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34 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

ethical violations, or if the abuse
is extreme, or if the teacher is
unwilling to take responsibility, it is
appropriate to bring the behavior
out into the open.

In these circumstances, it is not a
breach of samaya to bring painful
information to light. Naming
destructive behaviors is a necessary
step to protect those who are being
harmed or who are in danger of
being harmed in the future, and
to safeguard the health of the
community.

Crazy Wisdom
The Vajrayana tradition has a
history of eccentric yogis and
The one caveat I would add here If physical or sexual abuse has
yoginis and teachers who used
is that it is important to be honest occurred, or there is financial
extreme methods to guide their
with yourself. Leaving a teacher or impropriety or other breaches of
students. The story of Marpa
community that does not seem to ethics, it is in the best interest of
asking Milarepa to build and then
be a good fit is understandable, but the students, the community, and
dismantle a series of stone towers is
if you find every teacher unworthy ultimately the teacher, to address
perhaps the most famous example
of your time, then you may want to the issues. Above all, if someone
of this. This tradition of “crazy
look deeper into your own patterns is being harmed, the safety of the
wisdom” can be authentic, but
to see what is going on. It may victim comes first. This is not a
unfortunately it is often invoked
be difficult to make any progress Buddhist principle. This is a basic
as a rationalization for unethical
on the path if you are looking for human value and should never be
behavior that has nothing to do with
perfection. violated.
wisdom or compassion.
Serious Ethical Violations Physical, sexual, and
The most important thing to know
However, it is another matter
psychological abuse are about these unusual teaching styles
altogether when a teacher is
not teaching tools. is that they are meant to benefit the
committing serious ethical
student. If they are not rooted in
violations. Leaving a teacher on
compassion and wisdom, they are
good terms makes sense when the The appropriate response depends
not genuine. Actions that are rooted
issue is just a matter of fit between on the situation. In some cases, if a
in compassion and wisdom—even
teacher and student. When the issue teacher has acted inappropriately
when they appear odd, eccentric,
is people being hurt or laws being or harmfully but acknowledges
or even wrathful—do not instill
broken, the situation is different. the wrongdoing and commits
fear or anxiety. They bring about
to avoiding it in the future, then
a flowering of compassion and
In that case, the violation of ethical dealing with the matter internally
wisdom in the student.
norms needs to be addressed. may be adequate. But if there
is a long-standing pattern of