We’re joined again this week by Buddhist teacher and scholar Hokai Sobol, to continue our exploration of the hidden mindsets and cultural forces that shape Western Buddhism. In this episode Hokai explores a tradition of exchanging knowledge, which is at least 1,000 years old in Europe, that of the “master & apprentice.” Hokai describes the process by which Europeans used to, and in some cases still do, learn a particular trade, by first becoming a novice apprentice, eventually striking out on one’s own as a journeyman, and then finally coming back to become part of the local guild, as a full master of one’s craft. This model, he explains, has striking similarities to the traditional model found in the Asian countries where Buddhism thrived.

He then presents a new model for how we might look at exchanging Dharma. This model includes three mindsets, or roles that we take on as Dharma practitioners and teachers, with the first one being the “consumer mindset.” We look at both the immature and mature versions of this consumer mindset, and how as a consumer we tend to approach the exchange of Dharma. In the next episode Hokai completes his contemporary model by describing the client mindset and colleague mindset.

This is part 2 of a multi-part series. Listen to part 1, The Invisible Forces that Shape Western Buddhism.

Episode Links:

Hokai Sobol ( www.hokai.info )

Internet access is ‘a fundamental right’ ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8548190.stm )

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