“You are a meditation teacher. Stick to what you know.”
Views from some respondents to Posts
I started writing weekly blogs/posts around 2006. The 1200 blogs/posts and more so far explore a range of themes – mindfulness, meditation, mental health issues, lifestyle, the arts, psychology, political issues, global issues and more.
I regularly receive messages offering criticism from the gentle to the abusive of the content of certain posts, mostly when containing a critique.
Photo taken in Thai Monastery, Sarnath, India. One of the roles - Insight Meditation (Vipassana) teacher.
After 18 years of writing blogs, I am making a general response in this post to readers
Respondents will sometimes refer to my role. You are a Buddhist teacher, spiritual teacher, meditation teacher, mindfulness teacher. Politely or otherwise, respondents have told me to stick with that.
To make clear. I do not consider myself as bound to any of the above roles, though I employ them according to the context.
I am a Dharma teacher. Dharma teachings cover every area of life, unconfined to any specific role. You cannot compartmentalise the Dharma. Inspiration for an expansive approach comes from the Buddha. Titles of some of my 23 books reflect the diversity of the Buddha’s Dharma – The Budda of Love, The Political Budda, The Explicit Buddha, Manual of Mindfulness, based on the Buddha’s teachings, and more.
I regard the Dharma as a voice, spoken and written, addressing every issue in life where suffering arises and pointing the way to resolve the suffering.
For example, wars start to end when both sides agree to a ceasefire or defeat of one side through unimaginable and intolerable suffering.
It happens regularly a person reads one of my posts and then fires a written rocket, soon after or later. Here is a common example since last year. I have written about the terrible suffering/genocide of the Palestinians and the urgent necessity to bring it to an end.
Messages claim I am taking sides, anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic. The first page of my post would often include a condemnation of Hamas on the obscenity it inflicted on Israeli citizens. In Dharma language, events arise to due to previous causes and conditions including before November 7 and after that date.
Readers seem to have forgotten what I wrote on the first page or elsewhere by the time they form their reply.
The Post and the Critic
Criticisms, gentle or aggressive, imply the sender knows better. The sender might know better. The same applies to what I write. As I write, it is very rare for a reader to send me an alternative view to my post. I take the view if you disagree with a view, then please state your view.
As a servant of the Dharma, I have a consistent view that has never wavered whether social, secular, spiritual, religious, political or global. There is the naming of the suffering and calling for immediate steps to resolve the suffering with a firm and unambiguous language. The base for such blogs/posts comes from reflection, inquiry, research and purposeful intent.
I regard the deliberate perpetuation of suffering from wars, abusive behaviour of those who control social media, damage to public health by sections of the food industry, harm/exploitation/corruption of people, creatures and natural world, as unethical, immoral and a confirmation of the consequences of the mind conditioned in such a way.
A Dharma teacher offers alternatives to the perpetuation of suffering, offers meaningful change wherever it arises.
In the Dharma, freedom of speech requires an ethical response, non-violent communication and reflective to contribute to wisdom and compassion. Attacking others, heaping of blame and identification with a harmful ideology reveals reactivity in the mind, not freedom of speech.
A Small but Important Request
Next time you write to anyone, blogger, group, organisation, corporation, Member of Parliament, government and more to criticise what you read or heard, please make sure you offer an alternative view.
We see an epidemic of complaining. It leads nowhere.
Dedicate yourself to finding resolutions and put the word out.
Keep writing including to myself. I appreciate some of the points you make. From time to time, I tweak a post due to what the critic sent without compromising the principle in the post.
Thank you.
Christopher I find your posts refreshing in that they call out what needs to be called out. They ask us to engage with the real world as it happens rather than a spiritual abstraction. Unfortunately we live in times where often we are asked to get on side without rational debate. The principles of Dharma seem to me to be relevant to today and are asking us to engage. Yes Hamas committed unspeakable acts on October 7th and they must be held responsible. Gaza is an unimaginable tragedy and it seems unconscionable to refuse to acknowledge the crimes now committed on a massively disproportionate scale. Enough is enough. We must work for peace and acknowledge our complicity of silence - which is akin to turning away. Thanks you and keep speaking out with reference to the principles of Dharma.
Important post. As someone who shares the understanding that Dhamma covers all aspects of life, as did Tan Ajahn Buddhadasa and Thich Naht Hanh, i find it rather sad when people only critique your different voices without explaining alternatives. Everything is Dhamma; compartmentalizing is often divisive and shallow. (And I must confess that I've erred on the side of more criticism than constructive offerings, though I've managed at times to express Dhammic Socialism a la Tan Ajahn.)
Compartmentalized Dhamma is dualistic and can be superficial, though rather widespread, e.g., strict separation between worldly and spiritual. Dig deep into Buddha-Dhamma and that turns out to be illusory amidst radical interdependence.
It seems that some folks, often early in their Dhamma journey, are looking for a peace that they can feel comfortable in -- I did and still do, too -- but struggle to find it in the big messy outsides, which means that deep down inside it's still messy, too. The Dhamma journey is anything but cozy and comfy if we embrace radical compassion. Compassion can hurt. At times should hurt while cultivating depth and joy.
And then there are the committed capitalists who take umbrage to that particular faith being questioned, no matter its rapaciousness and genocides. After 20 years back in the USA and two bouts with lymphoma, I've come to appreciate some of the benefits of capitalism and accept that it's the dominant system these days, yet feel Dhamma can help steer it away from the most greedy, militaristic, and ecologically destructive aspects. Beats me how a sincere meditator would have problems with that.
Thank you for your sincere explorations.