Criticism can be beneficial
Making it and Taking it
I’m very familiar with criticism, both making it and taking it. I’ve spent much of the last 7 months writing articles critical of Rigpa for its handling of the revelations of abuse by Sogyal Rinpoche, and I’ve been criticised for doing so. I ran an indie book review service for several years, too, so I’m an experienced book critic, and some authors criticised me for that if they didn’t like the reviews I wrote. As an author of published books myself, I know what it’s like to have people make their opinion of your work known publically.
Giving and receiving feedback is part of many jobs, and the freedom to criticise is an accepted right in democatic societies. In some work places workers don’t feel they can criticise their boss for fear they might lose their job, but they probably feel quite comfortable criticising him to their co-workers, and if they thought something was very wrong, they might risk their job in order to point it out. In Tibetan Buddhism, however, when it’s taught without consideration for the possibility that the teacher may not be perfect, anyone who criticises their teacher risks a rebirth in vajra hell, the worst of the hell realms. Luckily for my future I don’t see things in quite such a rigid fashion.
Criticism in Tibetan Buddhism
In Tibetan Buddhism there is a reason for the instruction not to criticise one’s teacher. The idea is that students avoid the kind of constant petty criticism that prevents them seeing beyond their judgemental mind. It is supposed to be a way to help them see with their wisdom mind (see purely), but when it’s taught and understood as a blanket injunction without a real understanding of the point of the instruction, it becomes restrictive rather than enlightening. Compare “You must never criticise” to a more complete instruction: “Do not view your teacher with your confused judgemental mind, but with your wisdom mind, remembering the five wisdoms of the nature of our mind of which the wisdom of discernment is one.”
The fact that our wisdom mind can discern/distinguish/determine/recognise the difference between what is appropriate and what is not in any situation was completely ignored in instructions on this point in Rigpa, so no criticism was allowed at all, and when someone did make a complaint it was ignored. The result was not just the proliferation of abuse but also that the organisation stagnated, and Tibetan Buddhism is facing the same problem. If an institution doesn’t listen to criticism, it can’t grow, adapt and improve, and it certainly can’t stop bad practices from developing and continuing unabated.
Constructive criticism
All criticism may seem negative, but actually it is only negative when it is destructive, when it comes from a desire to destroy or denigrate. When it comes from the desire to improve something rather than destroy it, it is constructive criticism, and constructive criticism can be of great benefit. That’s the whole idea of it.
My aim in writing critical posts on this blog is to show Rigpa and Tibetan Buddhism where their faults lie so they know what needs to be dealt with if they are to be a truly healthy organisation and religion. Because the motivation behind my writing is to be of benefit, I see it as constructive criticism. It would be helpful for everyone if it could be taken in that spirit.
The changes I have suggested in recent posts are not of the religion itself but of how it’s taught, understood and applied in the modern world, and surely that’s the central issue facing the religion today. I make my criticisms from a place of deep respect, and my main point on the adaptation of Tibetan Buddhism to modern times is that effective change demands deep reflection on the absolute meaning of the teachings, for only from that vantage point can change be made that does not destroy the transformative power. It is not time for clinging to beliefs, but for examining the true nature of reality and how the vajrayana actually works with that nature to bring about spiritual development.
Feudalism and the fall of monarchies
All that needs to be pared away is the Tibetan cultural baggage that will do more to destroy the religion than it will to protect it, and His Holiness has identified the one concept that covers everything that needs to be examined and discarded — feudalism. The question becomes, what in the religion establishes and maintains the lama’s power (the king) rather than benefiting the student (subjects, attendants and slaves). The Western world saw how easily, given absolute rule with no right to criticise or disobey, a king or queen could abuse his or her power, and now we see the same in Tibetan Buddhism.
Too often people suffered because of unscrupulous monarchs, and out of compassion for the people we made changes. Countries that didn’t moderate the power of their monarchies, lost them completely in bloody revolutions. It’s quite simple really — change or die. Not death by revolution but by relegation in society’s view to the category of superstitious fundamentalism, at best, or, at worst, a cult in the word’s negative sense as a group harmful to its members and even to society. It’s not my place to make the changes, but I can point out that they must be made and why. That’s all I’m doing here. It’s up to the lamas and scholars to work out the details, assuming that they want the religion to be relevant in the modern world.
