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I may not have a chance to check this before going, but supposing I do, what would you<\/b>\u00a0ask him?<\/div>\n
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I made it to his teachings yesterday afternoon and the main stress was on cultivating greater harmony within<\/i>\u00a0Buddhism, saying that if Buddhism declines, it will be because of too much quarreling between the different schools. While he specifically cites the Tibetan schools as ultimately all pointing in the same direction, I think this applies well to all schools of Buddhism (and perhaps beyond?). \u00a0<\/div>\n
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He also told the story of some teacher who had a vision of 18 children pulling at a cloth (representing the various disputes of the 18 early schools of Buddhism). In the end, by some miracle it seemed, each child wound up with a full cloth. So, we should see all of the teachings as pointing the same way. \u00a0<\/div>\n
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Of course this doesn\u2019t mean that we give up our critical faculties and just accept whatever anyone tells us is right or good. Illogic and craziness still have their malicious effects. Instead it means we need to respect the paths of all people as a starting point for our dialogs, creating a trust and mutual harmony out of which growth can occur.We still need to debate.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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I had the great pleasure of having a couple meals with Clarke Scott<\/a>, a Geluk monk, fellow Ph.D. student, \u00a0and founder of the Australian Institute for Consciousness Studies<\/a>, and one of his many memorable one-liners was that only fools agree on everything. (Of course I disagree).<\/div>\n
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