Social Media Guidelines for So-Called Vajrayana Practitioners”

[sonamdhargey]

Interesting read about social media guidelines for Vajrayana Practioners.

I find some of the guidelines useful. I find this particular guidline arguable: "Don’t boast about your guru: No matter how great you think your guru is, it would probably serve better for you to keep your devotion to yourself. Remember that being buddhist is not joining a cult. If you think your guru is better than another’s, you probably think your equanimity and pure perception are better than another’s."

What do you all think? Do you think it is a good guideline?

If you think or believe that you are a student of Vajrayana — whether or not that’s true is another matter, but as long as you think you are a Vajrayana practitioner — it becomes your responsibility to protect this profound tradition.

It’s important to maintain secrecy in the Vajrayana. The Vajrayana is called “the secret mantra yana” because it is intended to be practiced in secrecy. It is not secret because there is something to hide, but in order to protect the practitioner from the pitfalls and downfalls that ego can bring to the practice. In particular, practitioners tend to fall prey to “spiritual materialism,” where their practice becomes just another fashion statement intended to adorn their egos and make them feel important, or have them feel that they’re part of a “cool” social tribe, rather than to tame and transform their minds. When practiced in this way, the Vajrayana path becomes worse than useless.

Also, the Vajrayana teachings are “hidden” in the sense that their meaning is not apparent to someone who has not received the appropriate teachings. It’s like a foreign language. Because some of the imagery and symbolism can seem strange or even violent to the uninitiated, it’s generally recommended to keep it hidden so that it doesn’t put off newer practitioners, who might develop wrong views about the Buddhist path in general and the Vajrayana path in particular.

While posting on social media, please bear in mind that you are not only posting for your own reading pleasure, but to the whole wide world who most likely don’t share your amusement over crazy photos, nor your peculiar adoration and fantasies of certain personalities you call as guru.

Given this, here are some suggestions I offer fellow so-called Vajrayana students about how you can protect yourself — both by avoiding embarrassment and by protecting your Dharma practice — and also protect the profound Vajrayana tradition:

(1) Maintain the secrecy of the Vajrayana (this includes secrecy about your guru, your practice, tantric images, empowerments you have received, teachings you have attended, etc.)

- Don’t post tantric images: If you think posting provocative tantric images (such as images of deities with multiple arms, animal heads, those in union, and wrathful deities) makes you important, you probably don’t understand their meaning.

- Don’t post mantras and seed syllables: If you think mantras and seed syllables should be posted on Facebook as mood enhancement and self-improvement aids, a makeover or haircut might do a better job.

- Don’t talk about your empowerments: If you think images from your weekend Vajrayana empowerment are worthy of being posted up next to photos of your cat on Facebook, you should send your cat to Nepal for enthronement. Unless you have obtained permission from the teacher, do not post any photo, video or audio recording of Vajrayana empowerments, teachings or mantras.

- Don’t talk about profound/secret teachings you may have received: Some people seem to find it fashionable to hang words like “Dzogchen” and “Mahamudra” in their mouths. If you have received profound instructions, it is good to follow those instructions and keep them to yourself.

(2) Avoid giving in to the temptations of spiritual materialism and using Dharma in service of your ego (do not attempt to show off about your guru, your understanding, your practice etc. Likewise, do not speak badly of other practitioners or paths.)

- Don’t share your experiences and so-called attainments: If you think declaring what you think you have attained is worthwhile, you may have been busy bolstering your delusion. Trying to impress others with your practice is not part of the practice. Try to be genuine and humble. Nobody cares about your experiences in meditation, even if they include visions of buddhas, unicorns or rainbows. If you think you are free of self deception, go ahead, think again.

- Don’t boast about your guru: No matter how great you think your guru is, it would probably serve better for you to keep your devotion to yourself. Remember that being buddhist is not joining a cult. If you think your guru is better than another’s, you probably think your equanimity and pure perception are better than another’s.

- Don’t attempt to share your so-called wisdom: If you think receiving profound teachings gives you license to proclaim them, you will probably only display your ignorance. Before you “share” a quote from the Buddha or from any of your teachers, take a moment to think if they really said those words, and who the audience was meant to be.

- Don’t confuse Buddhism with non-Buddhist ideas: No matter how inspired you might be of rainbows and orbs, and how convinced you are about the end of the world, try not to mix your own fantasies/idiosyncracies with Buddhism.

- Be respectful to others: Without Theravada and Mahayana as foundation, there would be no Vajrayana. It would be completely foolish of Vajrayana practitioners to look down on or show disdain towards Theravada and Mahayana. If you think attacking other Buddhists will improve Buddhism, do a service for Buddhism, take aim at your own ego and biasedness instead.

