There are lots of confused meditation teachers. Also - I think especially in the West we can relate to the simplicity of the simplest mediation techniques.
I don't know anything about Hindu meditation, so this is mainly about Buddhist meditation teachings.
I practice in the Nyingmapa Tibetan tradition which like any of the Tibetan traditions has lots of complicated meditations you can learn. But - more than 20 years later, I'm still doing the basic meditation they teach to beginners. Was introduced to a few more complicated meditations, but this was the one that was right for me.
Complicated doesn't mean better. It may just mean you are more complicated. It's a bit like medicine. It doesn't mean you are healthier, necessarily, if a doctor gives you complicated medicines, or needs to send you for treatment with some complex surgical procedure that only a dozen or so people ever need to do in the country.
And also - this is not just a Western thing - in Tibet also the Tibetans were really into complex practices. So there's a saying goes something like this "in Tibet they practice many yidams, but realize none, in India they practice one yidam, and realize them all".
Of course not totally true but there is a nugget of truth in it. So - these Tibetan teachers come from a culture where they are used to students who want to receive lots of different transmissions. And then they meet Westerners who - once they get the idea that these transmissions are somehow "significant" start clamouring for the most complicated and intricate transmissions available.
So - many of the teachers just yield to that, and they give intricate meditations for their students to do. Get you to do complex visualizations. Recite mantras. Read a puja every day, or several times a day. The more of that they do the happier their students are. Still I think at least the most responsible ones are careful about what they give you to practice, and won't get you doing the meditation equivalent of an appendectomy or brain surgery.
Complicated, intricate, colourful, but harmless, I think is surely their motto when handing out these transmissions and practices, which some do much in the way you give sweeties to a child.
And - though chances are that few who do those practices are able, e.g. , to transform anger into loving kindness in a moment or some such tantric practice - they give you a blessing connection to those practices. There is some real inspiration there.
Where this can go wrong is if you start to think that because you are doing some colourful, complex ritual that is meant to help with transforming anger, say, that your ordinary anger is now "tantric anger" and in some sense good. It is not. It is just ordinary anger and no better, and probably no worse also, than anyone else's anger.
While someone else who practices patience, and the teachings on loving kindness, and creates space in their lives with meditation - they may actually be transforming their anger, and purifying seeds of anger from the past. In a simple gentle way doing the same thing your complex ritual is supposed to do, for some people.
So - if you have a reasonably good teacher - check their lineage and check what others say about them - then you may be okay.
But - I think many Western Buddhists would do well just doing the simple beginner's meditation like I'm doing. Our lives are so complicated anyway. It is hard enough to just relate to things as they are. I'm not convinced myself that these complicated meditations used by mediators in long retreats in caves and such like are really the best type of meditation for most Westerners. Maybe for a few who have some close connection to them (and who might then indeed go on and do a 12 year retreat in a cave or some such :) ).
Buddha taught a middle way - not to go all out to an extreme. So, for a few people the middle way is to meditate for 12 years or 20 years in a cave. But for many, it is to do a little meditation every day, and make a connection to the teachings that way, while continuing with your job, family, responsibilities etc as before.
So - I'd say - look for someone who teaches a relatively simple form of meditation - if you can - for most Westerners.
Of course depending on your temperament and who you meet, if your practice is working for you and it really clicks, not to say you have to stop or anything like that. For some, who knows, these intricate colourful visualizations are just what they need.
Its medicine after all, and these medicines were designed to help people in certain situations - might be that you happen to exactly fit what the meditation is for. If it is inspiring, joyful, helps to open your heart, leads you to wisdom and clarity as well, deepening understanding, deepening appreciation of others - it might be that it is just what you need.
But - I think you can say that the teacher who hands out the most complicated meditations, and does them most readily to all and sundry - this is not necessarily a sign that they are the best teacher for you. Might turn out that they are, just saying, that's not the main thing to look for in a teacher.
And also - you don't need a guru, chances are. You may think you have one - but most people won't have a guru unless you've been meditating for many years. You have a meditation teacher who can give you helpful advice. Most people don't need more than that. In traditional cultures most people don't even meditate.
Also - your teacher, even if you take them on as a guru, can never ask you to do anything counter to the dharma. Your teacher is there to help you open your heart and inner wisdom. Not to tell you what is right and subdue you. A good teacher in a true lineage will never do that. Though some of the "crazy wisdom" type teachers may, genuinely, do things that challenge you. They will challenge you, but in a way that wakes you up and gets you to connect to your inner resources.
Anyway, there is a failsafe there, built right into the lineage of the Buddha's teachings. That's the sutra support - the teachings, second of the three (or four) refuges.
If the teacher asks you to do anything that is against the teachings of the Buddha, you not only don't need to do it, you should not do it. And is only you, really, who can tell that.
If you are asked to do something which to your mind goes against compassion, or wisdom, or loving kindness, or which seems to go against any of the five precepts, or anything like that - well ask your teacher for clarification of course. But in the final analysis, even if you have taken them on as a guru, which you probably haven't done - then you don't have to do it at all. If you feel confident that it goes against the teachings, you should follow your heart instead.
