How to Become a Student: Interview with Acharya Eric Spiegel (Part 2)

by Patrick Groneman

Interested in going deeper with your spiritual practice?  This week I continue my interview Acharya Eric Spiegel, one of IDP's three "lineage mentors", who explains what the process of becoming a student in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition is like.  Part one of his interview is available here.

Last week I interviewed Sharon Salzberg, who spoke about her experience with the mentorship dynamic in Theravadan Buddhist schools.  If Zen is more your thing, check out what Roshi Enkyo O'Hara of the had to say about practicing at the Village Zendo.

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Interview with Acharya Eric Spiegel (Part 2)

Q: Tibetan Buddhism is unique among other traditions because it includes a "guru" relationship for advanced students. I'm someone who is concerned about becoming too attached to my teacher, so the student/guru relationship is sensitive territory. What’s that relationship all about?

Acharya Spiegel: From the Tibetan viewpoint, there are three general stages of training. Even the most advanced student goes through all three. No one skips to the top – it would be impossible to do. The first is the basic training in discipline, mindfulness and discovering our sanity. Kind of a coming down to earth process which begins when we pick up a book or first get instruction in shamatha (stillness) meditation.

The second stage arises out of the stability that develops from the meditation practice – we become less obsessed with our own neurosis and start to see the suffering in the world around us, and are moved to attempt something highly mystical called “kindness”. Basic benevolence arises and can’t be suppressed, but it require tremendous skill and training to transform your intention into an action that is truly of benefit and doesn’t just create more havoc in the world around you.

Traditionally these two stages are known as Hinayana and Mahayana. The narrow and great paths. (As with all translations, there are many ways to render these terms. I used these words just for the feeling they lend to it.)

All of the Tibetan systems are based on a tradition called Vajrayana, or Diamond path. Its basis and intention is not different from the Great Mahayana path of compassion, but it takes a more definite approach to cutting through the confusion of ego and going directly to one’s inherent Awake-ness. This path of training relies heavily on a teacher or Master (yes, you can use the word Master here!). The Vajrayana makes use of traditional practices such as mantra and visualization, which are transmitted to the student directly by her teacher. Vajrayana is never practiced without a teacher or Guru, both because it is considered too subtle to make your way out of your own confusion and because the sense of blessings that support the student on her path are said to come directly from the Guru and the Lineage.

Nowadays, people think that if you have a Guru you would spend a great deal of time with them and they would be in your business constantly, but generally you receive instruction and then you go practice. At some point you check in or you receive further instruction. In Tibet, if your guru was not from your own monastery, you might only see him a few times in your life. Yet he (or she) is always with you. There is something magical that occurs as you practice.

It seems important to trust the teacher and the situation, but it does not seem that important to go on an endless dating process and engagement. At some point when you have come to the point of desiring to go further, and you have connected with a lineage that you feel confident in, you just have to leap. In Shambhala this is all done in stages of various levels of training and commitment, but still there is the moment of “leap” for everyone.

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Eric Spiegel is an Acharya (Senior Teacher) in the Shambhala Buddhist Tradition who studied with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and studies currently with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He teaches frequently at the Shambhala Meditation Center of NYC, and is available for interview by contacting the center's front office and requesting an interview.  His teaching schedule is available here.

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Next week we discuss the different levels of teacher in Shambhala.