Technique as Poison (128)

Any technique is the remainder of a full-blown realization, the final result of something lived through, the "Aha!" experience of someone else, and not our own. We would have to make it our own. After all, the dharma that Shakyamuni Buddha left us is nothing more than a method or technique, a way to enlighten ourselves which we are left to figure out. Vajrayana Buddhism is all about working with a guide or teacher to make sure we get it right. We can't always trust ourselves, especially starting out.

 

Learning any technique by rote, and not experiencing it, much less realizing it fully, is not only useless, it is dangerous, one more obscuration on top of all our other obscurations. It can poison our mind for the topic, whatever that is.