Also - nobody else can ever say to you "I am your guru". If someone says that, it is pretty much of a give away that there is something a bit strange going on. Especially when Westerners say that, as some of the more confused meditation teachers sometimes do.
I've been lucky enough not to meet anyone who did any of that, but read plenty of stories of teachers who did. So it is something to watch out for.
The main way your teacher helps though - is by not being you. If you just follow your own direction without help from a teacher, no matter how clear your insight, no matter how many learned tones you read, chances are you never go beyond whatever understanding you already have.
So - what makes a good teacher - is someone who you feel is awakening your understanding and compassion and so forth. If they are doing that - then it doesn't matter what they are like as a person - it is what you are getting from them that matters. While - no matter how awesome they are as a teacher, no matter how learned, no matter if they are one of the most famous Buddhist teachers in the world - if you haven't got that connection with them - if for some reason they are not helping to open your heart and connect you to the understanding and wisdom of the Buddha - after giving them time of course - you probably need to look for another teacher or tradition.
But if they are doing that - then - that's a sign that they may be a teacher to stay with for some time. You may eventually decide it's a path you want to follow for the rest of your life, and take them on as your main teacher. Some few may also take them on as their guru in the traditional sense - if that happens it is normally only after many years.
Most people also have many teachers, especially at different stages in their lives.
And at the early stages I think unless you are just sure somehow, that this is right for you, that it is good to listen to many teachers in many traditions.
And - in Buddhism anyway - I simply would not try to learn any of the meditations from books.
It's a living tradition, and you need to receive the meditation in the lineage going back to the Buddha.
Even the simplest breathing meditation - you need somehow to find someone who can give you that blessing connection going back to the Buddha.
Simple though it is - there is so much to it also. For instance it is so very easy to make the meditation into a project, a job of work like all the other things we do. A good teacher will help you through that trap as well as many other things. May not need to say or do much, but just by being there as a living teacher, and someone you can ask questions of, if needed, then you get the proper transmission of the meditation.
And as for the more complex meditations - well because it is a living tradition they never really write down full instructions. It is much the same issue as for the simple meditation but written large.
What seem to be full instructions will be missing many steps that can only be sorted out in connection with a living teacher in the tradition able to transmit it and explain properly how to meditate. Indeed the actual meditation done by meditators in the tradition may often barely resemble what is written down (and depend on the practitioner and teacher). I'd never learn any such meditation from a book or from anyone else who has taught themselves from books.
And the simple meditation taught to beginners can take you all the way. After all, it's the meditation that Shakyamuni Buddha himself did when he became enlightened.
I don't know anything about Hindu meditation, so this is mainly about Buddhist meditation teachings.
I practice in the Nyingmapa Tibetan tradition which like any of the Tibetan traditions has lots of complicated meditations you can learn. But - more than 20 years later, I'm still doing the basic meditation they teach to beginners. Was introduced to a few more complicated meditations, but this was the one that was right for me.
Complicated doesn't mean better. It may just mean you are more complicated. It's a bit like medicine. It doesn't mean you are healthier, necessarily, if a doctor gives you complicated medicines, or needs to send you for treatment with some complex surgical procedure that only a dozen or so people ever need to do in the country.
And also - this is not just a Western thing - in Tibet also the Tibetans were really into complex practices. So there's a saying goes something like this "in Tibet they practice many yidams, but realize none, in India they practice one yidam, and realize them all".
Of course not totally true but there is a nugget of truth in it. So - these Tibetan teachers come from a culture where they are used to students who want to receive lots of different transmissions. And then they meet Westerners who - once they get the idea that these transmissions are somehow "significant" start clamouring for the most complicated and intricate transmissions available.
So - many of the teachers just yield to that, and they give intricate meditations for their students to do. Get you to do complex visualizations. Recite mantras. Read a puja every day, or several times a day. The more of that they do the happier their students are. Still I think at least the most responsible ones are careful about what they give you to practice, and won't get you doing the meditation equivalent of an appendectomy or brain surgery.
Complicated, intricate, colourful, but harmless, I think is surely their motto when handing out these transmissions and practices, which some do much in the way you give sweeties to a child.
And - though chances are that few who do those practices are able, e.g. , to transform anger into loving kindness in a moment or some such tantric practice - they give you a blessing connection to those practices. There is some real inspiration there.
Where this can go wrong is if you start to think that because you are doing some colourful, complex ritual that is meant to help with transforming anger, say, that your ordinary anger is now "tantric anger" and in some sense good. It is not. It is just ordinary anger and no better, and probably no worse also, than anyone else's anger.
While someone else who practices patience, and the teachings on loving kindness, and creates space in their lives with meditation - they may actually be transforming their anger, and purifying seeds of anger from the past. In a simple gentle way doing the same thing your complex ritual is supposed to do, for some people.
So - if you have a reasonably good teacher - check their lineage and check what others say about them - then you may be okay.
