"Clearly, this was my issue, not anyone else’s. No one is mad at me. I’ve been announcing myself, regularly, at Buddhist teachers’ meetings, and it causes no ripple at all."

One More River (continued)

Clearly, this was my issue, not anyone else’s. No one is mad at me. I’ve been announcing myself, regularly, at Buddhist teachers’ meetings, and it causes no ripple at all. I feel anticipatory alarm, I tell my truth, and it is completely a nonevent.

Recently I was one of twenty-six teachers meeting with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India, to discuss how we are teaching Buddhism in the West. As part of the preparation for our meeting, we each answered the question, "What is the greatest current spiritual challenge in your practice and teaching?"

I thought, "Okay, this is it! These are major teachers in all lineages, these are people I respect and who I hope will respect me." And I said my truth: "I am a Jew. These days I spend a lot of my time teaching Buddhist meditation to Jews. It gives me special pleasure to teach Jews, and sometimes special problems. I feel it’s my calling, though, something I’m supposed to do. And I’m worried that someone here will think I’m doing something wrong. Someone will say, ‘You’re not a real Buddhist!’"

It was another nonevent. I think – I hope – that was the "One Last River to Cross." I never did ask the Dalai Lama if what I’m doing is okay. It had become, for me, a nonquestion by the time we got to our meetings with him.

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