Metta, Arch,
I've been reading your site on and off for more than a few months. It's helped me learn a little bit about what authentic Vajrayana buddhism is about, inasfar as the guru/student relationship and the seeming requirement for knowledge and intelligence (if you're gonna spend 13 years deciding on whether or not to enter into a guru relationship, I guess they're expecting you to read a bit too.)
Anyway, there are some things that I find troubling about this site. Of course, I realize that they are most likely my own ego doubts and such, but I write this because I'm interested in them being corrected if need be. Without going into a critique of certain passages from the site or certain aspects of Vajrayana (as I have no doubt that I've likely misunderstood them in some way and would be roundly refuted at almost every point), it does seem to me that this is all more or less a vicious cycle of battle, for lack of a better word. By that I mean that you seem to be committing yourself to being at war with the forces of anti-guru people and such, no matter what comes or what karma is accrued. (Admittedly, part of it has to do with the fact that I used to be a Catholic, and apologetics was a part of that, closely parallel with your "polemics.")
Perhaps it would be better to maintain a golden silence against these samaya breakers and anti-guru people, and be thankful that those who do have faith will come to know the richness and truth of Vajrayana and thus attain? What does it profit to engage people such as this (by making your presence known) knowing that they'll probably accrue more unwholesome karma for themselves by their attacks against your site? Please, enlighten me.
Mike C.
Dear Mike,
The most obvious answer to your question regarding "golden silence" can be expressed in the form of another question: how would one distinguish that position from apathy and lack of responsibility in the face of deliberate distortion of Dharma? The authors who write for Damtsig - en masse - have many other writing projects and would rather spend more time on those. However, they see Damtsig and what they offer as a service aimed at correcting misinformation. Lacking such a service, we would have only Tricycle and the endless outpourings of the Western Buddhist organs of misinformation. We would not say that the choice to remain silent is a bad one, and many sincere Buddhists take that stance. It is simply not the only valid stance. To claim it is would be to deny a responsibility we each have: the responsbility for determining where the line lies which we, personally, will not let be crossed and still look away.
Damtsig could always initiate a section titled "Golden Silence" - and simply post a list of the names of those who agree with our position concerning the vajra master - but who prefer to remain silent otherwise. Would you be willing to start the ball rolling?
Regards,
Arch Stanton