Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building A Healthy Relationship. This item is unavailable.Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building A Healthy Relationship

This book explores the sources of misunderstanding and reexamines traditional Buddhist teachings to receal methods that can heal wounds.

Largely due to cross-cultural misunderstandings, a confusion about the proper dynamics of Buddhism's teacher-student relationship has become prevalent in the United States and Europe, according to Berzin, as have more serious sexual, financial and power abuses by Tibetan teachers and their Western counterparts. Women's demand for equal treatment with men has been dismissed by some Tibetan teachers, a cultural clash that has resulted in destructive relationships; teachers, isolated from Tibetan communities, have sometimes established authoritarian "fiefdoms," damaging to students' spiritual growth. These are among the problems besetting the teacher-student relationship, argues Berzin. This book is essentially a call for standardsAa "how-to" manual for the Western Buddhist seeker who is eager to establish a healthy teacher-student relationship (or for the adherent desiring to rebound from a flawed one). Berzin's own pedigree in apprenticeship and his spiritual teaching career qualify him, he contends, to identify "authentic" Tibetan teachings on his topic. He proposes to join these with insights from various schools of Western psychology in an effort to provide guidelines for the complexities of the teacher-student relationship. Berzin's compassion for the pain this crisis has generated is evident, but his use of Western psychology is too cumbersome and coarse to be embraced by those who demand intellectual integrity of their spiritual remedies. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.