REFLECTION JUNE 26

Unlike any other faith tradition, the body in Buddhadharma is, more than anything, the location of learning and awakening. In our practice we are taught to align our bodies with the Buddhas and dharma teachers. This is typical of the Asian way of learning. In the West we treat knowledge as an abstract block of information, facts and techniques. We believe these stand independent of teachers and can be learned and taught by anyone. This is the assumption of many people and groups who think they can approach Dharma as an objective study, learning the list of data they call Buddhism and following descriptions of practice in books.

In Asian teaching this is considered at least foolishly misguided , if not a waste of time. Whether its dharma or karate or sumi-e painting, the teacher is the learning and the practice. We don't study facts or theories, we study the embodiment of the practice and knowledge in the teacher. For example, an apprentice chef will spend his first two years doing nothing but cleaning up after the teacher. Call it mediaeval, this method insist the student align his body with the living moving body of the teacher, not reading books about cooking.

The body of the advanced teachers, especially the Great Teacher, is the means of learning. We approach Awakening by em-body-ing the practice model of our teachers, never by pouring over books or DVD's, by making up practice based on "what feels right to me". Our tradition is above all a lineage, we learn by following those who have preceded us and how they have em-body-ed the Way in their lives.

from this body,
Innen