The man who dared to publically criticise the Queen
John Grigg, also known as Lord Altrincham, was a British writer and politician who will go down in history as the man who called Queen Elizabeth II a “priggish schoolgirl”. In an August 1957 article in his newspaper, he attacked the Queen’s style of speaking as a “pain in the neck” and blamed those around her for the content of her speeches. According to the article, the Queen’s court was too upper-class and British — it no longer reflected 20th century society and it damaged the monarchy.
The article caused a furore and was attacked by the majority of the press. The Duke of Argyll said that he should be hanged, drawn and quartered. Despite being a liberal Tory, he was denounced as a crypto-republican and a subversive revolutionary.
But ordinary people, who had found her speeches dismissive of them and their lives, supported Altrincham’s remarks, especially after he told a TV interviewer that he hadn’t meant to hurt the feelings of the royal family. In fact, he was a strong believer in constitutional monarchy and never saw his criticisms as disloyal; they were designed to help by indicating that changes needed to be made. Many years later in a Channel 4 documentary, he looked back on the incident, and said how by the 1950s the idea had crept in “that you couldn’t say a word against the royal family, let alone the Queen.”
Sound familiar?
The hopeful thing about this story in terms of the criticisms posted on this blog is that changes did take place following Lord Altrincham’s article. In the biography Monarch: The Life and Reign of Elizabeth II, author Robert Lacey said, “Inside the palace, some people realized there was truth in what Altrincham said. Within two days of the furore, the outspoken peer had been contacted through a mutual friend to arrange a private meeting with Martin Charteris, the queen’s assistant private secretary. Thirty years later, in the course of a political meeting at Eton, Charteris told Altrincham, “You did great service to the monarchy and I’m glad to say so publicly.”
From a basis of respect
Just as Altrincham was a monarchist who aimed for his criticism to help the monarchy be more relevant, so, too, my criticism is only aimed at ‘cleaning up’ Rigpa and helping Tibetan Buddhism become more relevant in the modern age. My articles here have only ever been in response to events that demanded some comment. I have written them not from some personal agenda but simply as a service to those without a voice and in the hope that our views will be heard and examined with an open mind by those able to make the necessary changes for a positive outcome for both Rigpa and Tibetan Buddhism.
When criticism is too much
Of course, even criticism meant to be constructive can become too much for the recipient if it comes all at once, especially if they can do nothing to fix the issues for which they are being criticised. The result of too great an onslaught of criticism can be that the recipient refuses to listen or if they are listening but cannot do anything to solve the problems, they cease doing that for which they are being criticised.
In some cases the latter is the best course of action. If we make a real hash of things, it’s better to call it quits than keep on making the same mistakes. Some authors, for example, are truly better off not writing any more books, and authors who don’t listen to their critics and re-evaluate their writing accordingly miss an opportunity to improve.
In the case of Rigpa, it seems to me at this point that the intended recipients of the criticism I’ve been voicing for many are not listening, so I’m going to stop wasting my time doing it. They have not ceased their business, either, but they are making some surface changes, so I must give them credit for that. At a certain point there is nothing more to say on the topic of Rigpa’s management of the revelations of Sogyal Rinpoche’s abusive behaviour, and the last two articles I’ve posted here, sum up the overall issues very well. Whether or not Rigpa pays attention to these issues and makes sure that in future it does not step over the line marking a healthy organisation from a cult is up to them, but they aren’t an organisation I could trust to have my best interests at heart, not so long as it’s being run by the same people that knew about and covered up the abuse for decades.
And so …
So I’m changing the tone of my articles here to ones that are more generally on the challenges students face on the spiritual path. There are so many gurus and teachers teachings all kinds of things, some of which sound similar and some of which sound contradictory, and there are so many approaches and view points that it’s no wonder that people keep searching, but for what? And how do we know if we’ve found it? And how can we trust any teacher if we give them power over us? There are many topics for reflection on these kinds of topics and that’s what I’ll be writing about here in future. Not as a wannabe guru — we certainly don’t need more of them and I certainly don’t want to be one — but as an ordinary person trying to live the best life I can and reflecting on the issues that raises.
I had thought to give up writing on spiritual matters entirely, but I do rather have an obsession with mind, and that means that I do tend to keep reflecting on things related to it, and since I’m an author, I do sometimes write them down, in which case I will share them with you.
