The social connections between the community
of practitioners,
the so-called sangha, are based mainly on the shared
ideology
and not on a truly personal level. A sure sign of this is that any open criticism
of the “master” or the ideology leads to more or less immediate distancing from
the other group members, or even to aggression.
~ Ralf Halfmann on “groupthink”
Recently, Christopher
Hammacher read a paper at the International Cultic Studies Association conference in
Montreal in which he presented two well-known cases of teacher misconduct taken
from within the Zen community*.
His paper
was of interest to me in that, beyond a description of the individual or group pathology
of students and/or followers, or the usual emphasis on the sleazy qualities we tend to equate with “cult leaders”, Mr. Hammacher elucidates some
of the subtler characteristics of these two Zen teachers that, unchecked, allowed their misconduct to continue, in some cases for many
years.
According
to Hammacher, some of the behaviours these teachers had in common were the tendencies
to:
become angry
and/or defensive when confronted with criticism
have a penchant
for formality or extravagance
blame the
student's own ego to deflect personal criticism
not practice what he preaches (is a hypocrite)
manipulate
the group to adopt an us/them attitude
control the
flow of information to students, with teachings emphasizing self-published
works
consider
himself special or exceptional (the rules do not apply to him)
adopt a non-democratic method of institutional
control
Although
the article focuses on two Zen teachers who have been the subject of recent
scandal, concerns about the unethical conduct of Buddhist teachers is by no
means limited to the Zen community** and is a personal concern of mine
because of the cult-like fascination with Buddhism in North
America.
Buddhism offers a rich alternative to our own religious and other cultural
institutions, especially because you do not have to believe in anything to practice it, but the aspiring student would be wise to consult Hammacher’s excellent article and pause to critically examine the conduct of his/her teacher or organization.
* you can download
the article from The Buddhist Channel
** See
this article on some of the corruption going on in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition