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Dr. Alexander Berzin on Issues in Relating to a Spiritual

Teacher: Part 1.
7-8 minutes ⋮ 9/12/2017

The importance of understanding

Many factors come together to create a situation where abusive behaviour can occur and can continue to
occur and be covered up for forty years. In a Tibetan Buddhist community, cultural differences in student
expectations and understanding of the student teacher relationship is a big factor, as is how the community
understands some core Vajrayana concepts. In the next few posts I want to share information from Dr
Alexander Berzin that might deepen our readers’ understanding of these factors.
I believe that only by understanding the situation fully can we find the way out of this mess of distortion that
will likely do more to destroy Buddhism in the West than anything else. After all, abuse is illegal in the West,
so how can any organistion who believes that behaviour recognised as abuse by the majority of the Western
population is acceptable possibly survive long term? Even if they have removed the abuser from their role in
the organisation, for so long as the misunderstandings that led to the situation are propagated, the same
thing can happen again elsewhere.

Introducing Dr Berzin
In order to gain this understanding, I turn to Dr. Alexander Berzin (1944 – present), a Buddhist translator,
teacher, scholar and practitioner with more than 50 years of Buddhist experience. After receiving his Ph.D.
at Harvard, Dr. Berzin spent 29 years in India training under the guidance of some of the greatest Tibetan
masters of our times. There he served as occasional interpreter for H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama and His tutors.

He is the founder and author of the Berzin Archives and studybuddhism.com and author of many books
including Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2000; Second
reprint, Wise Teacher, Wise Student: Tibetan Approaches to a Healthy Relationship. Ithaca: Snow Lion,
2010. It is this book that provides the basis of the next few blog posts. Find out more about him
here. https://studybuddhism.com/en/dr-alexander-berzin/who-is-alexander-berzin
This book provides an in depth look at the student teacher relationship from the perspective of all the
different schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is the best source I have found so far in that the author
understands both the Western perspective and has a deep understanding of Tibetan Buddhism. He is aware
of the pitfalls Western students fall into and gives clarifications so that we can avoid these pitfalls and
common misunderstandings.
The whole book is free on his website. It starts on this page https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-
studies/lam-rim/student-teacher-relationship/factors-affecting-a-relation-with-a-spiritual-teacher and if you go
to the bottom of the page it shows links to the next parts of the book. Or you can purchase a Kindle copy
HERE It’s also available in paperback.
In these posts I will share some main points on the different chapters and direct you to the relevant chapter,
but if you want to read the whole thing, I think it would be most beneficial.

Is there something wrong with the religion or is it how we

understand it that is wron?
If you are feeling that there is something seriously wrong with the whole Tibetan Buddhist system, this series
of posts may reassure you that the religion is not the problem here, rather it is cultural and psychological
differences, a misunderstanding of the religion, and a hijacking of it in the service of one individual.
If you are one of those who are determined to prevent this happening again in any Buddhist organisation,
you will find Berzin’s words provide a vital understanding of the dynamics at play

The Factors Affecting a Relation with a Spiritual Teacher

He starts with a look at The Factors Affecting a Relation with a Spiritual Teacher. Click the link to read the full
chapter.
In this chapter, he covers the following points:

The modern Western situation for studying with a spiritual teacher is completely different from the
traditional Asian one;
Dangers are exacerbated, in the case of the Tibetan tradition, by texts on “guru-devotion.” The
audience for such texts was committed monks and nuns with vows, needing review in preparation for
tantric empowerment. The instructions were never intended for beginners at a Dharma center.

He introduces a nontraditional scheme (that is not included in the book) for analyzing and problem-
solving the issue, suggested by and expanded from the work of the Hungarian psychiatrist Dr. Ivan
Boszermenyi-Nagy, one of the founders of family therapy and contextual therapy. Here he looks at the
aims and expectations of the relationship for each party, the roles and level of committment they take,
and the psychological factors affecting the relationship.
This would be an excellent model for Rigpa to use when looking into any issue a student has with a
teacher.
Then he asks: “Do they student and teacher together form:

A good or bad team

A team in which both bring out the best abilities in each other or which hinders each other’s
abilities
A team which wastes each other’s time because of different expectations
A team in which a hierarchic structure is maintained and in which the student feels exploited,
controlled and thus inferior (reinforcing low self-esteem), and the teacher feels him or herself to
be the authority and superior – note that what one side feels may not correspond to what the
other feels
A team in which one or both feel inspired or drained.”

Cultural and historical perspectives and the Rise of Confusion

This brilliant run down of cultural and historical factors helped me to understand why abuse could
happen in a Tibetan Buddhist context. It also shows that the issues go far beyond what can be fixed
with a code of conduct. We will have to be much bolder than that if we are to turn this debacle into
something that will benefit rather than destroy the dharma.

Berzin concludes:
“The recurring misconduct has led some Dharma practitioners to become indifferent. No longer
believing in anyone, many find their spiritual practice has weakened and become ineffective.
Resolution of the problems and a healing of wounds are desperately needed so that sincere seekers
may get on with the work of spiritual development. The student-teacher relationship as understood
and developed in the West needs re-examination and perhaps revision.”

Be sure to check out the What Now? References page for links to a wealth of articles in the topics
related to abuse in Buddhist communities. For links to places to assist in healing from abuse
see the sangha care resources page.
More personal and private support for current and previous students of Rigpa can be found in the
 What Now? Facebook group. Please contact us via the contact page and ask for an invite. Please
use the email address you use on Facebook.

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