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I'm surprised! I guessed the results would be different, with tech mindset and meditation more popular. I thought that way because 'Sutra to Tantra' seems more niche than meditating and working in tech. pic.twitter.com/ORH8g8zq34
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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But the results maybe do reflect a gap in available resources. While the poll was running I had a few DM discussions about how to make the transition from Sutric meditation practice to Buddhist Tantra: what resources teach the necessary change in attitude, language and practice?
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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The answer is: none that I can think of. That may seem like a bold statement because there *are* good Vajrayana resources and teachers. But the rise of Sutric styles of meditation practice in a non-ascetic public setting, outside of elite monastic institutions, is recent.
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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Hardcore, renunciative Sutric practice was, historically, mostly confined to monasteries. By contrast, Tantra was originally practiced by outcast types. It challenged convention, messed with politics, refused to submit to the tepid mediocrity of stultified social niceties.
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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Eventually, the monastic and political elite co-opted Buddhist Tantra into systems of governance and social control. Tantra was tamed, made respectable and safe, scrubbed and washed then dressed up for formal occasions in Sutric clothing.
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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Now the situation is interestingly reversed. Sutra has escaped the monasteries! Just as Tantra was not well suited to monastic life, Sutra is maladapted to ordinary, communal activity. Designed for tightly controlled social environments, Sutric practice fails in predictable ways.
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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Some successful recent systems attempt to combine Sutric practice with Tantric attitude, mindfulness concentration with expansive awareness; finding a middle way between renunciative control and transformative engagement.
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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This approach arises naturally out of the current melée of inherited traditions, including lineages of Western psychology. At its best, it leads to flexibility, dexterity with alternate applications, coherent adaptation with meta-systemic intelligence.
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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At its worst, it leads to confusion, contradictory attitudes, a lack of coherence, misalignment of practice principles with unrealistic ideas about how they function.
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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When I talk about finding bridges from Sutra to Tantra, I do not mean finding a middle way. I'm looking for ways to step outside the Sutric worldview, make a journey and get to a different place. The *end* of Sutra is the starting point of Tantra.
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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This is where I see the gap in resources. It is a common sticking point for many people approaching shi-ne meditation practice. Once you experience the dissolution of the self, it's hard to see anything else when you encounter emptiness.
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Charlie El. Awbery a.k.a. Rin’dzin Pamo
@_awbery_
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8. sij |
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Shi-ne meditation is not about self-deconstruction, it's not about outing the deceptive trickery of the ego. If you have already spent a lot of time doing that stuff, there's a deal of creative, constructive work required to get to the point where it's no longer relevant.
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