- Don’t create disharmony: Try to be the one who brings harmony into the sangha community with your online chatter, instead of trouble and disputes.

- Always be mindful of your motivation: Please do not attempt to display “crazy wisdom” behaviors online, just inspire others to have a good heart. If you think you are posting something out of compassion, try first to make sure you are doing no harm. Whenever you can’t let go of the itch to post something, make sure that it helps whoever who reads it and the Dharma.

SOURCEhttp://shambhalasun.com/news/?p=42619#more-42619

[Ensapa]

I find these guidelines very useful and applicable to any Buddhist forum around, especially those of Tibetan Buddhists.  the sancity of Vajrayana should be kept as thus. I know that since books on tantra are everywhere and there are people with itchy fingers who would want to read those books then ask about deities specific to those tantras that are not supposed to be disclosed to anyone. Quoting from a tantric text may sound exotic or wise to some people, but that is not to be done because those are meant to be practiced and not shown off to anyone. I really hope that Dharmawheel would actually take these guidelines to heart and remove the tantra and dzogchen section of the forum as these are NOT up for discussion in reality.

[Q]

Haha... I didn't have to scroll right to the bottom to know that this is written by one of Chogyam Trugpa Rinpoche's students lol!

Very interesting guideline. Basically, the whole long post boils down to one word "humility". And for those who do not observe humility, this guideline will be most useful to them.

It is true that I have seen many times, lay students putting down another person's Guru just to put their Guru in a superior position, without realizing that just by doing so, it has put down their lama. The student is the 'reflection' of the Guru, just like how a child is the reflection of a parent. Although of course there are cases where the student is just a bad apple, after all, high lamas tend to keep the most difficult people close to them our of compassion.

Thank you for sharing this guideline. It certainly is great to read up on something so clear cut and that can be applied and practiced immediately.

[Ensapa]

funny that on this article, it says that the author is Dzongzar Jamyang Khyentse: http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=6,11283,0,0,1,0

Yes Q got it right. It all boils down to humility. However, many people dont really realize that Buddhist practice is about modifying their own behaviors and habits. They rather go 'the easy way' by getting caught in the more superficial teachings of Buddhism. It is more or less a choice for them to get caught in that way. It's easier to talk about tantric deities as if we're experts in that or act in ways of 'crazy wisdom' in places like a forum as a huge boost to our ego than to actually realize that doing so is more than often counterproductive. I'm really glad that nobody falls into those traps in this forum.

[dondrup]

Internet Social media has become a common and popular communication platform for many people today.  It is easy to share information on Vajrayana Buddhism through internet social media.  If Vajrayana practitioners are not mindful they will inevitably commit the mistakes of openly talking about or sharing information on aspects of Vajrayana Buddhism not permitted by the teachings.   That will cause a downfall in holding their vows and commitments.  I think these guidelines are useful and relevant.  They serve to remind Vajrayana practitioners who had taken tantric initiations to keep their tantric vows and commitments purely.

[Benny]

This is really timely for me as I am relatively new to Vajrayana Buddhism and this is really a very logical and important guideline. If not for this guideline , I would dare say that I thought that it was a norm for some Vajrayana Buddhist to act precisely what the guidelines tell us to avoid .

Thank you , Sonam Dhargey for sharing this post . I learned a new term "spiritual materialism" , LOL ! It is become a trend of sorts , all you need to do is just brose around the net and you will read of people talking about their "kundalinis" and all types of experiences related to their meditational practices. Totally agree that it all boils down to being humble , thats the whole point in the first place .

[Tenzin Malgyur]

These are very interesting observations and guidelines and certainly useful for me. My favorite is the one on being mindful of our motivations all the time. This advice applies to everyone, whether we are Buddhist or not. For if one is not careful and post articles that can harm others, it defeats all the purpose of being in the World Wide Web and spreading the good word and teachings of any religion.

[Big Uncle]

Don’t boast about your guru: No matter how great you think your guru is, it would probably serve better for you to keep your devotion to yourself. Remember that being buddhist is not joining a cult. If you think your guru is better than another’s, you probably think your equanimity and pure perception are better than another’s

I don't fully agree with this but I do agree that we shouldn't put down any Gurus no matter how they act. I am in no position to tell if the actions of a particular Guru is not the result of higher attainments like Chogyam Trungpa. Chogyam Trungpa taught prolifically and also was a great master to many students despite his more controversial behavior, which in today's interpretation is his skillful means to connect with the students of his time. Therefore, since we don't have the level to check the Guru, so it would better not to criticize even if we find that the Guru's methods do not suit us. It may not suit us but it will definitely suit others.

