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Dangerous Friend: The Teacher-Student Relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism Paperback – November 6, 2001
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According to Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the student must have complete trust in the teacher (the "dangerous friend") if he or she is to achieve any understanding. It is the teacher's responsibility to uphold the integrity of the tradition, the basis of which is compassion for all beings, by transmitting it properly to an appropriate student. Likewise, it is the student's responsibility to meet the challenge of carrying on the lineage of teachings. By entering such a relationship, both teacher and student accept the burden of protecting those teachings by understanding them completely and correctly, by practicing them fully and faultlessly, and by transmitting them without omission.
Dangerous Friend includes discussions of the following topics:
• Meeting and recognizing an appropriate teacher.
• Understanding the gravity of entering the teacher-student relationship.
• Shifting one's approach from spiritual materialism to genuine Buddhist practice.
• Accepting the challenge of being truly kind, honest, and courageous.
- Print length144 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherShambhala
- Publication dateNovember 6, 2001
- Dimensions6 x 0.36 x 9 inches
- ISBN-101570628572
- ISBN-13978-1570628573
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- Publisher : Shambhala (November 6, 2001)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 144 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1570628572
- ISBN-13 : 978-1570628573
- Item Weight : 8.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.36 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,770,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #595,441 in Religion & Spirituality (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find the book helpful and insightful, providing a straightforward description of the teacher-student relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism. They consider it an important resource for serious Buddhist teachers and Western students of Vajrayana to understand the relationships.
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Customers find the book insightful and helpful. They find it well-researched and a worthwhile read for those interested in developing a student-teacher relationship. The Vajrayana Q&A chapter is helpful, though some readers dislike the use of Tibetan words. Overall, customers consider it a good book worth reading.
"Very good read if you are interested in developing a student-teacher relationship with a Lama in a Vajrayana Buddhist tradition." Read more
"...Ultimately, it is a helpful book to deal with in deciding if one should practice Vajrayana and if one does, what criterion should one think of..." Read more
"This is an amazingly well-written book filled with insight...." Read more
"...of vajra relationship and he presents a well-written, well-researched discussion of how this relationship has functioned over the centuries as the..." Read more
Customers find the book provides a straightforward description of the teacher-student relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism. They say it's relevant for serious Buddhist teachers and important for western students of Vajrayana to understand their relationships. The author is a passionate advocate of the relationship and presents a well-written book.
"...It is an important book for western students of Vajrayana to understand in terms of their relationships with their root teacher...." Read more
"...who is both a student and a teacher himself, is a passionate advocate of vajra relationship and he presents a well-written, well-researched..." Read more
"...and found this book is not only relevant but necessary for any serious Buddhist teachers who have their students' and/or disciples' hearts and minds..." Read more
"...be shocking to some sensibilities, it’s a straightforward description of the student/teacher relationship, at least in this School of practice...." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2023Very good read if you are interested in developing a student-teacher relationship with a Lama in a Vajrayana Buddhist tradition.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2019While a lot of the citations are from Aro and Shambala lineage teachers--the later being fairly legitimate points of controversy--this does explain the importance of the teacher-student dynamic in Vajrayana Buddhism without merely asserting it is either a game of blind faith or that it is totally a hold-over of Feudal India and the Himalayas. Using the "The Words of Perfect Teacher" and the Dalai Lama's criterion together, Lama Lig'Dzin Dorge returns the emphasis on the responsibility of testing a teacher in the preliminary phase before taking them as a teacher as well as getting beyond the Sutric and local cultural expectations when doing so. Ultimately, it is a helpful book to deal with in deciding if one should practice Vajrayana and if one does, what criterion should one think of before engaging in the practice. I wish it did deal with abusive guru-student relationships a little more than it does, but overall, it is useful and humbling book.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2008This is an amazingly well-written book filled with insight. It is an important book for western students of Vajrayana to understand in terms of their relationships with their root teacher. However, it is sad that such a commentary is necessary. Since it is written using the terms and phrases of Vajrayana Buddhism, it is unlikely that non-Buddhists will understand many of the concepts. It is also written from the perspective of a Nyingma tradition using Dzogchen as the primary example of Vajrayana practice, but those of us from the other traditions should be able to substitute our own common terms in place of the Nyingma terms (for example, students of a Geluk lama may be more likely to hear about the self-cherishing mind than the dualistic mind) and still understand the point. I recommend this book.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2011This is a fascinating book about a fascinating subject: the teacher-student relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism. The author, who is both a student and a teacher himself, is a passionate advocate of vajra relationship and he presents a well-written, well-researched discussion of how this relationship has functioned over the centuries as the most important method of practice in Vajrayana. Rig'dzin Dorje presents numerous anecdotes, both historical and from his own experience, illustrating the power and effectiveness of this style of teaching. His devotion to his own teachers is eloquent and touching, and his writing style is erudite and entertaining at the same time.
