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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 9
Necessary Doubt
By Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (born 1943) Perhaps because of our Judeo-Christian background, we
is a Buddhist nun in the Drukpa have a tendency to regard doubt as something shameful,
lineage of the Kagyu school of almost as an enemy. We feel that if we have doubts, it means
Tibetan Buddhism. She is an author, that we are denying the teachings and that we should
teacher and founder of the Dongyu really have unquestioning faith. Now in certain religions,
Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal unquestioning faith is considered a desirable quality. But in
Pradesh, India. She is best known for the buddhadharma, this is not necessarily so. Referring to the
being one of the very few Western dharma, the Buddha said, “ehi passiko,” which means “come
yoginis trained in the East, having and see,” or “come and investigate,” not “come and believe.”
spent twelve years living in a remote An open, questioning mind is not regarded as a drawback to
cave in the Himalayas, three of those followers of the buddhadharma. However, a mind that says,
years in strict meditation retreat. “This is not part of my mental framework, therefore I don’t
believe it,” is a closed mind, and such an attitude is a great
Vicki Mackenzie, who wrote Cave disadvantage for those who aspire to follow any spiritual
in the Snow about her, relates that path. But an open mind, which questions and doesn’t accept
what inspired the writing of the things simply because they are said, is no problem at all.
book was reading Tenzin Palmo’s
statement to a Buddhist magazine A famous sutra tells of a group of villagers who came to
visit the Buddha. They said to him, “Many teachers come
that “I have made a vow to attain
through here. Each has his own doctrine. Each claims that
Enlightenment in the female form
his particular philosophy and practice is the truth, but
- no matter how many lifetimes it
they all contradict each other. Now we’re totally confused.
takes. What do we do?” Doesn’t this story sound modern? Yet this
was twenty-five hundred years ago. Same problems. The