But - I think many Western Buddhists would do well just doing the simple beginner's meditation like I'm doing. Our lives are so complicated anyway. It is hard enough to just relate to things as they are. I'm not convinced myself that these complicated meditations used by mediators in long retreats in caves and such like are really the best type of meditation for most Westerners. Maybe for a few who have some close connection to them (and who might then indeed go on and do a 12 year retreat in a cave or some such :) ).
Buddha taught a middle way - not to go all out to an extreme. So, for a few people the middle way is to meditate for 12 years or 20 years in a cave. But for many, it is to do a little meditation every day, and make a connection to the teachings that way, while continuing with your job, family, responsibilities etc as before.
So - I'd say - look for someone who teaches a relatively simple form of meditation - if you can - for most Westerners.
Of course depending on your temperament and who you meet, if your practice is working for you and it really clicks, not to say you have to stop or anything like that. For some, who knows, these intricate colourful visualizations are just what they need.
Its medicine after all, and these medicines were designed to help people in certain situations - might be that you happen to exactly fit what the meditation is for. If it is inspiring, joyful, helps to open your heart, leads you to wisdom and clarity as well, deepening understanding, deepening appreciation of others - it might be that it is just what you need.
But - I think you can say that the teacher who hands out the most complicated meditations, and does them most readily to all and sundry - this is not necessarily a sign that they are the best teacher for you. Might turn out that they are, just saying, that's not the main thing to look for in a teacher.
And also - you don't need a guru, chances are. You may think you have one - but most people won't have a guru unless you've been meditating for many years. You have a meditation teacher who can give you helpful advice. Most people don't need more than that. In traditional cultures most people don't even meditate.
Also - your teacher, even if you take them on as a guru, can never ask you to do anything counter to the dharma. Your teacher is there to help you open your heart and inner wisdom. Not to tell you what is right and subdue you. A good teacher in a true lineage will never do that. Though some of the "crazy wisdom" type teachers may, genuinely, do things that challenge you. They will challenge you, but in a way that wakes you up and gets you to connect to your inner resources.
Anyway, there is a failsafe there, built right into the lineage of the Buddha's teachings. That's the sutra support - the teachings, second of the three (or four) refuges.
If the teacher asks you to do anything that is against the teachings of the Buddha, you not only don't need to do it, you should not do it. And is only you, really, who can tell that.
If you are asked to do something which to your mind goes against compassion, or wisdom, or loving kindness, or which seems to go against any of the five precepts, or anything like that - well ask your teacher for clarification of course. But in the final analysis, even if you have taken them on as a guru, which you probably haven't done - then you don't have to do it at all. If you feel confident that it goes against the teachings, you should follow your heart instead.
Also - nobody else can ever say to you "I am your guru". If someone says that, it is pretty much of a give away that there is something a bit strange going on. Especially when Westerners say that, as some of the more confused meditation teachers sometimes do.
I've been lucky enough not to meet anyone who did any of that, but read plenty of stories of teachers who did. So it is something to watch out for.
The main way your teacher helps though - is by not being you. If you just follow your own direction without help from a teacher, no matter how clear your insight, no matter how many learned tones you read, chances are you never go beyond whatever understanding you already have.
So - what makes a good teacher - is someone who you feel is awakening your understanding and compassion and so forth. If they are doing that - then it doesn't matter what they are like as a person - it is what you are getting from them that matters. While - no matter how awesome they are as a teacher, no matter how learned, no matter if they are one of the most famous Buddhist teachers in the world - if you haven't got that connection with them - if for some reason they are not helping to open your heart and connect you to the understanding and wisdom of the Buddha - after giving them time of course - you probably need to look for another teacher or tradition.
But if they are doing that - then - that's a sign that they may be a teacher to stay with for some time. You may eventually decide it's a path you want to follow for the rest of your life, and take them on as your main teacher. Some few may also take them on as their guru in the traditional sense - if that happens it is normally only after many years.
Most people also have many teachers, especially at different stages in their lives.
And at the early stages I think unless you are just sure somehow, that this is right for you, that it is good to listen to many teachers in many traditions.
And - in Buddhism anyway - I simply would not try to learn any of the meditations from books.
It's a living tradition, and you need to receive the meditation in the lineage going back to the Buddha.
Even the simplest breathing meditation - you need somehow to find someone who can give you that blessing connection going back to the Buddha.
Simple though it is - there is so much to it also. For instance it is so very easy to make the meditation into a project, a job of work like all the other things we do. A good teacher will help you through that trap as well as many other things. May not need to say or do much, but just by being there as a living teacher, and someone you can ask questions of, if needed, then you get the proper transmission of the meditation.
And as for the more complex meditations - well because it is a living tradition they never really write down full instructions. It is much the same issue as for the simple meditation but written large.
What seem to be full instructions will be missing many steps that can only be sorted out in connection with a living teacher in the tradition able to transmit it and explain properly how to meditate. Indeed the actual meditation done by meditators in the tradition may often barely resemble what is written down (and depend on the practitioner and teacher). I'd never learn any such meditation from a book or from anyone else who has taught themselves from books.
And the simple meditation taught to beginners can take you all the way. After all, it's the meditation that Shakyamuni Buddha himself did when he became enlightened.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
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