Most books on the teacher-student relationship constitute dull exercises in being cautious and sensible above all. In contrast, Rig'dzin Dorje encourages us to reach for the stars. I really enjoyed this book.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2012The book has many good points. It's true all of it, but only relatively, for a spiritual teacher of today should always present hopes for aspirants and seekers on the path, no matter they have made or not. Rig'zin Dorje gives no hope to Westernes who have failed in the relationship. The book is reflecting a far to discriminating and critical mind of the author himself, the very danger he's alluding to all through the book.
The condition for Westernes is what it is, we have been poisioned by the snake, but I don't believe there's any such thing as eternal hell, as one gets the impression of here. Alright, it's good with warnings, but if you warn you must also give hope.To write like this is the same as killing souls, deprave them of hope. Life for everyone, wether you are a student or a non-student, is a process of learning. If you have been wrongly programmed as a child, the path will be much more difficult. But if that is the case, I also believe that commpassion, hope and advise of practise can give such students one more chanse and possibly save some of them. There's situations were things have gone to far for returning, yes....but why write a book about that? Who can that help? For whom are the book written? The Buddhist compassion is clearly missing here. The author also contradict himself when he says that "the story about Adam an Eve makes no sense in a Buddhist perspective" when he just before that says that "egalitaliarism and liberal humanism are fundamentally at odds with Vajrayana", as this is to say that the story of Adam and Eve being evicted from paradise does make sense in fact. Eve claimed equality and more humanity and was expelled from the presence of God, exactly like the nevrotic or failing student will be expelled from the presence of the Vajra Master and xperience hellish state of mind. In any case I use the book positively, even if I'm one of the failures in another spiritual tradition. I do believe in the Master's grace if the student can come to his senses again. However, I agree though fully in that if the student are to reach any worthy goal, they have to be old-fashion enough to disregard the idea of democracy. Democracy can not take you far. If you cannot work seriously on cherishing the will of the Master instead of your own, you have little to do on the spiritual path. Such is the conditions. But I believe it's possible to write it with greater love than what is done here. Anyway, the book helped me to come to my sense, so thanks after all!
- Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2014This book gives the student guidelines in the requirements needed for entering into a deeper understanding of Buddhism. When one is ready to take a deeper training into the customs, Pujas, Sutras of Buddhism, one might need to seek out a teacher who can guide you deeper into these areas. Finding a teacher to enter into this deeper study requires certain conditions to be met. The Student needs to know what they need to do to prepare for this relationship, and the Student needs to know what the Teacher requires; this book helps one to understand what is needed to enter into this important step in ones Buddhist studies.
Top reviews from other countries
- LynetteReviewed in Canada on December 7, 2016
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Good
- GReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2011
5.0 out of 5 stars Fine western translation of traditional Vajrayana precepts
Despite scepticism on the web about Aro g'Ter as a Western incarnated sangha (whose credentials, it must be said, do seem sound) I decided to read this book. I was not disappointed. It has a feel of deep integrity and genuine respect as well as understanding for the Vajrayana lineage to which this Aro g'Ter sangha belongs. The book -as well as others from the same people as I have come to discover since reading this one- manages to translate complex Tantric and Dzogchen conceptuology into a language tailored to and apt for the Western mindset, no small achievement indeed. The author as well as the lineage holders he frequently invokes seem to have a matured, ripened insight and understanding of Vajrayana. Surely while reading in the book I got many an instance of instant, deep understanding of the aspect at hand. In reading this book I found the author relating to Vajrayana in a way that made it easy for me deeply to feel touched by its proposals although I do not feel I am in a position to make further appraisals of author or sangha at this moment in time. Of course the book has been conceived and structured to respond to a challenge to the integrity of Vajrayana particular to our times and lands (in similar way as Judith Simmer-Brown's "Dakini's warm breath"). As such the book is marked somewhat by some sort of polemic polarity, which nonetheless does not diminish its qualities and integrity. Quite the contrary.
To finalise: I am not part of this sangha, haven't met any of the people belonging to it yet but I am getting interested to do so indeed.
- felicity pryorReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 26, 2015
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Interesting and well explained, succinct