It is funny, it happens over and over again, and I am glad as it points to the difference between real Buddhism and some kind of heaven idealistic stuff flying in the sky.
Brad Warner says something critical about something connected to someone famous or very much respected and people start telling him to grow up, wake up, stop criticizing others and stop being a punk or whatever they don't like about Brad. All Brad does is trying to explain what reality is and what dreams are and that reality is more important in Buddhism than our dreams about us, others and Buddhism.
Brad wrote something about how he is suspicious of the "Big Guys in Buddhism". Because Brad knows very well that fame and thousands of devoted followers doesn't make one a true Buddhist teacher. (But you still can be...but lots of those followers cannot really get to know you and only think it enough to see you in the distance and see your halo). You don't have to be in the circle of the Big Names of Buddhism to have enough authenticity to teach the truth. Even a totally unknown Buddhist teacher somewhere in the middle of Montana or Nebraska who has only two students and they practice zazen and discuss Buddhism once a week and nobody knows about them, there will be, possibly, as much quality and genuine teaching, or more than there is in a huge Zen center in a big city or a huge historic temple where hundreds of fans try to have a glimpse of what that Oh Great Big Father or Mother had to say or do...
Somebody told Brad to point to his supposed mistake: What about Buddha Shakyamuni or Dogen, they were big names. But I think Buddha had no intention to have hundreds of devoted followers. His flower that he just twisted in his hand to show the truth just prove that he was much more interested in showing others the simple truth here and now than becoming a famous teacher or legend. And master Dogen had a small temple, as far as I know, he was not so popular during his life, on the contrary, in a way, and definitely was not interested in fame or having lots of followers.
What is the thing about being a great teacher or having lots of students? We shouldn't mistake a cult, a famous person with the truth itself, the truth itself doesn't need followers or excited audience. The truth is happy sitting in front of your ordinary self today just cleaning its fur or rubbing its eyes. And when you go online to find some great Buddhist quotes, the truth just yawns and falls asleep. When you run around the world chasing the big names of Buddhism, the truth plays with the dust under your bus seat and when you at last meet the Big One Hero in his or her Big Famous Temple, the truth is chasing the bacteria down your asshole having fun, killing time. And when you ask the Big Enlightened Master whether he or she would be willing to explain the Big Truth to you, the truth just had a heart attack, so much it laughed rolling on the floor.
Because Buddhism is not about how great someone is. Buddhism is about the taste of the pear or the sound of the squeaking door. When we have enough courage or patience to drop all our ideas about Great Masters and Great Enlightenment, we can at last see for ourselves that after all, it doesn't take much to encounter reality. Do you think a great Buddhist teacher's pear tastes better than yours? It does, provided he or she just eats the pear while you are thinking about Great Buddhist Teachers rather than paying attention to what the Pear is teaching you with its taste.
If we are sincerely interested in Buddhism, we need a teacher, someone who will help us drop the idealistic opinions of Buddhism and famous Buddhist teachers. If we cannot believe that the truth is just turning the flower for which you don't need to encounter a famous master let alone become one, as turning the flower has nothing to do with big names, history, famous temples, masters or hard practice day and night, we desperately need a teacher, someone who knows the value of dust and ordinary daily zazen of ordinary buddhas. Someone who will guide us when we try to see the difference between what we only imagine and what actually sits on our nose causing some unbearable itch.
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