u/Starlight_Climber

EDIT: ANSWERED. SEE FOOTNOTE AT BOTTOM OF POST.

So, let me start by saying that the purpose of this post isn't to criticize or offend anybody. Rather, it's simply seeking to understand. I am an ordained Buddhist myself, with many years experience. I'm also autistic. And am a freethinker who tends to think outside of the box.

And probably moreso because I'm autistic, over the years there's a social phenomena I've observed that I simply don't understand. In the Kalama Sutra, the Buddha said:

>“Now Kalamas, don’t go by:

>- reports, 
- by legends, 
- by traditions, 
- by scripture, 
- by logical conjecture, 
- by inference, 
- by analogies, 
- by agreement through pondering views, 
- by probability, 
- or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’

>(Rather), *When you know for yourselves* that:

>- ‘These qualities are skillful;
- these qualities are blameless;
- these qualities are praised by the wise; 
- these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ 

>— *then* you should enter & remain in them.”

>~The Buddha in the Kalama Sutra

To my mind, as an Autistic person, and a practitioner, this is perfectly sensible advice. Don't treat something as true, or authoritative just because a tradition or teacher says so. But rather if someone you personally trust, who's proven themselves to be wise to you recommends a practice, and you have tested that practice and found that it has proven to be effective, works, is accurate:—only then, should you do it.

And yet, despite that what seems to be eminently sensible advice; if I had a dollar for every time I encountered a Buddhist who acted like, "because a lama says so, it must be true", or "because the tradition says so, it must be true", or "because great master soandso said so, it must be true"...
—I'd have a lot of money to invest in a nice portfolio.

It's super common in my experience for Buddhists to take these very un-nuanced, black and white views about a lineage, or teachers. And to react with outright hostility if someone suggests there might be more nuance. For example that a teacher or lineage can be both right about one thing, and incorrect about something else. And that those two things are not mutually exclusive.

You see this a lot whenever there's a big scandal with a teacher. On the one hand you'll see people angrily denouncing that teacher, acting like suddenly anything that teacher ever said is false. And on the other extreme, you'll see people blindly defending that teacher and acting like everything that teacher did is some kind of 5D skillful means chess that everyone else is just too unenlightened enough to understand.

And I see this kind of mindset, even with people who have years of practice experience under their belt. Even sometimes with lamas, or Buddhist teachers, or lineage holders. And as an autistic Buddhist: I just don't get it. It makes no sense to me at all

Can somebody explain this to me like I'm five?
The Buddha specifically said not to do that.

"Pure view" means everything is Dharmakaya, on an ultimate level.
It doesn't mean that literally everything a lineage or teacher says is accurate or correct.

Again, I'm just seeking to understand this mindset, as I genuinely don't get it.
Just because something is old, and traditional: doesn't make it a true statement.
And just because a lineage authority figure says something: doesn't make it a true statement either.

To me, that's so obvious that to my mind, it doesn't even need to be stated. And yet in my experience, saying such a thing seems to almost short-circuit some people's minds, and I just don't get it.

EDIT:
So this post has been answered. Several people made some really good comments, but one in particular, kind of "popped the bubble" on this. Basically, The reason for this post, is because I didn't know, (I do now, thanks to a comment a particular individual made), is that some people seem to genuinely believe, that "their lineage" or "their lineage's authorities" have some kind of "exclusive access to truth" and that therefore everything those people say is absolutely true and correct, all the time, and that they can never be wrong, and nobody else can say so.

^Apparently, this is something that some people actually believe. Which is such an absurd idea to me, that in my entire life it never occurred to me that someone might think that way. Because (to me), the basic understanding that truth is accessible by anyone is such a basic truth of the world, that it's a bit like saying, "people need to breathe air to live" in terms of obviousness. That's what I didn't understand. And it genuinely blew my mind to discover that yes, apparently, some people actually think that.

So thank you everyone. And with that, lets dedicate the merit: By the merits of this discussion, may all beings achieve the mind of Dzogchen and swiftly be placed on this level.
🙏

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