--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], off_world_beings <no_reply@> > wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], "sparaig" <sparaig@> wrote: > > > > > > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > > > > > --- In [email protected], "sparaig" <sparaig@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > Do you really think that peons get a chance to see the > > > > > Dali Lama these days, unless it is a publicity gimmick? > > > > > > > > Uh...Dalai Lama. The Dali Lama was a surrealistic > > > > figure in one of Salvador Dali's paintings, this > > > > melted guy in ochre robes dripping over a table. :-) > > > > > > > > > Past a certain size, organizational structure disallows > > > > > the boss from getting his hands dirty with the peasants. > > > > > > > > The last time the Dalai Lama was in Paris, I (whom > > > > one could pretty well class as a "peon," since I > > > > am not rich and am not a member of any established > > > > Tibetan Buddhist sangha) was able to see him in > > > > public several times and meet with him privately > > > > for a few moments. He didn't ask me for a centime. > > > > > > > > If a spiritual teacher becomes inaccessible, it's > > > > because he wants it that way, not because of the > > > > size of the organization. > > > > > > > Bull. > > > > > > I second that emotion. > > > > OffWorld > > > I find this utterly fascinating. > > What do you think it is that these two TMers are > reacting to here, and are so uptight about? From my > side I was just reporting what went down -- my > friends, who *are* involved with the DL and with > Tibetan Buddhism, invited me to go with them to > see him in Paris. After one of the public talks, > I went with them backstage and waited with them > while they waited to talk with the Dalai Lama. > When it was their time to meet with him, I walked > up, too, and gave him a kata and thanked him for > a particular book of his (and a particular part > of that book) that I'd enjoyed and he asked which > part and I told him and he smiled. That was it. > > The thing is, if it were Maharishi we were talking > about, I wouldn't have been able to have that much > time with him unless I had a check for several > million bucks in my hand. And I think that there is > a possibility that what Sparaig and Off are reacting > to is that they've never even been *that* close to the > spiritual teacher they've worked with for...what is > it now, 30 years? > > Guys, that's not my fault. It's the teacher's > fault. He doesn't WANT to meet you. Never has, never > will. Maharishi likes seclusion because he doesn't like > people very much. The Dalai Lama's more of a people > person. Different strokes for different folks, that's > all.
I might comment further that "different strokes for different folks" works for students, as well. As we all know, there are students of Maharishi's who have spent well over 30 years studying with him who have not only not met him, they've managed to not even be in the same lecture hall with him, even if they would have been sharing that intimate gathering with 2000 other students in the lecture hall. Something's always "come up" such that they couldn't make the dozens of courses during which they would have had the opportunity to see him. Why? Different strokes for different folks. Some seekers want a kind of "distant" relationship with their spiritual teacher, one that (in my opinion) allows them to *keep* him at a distance, and thus to never encounter anything that might be jarring to their selves' ideas about him or to those selves themselves. Other seekers want a more personal relationship, and for those types of seekers, there are more personal teachers out there in the world, teachers who are more than willing to meet the seekers and work with them on a more personal level. No harm, no foul, either way. Different strokes for different folks, be they teacher or student. But to suggest that once a teacher's organization gets to a certain size they *can* no longer interface directly with their students is silly and simply not true. It all depends on the teacher, and on the student.
