Watch Them, See How They Behave

CASE

The 14th Dalai Lama was asked, “How can one verify true teachers?” He said, “Watch them, see how they behave.”

COMMENTARY

The 14th Dalai Lama was born in 1934. At the age of two he was found and acknowledged as the leader of Tibetan Buddhism. He escaped Tibet in 1959 after the occupation of the country by the Chinese. He has been concerned about the right transmission of Buddhism to the West and by the behavior of some teachers.

John Madden said, “Don’t trust someone who wears a cowboy hat and has no cow.”

Clear observation is an important practice. Press clippings, documents and reputation do not tell the whole story. The great Buddhist writer and translator John Blofeld would judge the teacher by his/her students.

VERSE by Dairyu

The true Dragon is not always the one you expect.
Gullibility and skepticism are passing fancies
Without minimizing or inflating
The heart within the corpse beats true.