Transition
The first step was to look at what was happening now and what had changed.
With the publication of Wake Up to Your Life, I had fallen into the belief that students would work through the curriculum it describes. The belief amounted to a systemization of teaching and practice and it didn’t work for everyone. No system does. I was presenting a path, rather than supporting the student in finding his or her own. This way of teaching felt lifeless and it encouraged precisely the kinds of projections that form in institutional settings.
With the office in Los Angeles, we grew used to having a place to meet and practice together. Without knowing it, I started to assume responsibility for providing such a location. The assumed responsibility pulled my attention away from working with students and created confusion in me about the direction of Unfettered Mind.
When I adopted the individual consultation model in the late ’80s, almost everyone who studied with me was beginning practice and beginning a relationship with me. Now, more than 15 years later, there are many students with more than ten years of practice, significant experience and understanding, students who guide others in their practice, and associates who consult and work with me on a range of projects. Clearly, more flexibility in relationships is needed.
Because of the emphasis on regular individual meetings, groups and classes, few people in other parts of the country were able to practice and study with me. Now, because of Wake Up to Your Life, the web site, the new newsletter format, and the availability of retreat talks on podcasts, interest in the approach Unfettered Mind presents is spreading across the country and even abroad.
Along with all these changes, things had evolved in me, too. Here are two examples:
- Explicit exposure to dzogchen deepened and extended my understanding of mahamudra. It has shown me how the line of transmission I received from Kalu Rinpoche, the Shangpa tradition, is a wonderful blend of mahamudra and dzogchen.
- My corporate work has helped me understand viscerally how difficult it is to change when you live and work in an environment where reaction is constantly being reinforced.
For several years I had been mentoring a number of Buddhist teachers. Internally and externally, it became clear that it was time to place more focus on helping people develop as teachers.
No longer able to ignore these tensions, I took a year of sabbatical from regular teaching. I spent the year thinking things through.
