☢️ AM I IN DANGER?  I HAVE READ PREVIOUSLY SECRET DZOGCHEN TEACHINGS ☢️ 

• About keeping Dzogchen teachings secret in the Internet age, and problem of recording retreats 

I have been reading  ca 3000 pages (yes!) of  Dzogchen writings. Took some time. And I have to re-read it all....Also I listened to a certain JP on Facebook! 

These are the books by Shardza (also known as Shar rdza bKra´ shis rGyal mtshan) on Bon Buddhism, translated into readable English by Daniel P Brown 👉🏿 see list in 2nd comment. 

I must admit that I was often baffled by 

• the depth and also the impenetrability of instructions - I was absolutely grateful for having had the opportunity to attend at least Dan Brown´s "Level 1" retreat - he translated them into a structured and elegant sequence of instructions that one can actually follow. 

and also 

• the explicitness of the sexual tantra instructions, including their - by today´s standards - often abusive and unhealthy nature. Also, a lot of pre-scientific nonsense, sometimes of a near-African shamanic nature. 

Assume I had not attended the retreat:  a a  spiritual aspirant having on, I should now be in mortal danger:

• I have not received the teachings via "heart to heart" transmission (not even "online heart to heart" in a 1:200 group setting)

• I may not have had the right preconditions (practice, knowledge, experiences)

But then 

• Dan Brown had translated these  dangerous source works for public consumption from Amazon, with explicit permission of the then lineage holder (Menri Trizin II, a main teacher of the Dalai Lama) 

• and thereby created the "risk of conceptual hardening" etc in the first place: surely, trying to understand the original texts  and pointing out instructions (implied or explicit) may result in "hardening". 

So the question is: 

If a meditation teacher publishes secret works, which kind of justification is there then to protect their own teachings, which are conceptually derived in a pretty straightforward way from these original teachings? 

As Dan Brown  would formulate it, there is the danger of "conceptual hardening of the mind".   This meant that if you came into  his Mahamudra / Dzogchen retreat with too many pre-set theories, it might result in what Thomas Metzinger called conceptual  "theory contamination" of "embodied" retreat experiences.  

Yes I have a certain understanding for this: I am really glad that when I attended his retreat, I had practically a blank mind (with exception of Culadasa´s TMI concentration training book). 

But:  what would have been the case had I bought and read the books before the retreat? 

What were Dan Brown´s aims of protecting his retreats? 

1️⃣ Tradition: He wanted in some way to "protect the precious teachings" from unqualified teachers: he had very strict requirements for his own co-teachers. 

2️⃣ Mind-Set: Daniel Brown aimed at creating a flexible, pliant mind set, open to follow pointing out instructions fluidly and "without thinking" (which in this case I understand), so the "conceptual hardening" argument is understadeable - but...

3️⃣ Copyright:  he also wanted to protect his particular method and wording into which he had invested 40 years of his life.  So, this is an intellectual property argument.  

Actually, I have some understanding for the copyright claims from a practical point of view.  You have to live of something as a teacher, and Dan Brown never was into a flee of luxury cars (e.g. like Sogyal Rinpoche, about whom Dan Brown was scathing).

However, I was still a bit surprised by the license conditions for a recorded retreat that threatened lawsuits of "100.000ds of dollars", effectively ruining my existence at transgression.  

So, now I think

Yes, it´s ok asking students to not use very specific teachings to teach (as Dan did) .  This is about intellectual property, even if  - afaik - the Buddha´s teachings are not meant to be monetised .... 

No, the "hardening of the mind" argument is not really valid due to the publication of all the "secret" traditions 

No, it´s not ok when  a spiritual organisation threatens economical annihilation. 

There are other approaches for a more "open source" approach to teaching spirituality. 

🔴 For example, there is the 5 Euro book "Essentials of Mahamudra" by Peter Barth on Amazon, following Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche´s advice AGAINST "spectacular pointing out instructions" in favor of a home-study approach 

🔴. And to my knowledge, there is an ongoing initiative to create an updated version of Peter Barth´s little book, including for example topics like "meditation and psychedelics" .  I am waiting for this.