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14 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

are closely guided by competent our motivation. The roads to many alteration from outside influences,
teachers. And this kind of close unfavorable destinations are paved Buddhist or otherwise.
guidance is increasingly hard to with good intentions, so discerning
come by. Unlike in earlier times in intelligence and wisdom are needed While there is certainly merit in
Tibet, when lamas maintained a as well as an altruistic motivation. maintaining both the vertical and
lineage through ongoing instruction the horizontal purity of individual
to disciples who were in close In addition to the purity of our traditions of Buddhism, we must
proximity, today students rarely motivation, it may be meaningful also recall that the dharma—like
spend that much time close to a to speak of two types of purity of medicine—must be effective in
teacher, who may well be traveling dharma. Each Buddhist school, alleviating mental afflictions and
around the world visting centers for order and lineage has its own in cultivating wholesome qualities
only a few days or weeks at a time. sequence of practices leading to and behavior, and the purity of
liberation and enlightenment, and dharma must reflect these aims. For
Each of the major schools of in this regard we may identify a the past 2500 years, Buddhism has
Buddhism, and each of the lineages kind of vertical purity. This means been assimilated into a wide range
among these schools, has its unique learning and practicing each stage of different cultures, and in each
approach that differs in subtle of the path in its appropriate case it has adapted and taken on
but important ways from other sequence, without adding to it or unique qualities of its host society.
approaches. Given that the dharma taking anything away from it due This doesn’t necessarily mean that
is often likened to medicine, the to one’s own subjective biases. it’s becoming “impure” or diluted.
teachings of these lineages might Each tradition has its own integrity It may mean instead that, like a
be analogous to specific courses and its own series of practices that healthy organism, it is successfully
of treatment having their own develop organically in the lives of adapting to changing environments,
rationale and efficacy. Each of these its followers. The preservation of maintaining its own integrity and
may be effective, but only when it is that path of spiritual development is vitality as it effectively serves the
taken purely, without mixing it up often seen as maintaining the purity surrounding community.
with other kinds of medication. of dharma.
Such assimilation and adaptation
Given that the dharma is often A second kind of purity has to of Buddhism is taking place today
likened to medicine, the teachings do with not arbitrarily mixing on an international scale. Given
of these lineages might be teachings and practices from how rapidly this is occurring, there
analogous to specific courses different Buddhist and non- is real danger that the integrity
of treatment having their own Buddhist traditions. Adhering of the Buddha’s teachings may be
rationale and efficacy. conscientiously to one’s own lost when the teachings are diluted
What, then, is meant by the tradition, without importing any to the level of pop psychology
“purity” of dharma? First of all, the incompatible teachings from and when teachings from diverse
motivation with which we teach elsewhere may be regarded as Buddhist and non-Buddhist
and practice dharma is of great a kind of horizontal purity. The traditions are haphazardly mixed
importance. If we teach and practice insistence on maintaining this kind together. On the other hand, if
with the altruistic motivation of of purity doesn’t necessarily imply teachers of buddhadharma refuse to
being of service to those around us, a sectarian or elitist attitude. It may adapt to the modern world, there is
our dharma is pure in one aspect. simply be an acknowledgement of the danger that Buddhism will soon
But it’s possible to mangle the the internal coherence and integrity appear antiquated and irrelevant.
teachings due to our own ignorance of one’s own tradition, which is This is certainly the perception of
and confusion, in which case such seen as complete and flawless, many non-Buddhists, as well as
dharma is tainted, regardless of and therefore not in need of any some younger-generation Asan