One Dharma, Many Paths
Fall 1991 Vol. 8 #1
Fall 1991 Vol. 8 #1
Introduction
This issue focuses on the different schools of Buddhism. We begin with a brief description of the Three Vehicles: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.
Features
Robert Thurman’s ideas about the organic evolution of Buddha dharma in Asia allow us to understand the relationships among the various Buddhist cultures and schools of thought.
Stephen Batchelor has practiced Tibetan Buddhism, Korean Zen, and South Asian Theravada Buddhism. He tells us some of the essential differences he has found on these three paths.
Western Teachers Forum on the Schools of Buddhism
By Sharon Salzberg, George Bowman, Ken McLeod, Barbara Gates, Jack Kornfield, Norman Fischer
Teachers of Zen, Tibetan and Theravada Buddhism respond to questions about their practices. An introduction by Jack Kornfield provides historical context for their commonalities and distinctions.
Reflecting on his spiritual map, Patrick McMahon hears one note repeated over and over in minute variations: that of repetition itself. Each path brings “the wearing of routine” into his heart.
Tensho David Schneider didn’t choose to practice tantra because he particularly liked it; rather it was because he wanted to work with Trungpa Rinpoche, an authentic Vajrayana master who, for all his outrageous behavior and notorious reputation, was probably the strictest of the Tibetan teachers in the West.
Sylvia Boorstein tells the story of how she fell in love with vipassana, a practice that suits her independent nature and taught her that “not being into hassling was a possible option in life.”
Vietnamese Zen Monk Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us to calm our emotions and grow seeds of joy, understanding and peace within, noting that breathing in and out in a mindful way can be a revolutionary act.
A “devotee of that anarchic spiritual vitality that organized religion seems to stifle,” John Snelling cautions Western Buddhists against becoming too hierarchical; “real sangha” is the friendly association of spiritual equals.
Jack Kornfield reports on guidelines, precepts and procedures that have been established to guide our vipassana community in matters of teacher conduct.
Brief definitions of Buddhist terms used in this issue that may be unfamiliar to some readers.
Poems & Not Poems
Mind
By Anne Waldman
This is the last section of Lokapala, a three-part poem, reprinted here by permission of the poet.
The Dharma & the Drama
Wes Nisker speculates that in America today, as in India during the time of the Buddha, a special combination of circumstances may have precipitated the sudden growth of interest in dharma.