Becoming An “Empty” Vase
Becoming An “Empty” Vase
Given
the present situation in the Tibetan Buddhist community concerning the many
scandals and controversies, particularly those regarding
the teacher-student relationship, I cannot hold myself from reflecting upon the
flaws of what I see going on. The student-teacher relationship is not meant to
be an easy endeavor. Nevertheless, I still fully trust the possibility of a
healthy, well-grounded and well-directed student-teacher relationship; and I
believe that in order for that to happen, much self-reflection is needed both
from the teacher and the student alike. With this in mind, I wish to share a
reflection about a commonly recited request that many Buddhist teachers make: Please
become a perfect recipient for the teachings.
Becoming a perfect recipient is expressed through
the metaphor of becoming like an upward-facing, non-leaking, clean pot. Patrul
Rinpoche clearly defines what it means to be such a pot. Being “upward-facing”
is described as listening to what is being said by the Buddhist teacher without
any distraction, to the point where “every pore on your body [is] tingling and
your eyes wet with tears.” “Non-leaking” signifies holding good memory of the
teachings and thus “retaining the meaning of what has been said without ever
forgetting it.” Lastly, he propounds the meaning of “clean” as sustaining a
proper attitude all throughout the teaching – meaning, getting rid of every
wrong thought – so that the nectar is poured into a pot that is not poisoned.[1]
From this perspective, the student becomes a perfect
recipient when she becomes totally passive or “empty” and allows the source of
wisdom (teacher) to pour the exquisite nectar-like teachings into her (student)
without any interference or resistance. There is something very beautiful about
this possibility: the student gets to explore pure humility or selflessness
and, with full trust, completely opens up to let go of her deluded habit of
interpretation. Yet this possibility, unless rare exceptions occur (exceptions
being that one is a very advanced practitioner), also carries some problematic
implications that shall not be bypassed, especially when addressing the
beginners on the path.
Becoming a perfect vessel – an upward-facing,
non-leaking, clean pot – signifies that one should undermine one’s personal
history and socio-political conditions, silence one’s wounds, and efface one’s
sense of individuality, since from all these above-mentioned backgrounds come deluded,
therefore suffering-inducing, ideas about the nature of phenomena. In other
words, personal backgrounds can be defined in Buddhism as kleshas
(afflictions), and are actually what prevent the vessel from being a perfect
recipient. If one is simply asked to put one’s personal background aside,
the one who attends the teachings becomes an ahistorical being who lacks any
trait of individuality. Hence, in order to be an upward-facing, non-leaking,
clean pot and put aside all personal history, one must constantly reject
oneself and become a mere passive subject of indoctrination. The passive
“empty” vessel is, therefore, silenced; whatever the vessel brings to the
Buddhist teaching is quickly discarded as unnecessary. However, the teachings
must equally address both the potential to be an empty pot and the present
“dirt” that one carries (history, wounds, individuality, afflictions…). In
fact, I believe this “dirt” is what needs to be addressed; it has to be
listened to (not to be silenced) and given a voice, for there to be an
authentic, stable transformation in the students’ own perception.
The problem with silencing or rejecting one’s present
condition and pretending to be an empty pot is that, at some point, all the
dirt that was supposedly put aside will manifest with incredible force and
voice. And that voice will be the scream of the neglected being that resists
itself to be emptied. Maybe that will happen when the teacher pushes our
boundaries or comfort zone far beyond our imagination, and her teachings feel
like a severe threat. At that time it will be hard to surrender ourselves and
become a passive receptor (an “empty” bowl) because further defacing our being
and our “dirt” amounts to the feeling of death — we are not ready to kill the
“dirt,” or what we identify ourselves with. As long as the teachings are presented
in a hierarchical way that prevents the subaltern to have a voice – to feel
herself accepted just as she is, with all that she brings and carries to the
teachings – I doubt that it will be possible to create a safe foundation for
the student to fully rely on and feel supported by the teacher, especially in
the mist of such overwhelming distress. The undesired consequence of such a
scenario is that the teacher-student relationship that had the potential to pacify
and liberate one’s own greatest fears, could end up generating more suffering
both for oneself and for other beings.
Worsening the above-mentioned problem, the pressure of
not becoming a perfect recipient is heavy and frightful. It is said that
if one fails to practice the Dharma according to the Dharma – in other words,
if one does not turn into a proper vessel – “the Dharma itself will create the
cause of your falling once more into the lower realms."[2] Said
differently, if one is not capable of putting aside one’s own present
background and personality, then one’s future life will be condemned to further
unbearable suffering in the worst among all the six realms of existence - the
hells. Letting aside the fact that the general public does not commonly accept
the existence of rebirth and future lives, I doubt that a
fearful-threatening-hierarchic-top-down message that is not open to dialogue
but only hits and despises one’s own wounds and way of being can be of any
benefit. Wounds and resistances are asking to be recognized and embraced; they
are asking to be hand-shaked,[3] not
shut down.
In addressing the beginners on the path, revisiting the
negative implications of requesting the student to become a perfect
recipient may yield a more open-accepting attitude towards the students’
personal background. A beginner can be obedient, fantasize with the idea of
being a good practitioner, and make-believe that he is a perfect recipient for
the teachings. Nevertheless, if the “dirt” in his pot is silenced and therefore
not acknowledged and embraced, it is possible that the student will remain
entangled with neurotic fears and hopes that will eventually rise to the
surface. In the best of all situations, the student may gain the tools to take
adversities into the path and digest the challenges; but it is also possible
that, not having established a strong foundational ground, the student and the
teacher may become further apart and, consequently, their relationship will
unfold further suffering and “dirt.”
~ Ceci from Argentina
[1] Patrul
Rinpoche. The Words of My Perfect Teacher. Padmakara Translation Group.
(Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1998) 9-10.
[2] Khenpo Kulsang.
The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech: A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva’s Way
of the Bodhisattva. Padmakara Translation Group. (Boston: Shambhala
Publications, 2007) 24.
[3] Tsoknyi
Rinpoche emphasizes the significance of developing kindness towards our
habitual tendencies. He interprets this possibility of kindness as taking the
time to listen to our patterns, to cultivate a state of openness and acceptance
in order to learn from them and, in this way, to shake hands with our
experiences and the stories that surround our experiences. For further reading
see, Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Open Heart, Open Mind: Awakening The Power of Essence
Love. (New York: Harmony Books, 2012).
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