tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post82807523311733364..comments2024-03-14T04:06:54.124-04:00Comments on GENKAKU-AGAIN (adam fisher): integrity in Buddhist reportinggenkakuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12135705172119950326noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post-22001140327637652762011-02-21T17:35:56.326-05:002011-02-21T17:35:56.326-05:00Dear Sad and Tawdry
No one knows the whole "...Dear Sad and Tawdry <br /><br />No one knows the whole "truth" -- not even the teachers who have been accused of abuse. Have they intimately experience all the suffering they bear responsibility to foster in others? No - so stuff is missing from their perspectives. When I cross a street do I know for sure I will be fine? No. Surprises happen. You make decisions all the time on partial information -- because we have no choice.<br /><br />If we would have to know the truth and the whole truth about everything to do anything no action would take place. <br /><br />Doing something on informed conjectures is often far better than doing nothing paralyzed by the fantasy/delusion that we should do/say something only under the condition that the whole 'truth' is known (btw no one has that 'truth'). <br /><br />Keep doing nothing Sad and Tawdry and the same mistakes will be repeated. One day you will realize that doing/saying nothing is as consequential as doing/saying something (even if it is on partial bases information-wise).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post-78875868341674017222011-02-19T19:25:17.815-05:002011-02-19T19:25:17.815-05:00You don't know what the "truth" is ....You don't know what the "truth" is ... Take a hint from Brad Warner on this one ... http://www.hardcorezen.blogspot.com/<br /><br />"You -- and I mean you dear reader, whoever you are -- do not know what happened... [We] only know what we have read about it. And that is not very much."Sad and Tawdrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post-15710169741853496162011-02-18T23:38:15.494-05:002011-02-18T23:38:15.494-05:00News not well received in some pockets of the worl...News not well received in some pockets of the world wide web, just as you would imagine. Solemn folks are so predictable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post-64519257612470037362011-02-18T17:38:15.694-05:002011-02-18T17:38:15.694-05:00I am so glad to see this open letter, because sile...I am so glad to see this open letter, because silence has been such a curse to our community. I do not see this letter at all as an attack on JT, but rather an attempt to contextualize JT’s comments and show them for what they are, a job that should have fallen on the shoulders of the Shambhala Sun editors. Any truth separated from context is a very self-serving truth, and this remembrance separated from the context of JT’s sad history with Aitken Roshi would simply be a self-serving remembrance, just as much as an “enlightenment experience” separated from the context of human lives eventually turns into a very self-serving “enlightenment” as I think JT would agree.<br /><br />This is not a matter of being positive or being negative, neither of which is healthy. This is about answering the clarifying questions, showing the depth of the truth through understanding the context. I believe for Aitken Roshi, life and death were the contexts of practice, a point sadly missed by JT, and brought out by Nelson Foster and Jack Shoemaker. For this reason, I am truly happy with this response. Thank you so much for saying the truth.Mike Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post-44648713540559260902011-02-18T16:39:21.627-05:002011-02-18T16:39:21.627-05:00truth telling is now "tawdry"?truth telling is now "tawdry"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post-84568387058528133342011-02-18T12:05:50.796-05:002011-02-18T12:05:50.796-05:00Oh please I'm glad they set the record straigh...Oh please I'm glad they set the record straight. I will be writing to Shambhala too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4904219782540965444.post-48053282710373610242011-02-18T11:58:46.910-05:002011-02-18T11:58:46.910-05:00I read Tarrant's piece with sadness -- for Tar...I read Tarrant's piece with sadness -- for Tarrant. To me it was clear that he had suffered some deep hurt in his relationship with his teacher. These things happen, and sometimes the wounds never heal.<br /><br />I was sad that Tarrant chose to expose his wounds so publicly, though he probably didn't realize he was doing it.<br /><br />From my experience with Zen Masters, they all have their shortcomings and shadows -- even the very best of them. So, Tarrant's perspective on Aitken Roshi wasn't surprising to me. But it was surprising that he and Shambhala Sun chose to publish it at the time of his death -- the lack of self-reflection on Tarrant's part and poor taste and sleazy journalistic standards on Shambhala Sun's part.<br /><br />The Foster and Shoemaker letter doesn't do anything to right the situation, though. It's just more vengefulness -- calculated to do as much damage as possible to Tarrant (and timed to perfection to paint Tarrant in Shimano-Genpo colors). I find this cycle of "settling old scores" tawdry, a poor reflection on Aitken Roshi's legacy and the Diamond Sangha school.<br /><br />Very sad, indeed.Sad and Tawdrynoreply@blogger.com