TurquoiseB: >> The student creates it all... > So, it's all in the student's mind - the teacher never has an effect on the student. It's the *perception* on the part of the student.
But, perception is reality. For, example, there are several students that make the claim to having seen Rama fly up into the air and hover. So, the perception of Rama levitating wasn't because of Rama being enlightened; it was because the student had been conditioned by the teacher to believe that Rama could fly and turn lecture halls into golden light. But, in reality the Zen Master Rama never did "diddleysquat". If so, we must assume that your story about Rama levitating was just an example of 'Dumbo's feather' - it didn't really happen, except in your mind - you made it all up. So, as long as you *believed* Rama was able to levitate, you got high? But, the question is why would you want to adopt a neo-Advaita doctrine now, after you already claimed you actually saw Rama perform levitation in front of many people? > My favorite rap about darshan, what causes it, and what > it really is came from a very down-to-earth Zen teacher > in Santa Fe who had a tendency to carve any of her > students who ever dared to use the word with regard > to her a new asshole. > > She characterized what people *perceive* as darshan as > "Dumbo's feather." If you remember back to the Disney > movie, Dumbo believed he could fly because he had been > given a magical feather. Only thing was, it wasn't > magical. It was just a normal feather. But as long > as he believed it was magical, it got him high (in > his fictional case, literally). > > Same, according to this teacher, with "darshan." People > go see some teacher they have already consciously or > unconsciously placed up on a pedestal as being "higher" > than they are. or "more evolved" than they are, or "more > enlightened" than they are, or whatever, and they get > high. They experience some shift of awareness, and they > attribute that shift to the teacher. But the teacher > never did diddleysquat. The teacher's "energy" or > "shakti" never did diddleysquat. > > The student creates it all, but but because they can't > accept that they were *already* in that "higher," shifted > state of awareness but just weren't willing to admit it, > they give all the credit for it to the teacher, their > version of Dumbo's feather. >
