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SearchI'm no longer happy with Tibetan Buddhism and want to find a new "spiritual home". Any advice?
Question:
I'm a Buddhist monk, though lately I've found myself returning to a Christ consciousness. I'm not really interested in a specific religion, being more of a generic mystic. Buddhism of the Tibetan variety used to be a path with heart, now I don't think so, though the problem may be more with the leadership than with the path itself. I've been looking for a spiritual home for about a year and seem to be stuck. I am living in Ecuador, but can’t endure the inertia of that culture, so I seem to lack the wisdom to move forward. Can you help?
Answer:
Thanks for sharing what is on your heart. It sounds as if you are ready to take the next step inward. If there seems to be a struggle with the "leadership" of your path or the "culture" that seems to surround you, this is the Call to recognize that these are thoughts that no longer serve your peace of mind. In the Living Moment there are no leaders or followers, and the culture you perceive is not the cause of the feeling of inertia. Inertia is a form of the error of wishing things were different than they are. The ego mind becomes aligned and identified with a role or part and this false identity becomes familiar and comfortable. It seems to require an effort to release these associations and assumptions for they seem more real than the "unknown" Christ. Awakening is the seeming surrender of everything that seems to be "known" about this world. True religion is the experience of peace and cannot be organized or structured at all. As all beliefs in control and organization and structure are released the only awareness that remains is Being.
Meditation is an excellent path to detachment from false belief and thought. Travel is another excellent tool for exposing and detaching from preferences and expectations which arise from false belief. Stay with the feeling of inertia, move through it, and accept the gift that shines beneath it. The mind is asking for permission to experience the energy of the Divine Flow. This is your passion at heart. This is your Joy. Allow this experience into awareness and the next step will be obvious.
Blessings abound,
David