On the other hand, I think there's nothing wrong to promote our Guru, especially in sharing with others the special qualities of our Guru's teachings and attributes. All High Lamas have risen to to their level of popularity because of the hype and promotion that the students have provide so their Guru is admired and respected. With this, the Guru who has no ego will be able to bring even more people to the Dharma. This is very much needed for out times because that how the mind operates. Even when our Gurus do not want the fame, it would still be our duty to promote our lama because in the end, the Lama's compassion will reach out and benefit the amount of people who are attracted. However, we must always promote qualities and stories that are real and not make belief tales. The truth will always be the one that will bring people to the Dharma.

[RedLantern]

I agree wholeheartedly with the respect,harmony , compassionate guidance and the acceptance of other traditions,Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche's words are based on kindness.
He advise not to trivialise the profound teachings of the Buddha.It is a great advise to focus on our minds.
If we think or believe that we are a student of Vajrayana-whether or not that's true is another matter,but as long as we  think we are a Vajrayana practitioner-it becomes our responsibility to protect this profound tradition.I find this post very useful,it is great to finally have some guidelines in this wild internet age.

[Midakpa]

These days, one can find information on just about any type of practice on the internet so much so that the secret practices are not secret any more. There is one advantage to this. The practice gets to be preserved. The danger is that the wrong type of people may get hold of the teachings and practice on their own without guidance from a qualified guru.   

These guidelines are useful for Vajrayana practitioners. It is important to overcome ones's ego and not boast of our "attainments" even though we do have them. In the Pratimoksha vows, one of the rule is not to reveal to a layperson one's attainments especially if it is factual. I believe that if we boast of our practice, we will lose whatever we have achieved.

In any practice, whether Vajrayana or not, the important thing is not to strive for superhuman qualities (although these will arise automatically as a result of our practice) but to develop universal qualities like kindness, love and compassion for living beings.

[psylotripitaka]

True, but ignored most of the time.

We don't cover our commitment objects such as images, implements, texts etc. Instead, we ignore such advice and commitments about secrecy and let anybody see our stuff, we post tantric images on our Facebook and elsewhere on the web, we post pictures and videos of fire pujas and mandalas and Lamas giving secret initiations all over public forums.

What makes it ok to do these things?

[psylotripitaka]

In other words, what types of circumstances do you think are exceptions?

[Ensapa]

Don’t boast about your guru: No matter how great you think your guru is, it would probably serve better for you to keep your devotion to yourself. Remember that being buddhist is not joining a cult. If you think your guru is better than another’s, you probably think your equanimity and pure perception are better than another’s

I don't fully agree with this but I do agree that we shouldn't put down any Gurus no matter how they act. I am in no position to tell if the actions of a particular Guru is not the result of higher attainments like Chogyam Trungpa. Chogyam Trungpa taught prolifically and also was a great master to many students despite his more controversial behavior, which in today's interpretation is his skillful means to connect with the students of his time. Therefore, since we don't have the level to check the Guru, so it would better not to criticize even if we find that the Guru's methods do not suit us. It may not suit us but it will definitely suit others.

On the other hand, I think there's nothing wrong to promote our Guru, especially in sharing with others the special qualities of our Guru's teachings and attributes. All High Lamas have risen to to their level of popularity because of the hype and promotion that the students have provide so their Guru is admired and respected. With this, the Guru who has no ego will be able to bring even more people to the Dharma. This is very much needed for out times because that how the mind operates. Even when our Gurus do not want the fame, it would still be our duty to promote our lama because in the end, the Lama's compassion will reach out and benefit the amount of people who are attracted. However, we must always promote qualities and stories that are real and not make belief tales. The truth will always be the one that will bring people to the Dharma.

I dont think that is what DJKR meant. I think he meant people who tells others that their own Guru is better than all other Gurus and on that basis put down other Gurus. I dont think so there is anything wrong with promoting your own Guru on the  net or via social media etc as long as it does not overstep boundaries and offend the other person. We should not promote our Guru in a fanatical way as if he is the only Lama on earth that can save sentient beings and all other Lamas are ineffective and everyone should go to our own Lama for refuge. I think that is what DJKR meant in that sentence because it would be funny if we are not allowed to share with others our Lama's good qualities.

[Q]

I found this very funny picture on Facebook lol... Couldn't help it but to post it here

[Aurore]

I feel the use of social media for vajrayana practitioners should be dependent on good motivation which is to share and engage with others the benefits of Buddhism. Otherwise, why would a sincere Vajrayana practitioner want to have anything to do with social media? To waste time idle chatting, gossiping, venting or displaying romance?

I think it's ok to post stuff which are relevant, valuable and useful to others ... JUST DON'T OVERDO it.

Most of what these guidelines stated are definitely useful but it's common sense really. Just apply what "real" practitioners should be doing. Remain humble, respectful and nice. Otherwise, it will definitely reflect badly on Buddhism just because of a bunch of ego trippers.