It’s probably impossible to put that on the web (although I have extensively tried!). We don’t know of a way to teach ways of being other than with individual attention.https://vividness.live/2017/02/03/tantra-techniques/ …
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Replying to @Meaningness @OortCloudAtlas and
Well, I can personally say that writings like yours on Vajrayana have been extremely helpful in my practice, so perhaps there are aspects that can be pointed to in broader ways.
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Replying to @JaredJanes @OortCloudAtlas and
Thanks! I’m torn about whether to write more. I mostly think I was pointing in a direction that doesn’t go anywhere (for lack of teachers) so it’s unhelpful and misleading in the long term. But maybe “helpful in the short term” is better than nothing.
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Replying to @Meaningness @JaredJanes and
I've found your writing to be a way marker, rather than an instruction. It's an invitation to set a course, by way of studying commentaries an older maps. It's made a huge difference for me and I hope you do keep writing.
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Thank you for the encouragement!
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