MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY !

Monday, January 14, 2008

Tibetan Buddhism

Nowadays the word buddhism has become almost inseparable from the adjective Tibetan. They spread their religion all around western countries. Everyone who finds himself interested in buddhism in general will easily find books about Tibetan buddhism, and will begin there. And most people get finally stucked there. Here in Bodhgaya I attended a 10 days course to know a little more about them. It was in a center founded by lama Zopa, the lama who is in charge of all non-Tibetan monks all over the world. I had the opportunity to see him and observe how this center is conducted. And some stories told by a British nun who is currently staying in the ashram and speaks Tibetan since about 15 years, helped me also to draw a picture of Tibetan buddhism, beside the fact that Bodhgaya has been full of Tibetan monks since one month and a half. The result is very deceiving compared to the idea I had from France. I don't think it is necessary to tell these stories, but basically Tibetan people are very good traders. They have been in need since their country was erased from the map, which maybe increased this tendency. Anyway, they are selling their religion in order to get some money they mostly waste in things that would appear to anyone who is connected to the normal level of reality as total nonsense. They look like being more preoccupied by very abstract concerns, without even apllying what they teach, in the most basical aspects. They also look more and more to me as being almost swindlers, selling things 30 times the price they really cost. So many people spend a lot of money in their centers while making very few progress in understanding themselves.

Their philosophy is : you are all ignorants. We have all the wisdom. When you will become wise, which means understand us, you will think like us. We will be your masters. You have to surrender to us, and the bad news is that our teachings are so complex that in your entire life you won't even be able to touch the core of them. You should have been born Tibetan. It would have been better karma. We are so sorry for you. The philosophy of vipassana as teached by Goenka is : you are ignorant. But all the wisdom is naturally in you. You are your own master. You don't depend on any one. You just have to learn how to develop your wisdom on your own, which is the purpose of that single and very simple technique of meditation.

In a few words, their colors are beautiful, their books are interesting, but this is definetely not for me and everyone should be careful.

No comments: