One of the most popular Buddhist teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area these days is not a Tibetan lama or a traditional Zen master but an unconventional, American-born lay teacher named Adyashanti. His public talks and dialogues (which he calls satsangs a term borrowed from India’s Advaita, or “nondual,” tradition) attract hundreds of seekers, Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.
In an inteview with Tricycle Adyashanti speaks of the role that ‘Zen practice’ played on his path of awakening:
“I’m deeply grateful for my Zen practice. It ultimately led me to fail well. I failed at being a Buddhist, I failed at being a perfect exemplar of the ten precepts, and certainly I failed at meditation, failed at all my efforts to bust down the “gateless gate” to awakening that Zen speaks of. And the fact that I actually got to the point where I failed—and I failed completely—was useful.”
May we all Fail Miserably!
Reading Tricycle, Adyashanti came off as a bit of a ‘new product launch.’ I noticed that the article was written by an acolyte and that there was an ad for Adyashanti’s retreats in the magazine.
Perhaps my on-guard antennae are preventing good things from reaching me, but it all seems so posed and new age and a product of marketing principles. Still, I cannot object to what Adyashanti says, and he does seem to say some great things in interesting ways.
But, is he truly a World Teacher, or just a guy trying to find a way to make a living? Dunno.