Spiritual Corruption

All my life I have been on a spiritual quest, not actively attending courses but meditating reading and studying - varying levels - throughout my life. It deeply frustrates me to see how few people have started on this journey of maturity - most people being stuck in the conditioned instinctive adolescence prevalent in life as we know it.

As a professional schoolteacher you know sex with students is misconduct - and a criminal offence with students under 16. Is it a sacking offence now at university? I don't know. This suggests there is a problem. But I had hoped that a teacher on a spiritual path would be far more mature than teachers not associated with the path, but I know this is not always the case and have looked into some cases before.

I have never considered the Tantric aspect of Buddhism, I understand that it is connected to Tibetan Buddhism but I don't know how. Here is an article that vaguely describes the relationship of tantra and Vajrayana (Tibetan). My own emphasis is vaguely described here as the sutra path:-

"By "sutra" path, they mean following the Precepts, developing meditative concentration, and studying sutras to develop seeds, or causes, of enlightenment.""

Tantra is described as a "quicker" method, and for me therein lies the western problem. Needing to be quick.

I recently looked at the Bhagwan (now Osho) with the excellent series of documentaries "Wild wild country". I never did the Bhagwan so I don't know how true the documentaries were but they felt authentic to me. He clearly suited the "quick" western mentality.

All of this has been sparked by this Guardian article on the criminal who masqueraded as a Swami on Koh Phangan, Swami Vivekananda Saraswati. His teacher was a convicted child rapist, yet founded the school of Agama Yoga which Swami Vivekananda Saraswati used as tantric yoga to exploit women on Koh Phangan. This activist, Be Scofield, has (apparently) done much to publicise such spiritual corruption, and I thank her. It appears this criminal was sexually exploiting rape victims - that feels to me like a crime of the lowest of the low.

I can offer no advice on tantric. There are undoubtedly great teachers in Vajrayana but I personally do not like any Guru tradition. We have our guides inside, and we have meditation to find them. In our world where there are so few who have recognised that there is a path let alone followed it, it seems to me the greatest crime to use spiritual practice to exploit women. And for that reason I have written this blog.

The Buddha taught the 4 Noble Truths in which he recognised that the suffering in this world is caused by our failure to cope with craving - desire. And yet there are spiritual teachers for whom craving is a problem. It brings spirituality into ill repute. I have recently been promoting pathtivism as a way forward politically and yet people who claim to be on the path are just using it for sexploitation. The path begins with sila - an understanding and practice of moral integrity, western traditions don't always recognise this. Without sila we are still stuck in the adolescence of instinct, a life of maturity can only begin with sila - it is quite clear that a certain group of supposed teachers are spiritually corrupt and lack the required maturity.

I hope Be Scofield and others continue to expose these charlatans, and that more people in the West will find their path - and stop looking for a quick fix.