This book traces the shadowy tradition of “holy madness/crazy wisdom” from the Holy Fools of early Christianity, through the great adepts of India and Tibet, up to the controversial gurus of today. In our day, when even the Dalai Lama has warned Western seekers to choose their teachers carefully, Feuerstein provides an intelligent and cautionary guidebook to the guru-disciple relationship, plus a comprehensive analysis of the principles of authentic spirituality.
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About the Author Georg Feuerstein, PhD is the author of over 30 books, including Yoga for Dummies; The Yoga Tradition; The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga; Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy, and Lucid Waking. He has specialized in the spiritual traditions of India and is a practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The disappointments experienced by Western seekers with Eastern gurus is in my view part of a healthy development of recognizing and withdrawing unhealthy projections and proceeding on the spiritual path with sound realism. We must not idealize and certainly not idolize our teachers but see them as they are’warts and all. Prior to his death, the Buddha advised his disciples to rely on his teaching and nothing else. This good counsel still holds true, for a teacher is only as good as his teaching. Moreover, when a teaching has given rise to a long line of realized teachers, as in the case of Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism, we can reasonably assume that it contains the necessary elements for us to grow on the spiritual path as well. Teachers unquestionably have an important role to play, especially in the more advanced stages of inner growth. They can catalyze much, but in order to relate to them rightly, we must already be familiar with our idealizations and other projections. In other words, to benefit from our teachers, we have to be able to see beyond them to the teaching itself. The spiritual process is inherently radical’that is, it goes to the root of the problem of our spiritual ignorance: the ego’and hence it is vastly challenging. A good teacher is one who holds us to this process; to put it colloquially: he or she will be in our face. Naturally, this will trigger all kinds of emotions in us that we would do well to fully understand lest they should get out of control. All too often, students become caught in a lovehate relationship with their teacher, or they abruptly convert fervent devotion and adoration into everlasting anger and disappointment. Experienced teachers will definitely be aware of the games their students play out relative to them. They are not perturbed by this, but many Eastern teachers also do not seem to be particularly interested in, or skillful at, assisting their Western disciples to navigate the treacherous waters of interacting with a traditional teacher. Many gurus or lamas underestimate their Western students’ psychological complexity and unspoken expectations of a teacher; they definitely fail to appreciate the intricacies of transference and the inner conflict most Westerners experience vis…vis authority. Were it not for the fact that some Western students have actually attained to higher spiritual realizations, not a few Oriental teachers might by now have given up teaching us.

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Rev. and expanded ed., Prescott, Ariz, Arizona, 2006

United States, United States of America

Revised and Expanded ed., US, 2013

Revised, Expanded, 2015

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lg1146747

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Memory of the World Librarian: Quintus

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword By / Roger Walsh -- Author's Preface To The Revised Edition -- Preface To The First Edition -- The Phenomenon -- Crazy Wisdom In Action : Spiritual Eccentrics In Various Religious Traditions -- The Upside-down World Of Tricksters And Clowns -- The Fools For Christ's Sake : Folly As Virtue -- The Sufi Path Of Blame -- Jewish Ecstatics -- Radical Spiritual Eccentrics Of The East -- The Avadhutas, Masts, And Bauls : India's Countercultural Heroes -- The Crazy Adepts Of Tibet -- The Zen Masters Of China And Japan : Traditional Shock Therapists -- Contemporary Crazy-wisdom Teachers : From Rascal Gurus To Spiritual Terrorists -- Preamble -- Chigyam Trungpa : Prowling Tiger Of Crazy Wisdom -- Lee Lozowick : Crazy Minstrel -- Gurdjieff : Rascal Guru -- Aleister Crowley : Mad Magus -- Bhagwan Rajneesh (osho) : Divine Philosopher -- Sathya Sai Baba : Counterfeit Avatar -- Shoko Asahara : Spiritual Terrorist -- The Many Faces Of Adi Da (franklin Jones) -- The Early Years. Crazy Wisdom And The Futility Of Experience -- Crazy-wise Chaos And The Community Of Devotees -- The Context -- Spiritual Practice : The Path Beyond All Paths -- The Long Search -- The Snare Of Pop Spirituality -- The Paradox Of Discipline -- The Heat Of Spiritual Practice -- The Guru : License To Kill -- False Images Of The Guru -- The Guru Function : Broadcasting God -- Jesus And Divinization -- True Gurus, False Gurus, Crazy Gurus -- Discipleship : Spiritual Cloning Or Brainwashing? -- The Time-honored Tradition Of Spiritual Discipleship -- Individualism And Obedience -- Levels Of Conversion -- Cultism, Guru-worship, And Freedom -- God, Enlightenment, And Ego-death -- The Loss Of God And Faith -- The Ego Illusion -- The Mystical Ego -- Enlightenment And The Transcendence Of Attention -- A New Life Through Ego-death -- The Significance -- Holy Madness And The Smokescreen Of Consensus Reality -- A Test Case -- Conventional Religion As Counterfeit Spirituality. The Humanistic Way Of Self-actualization -- The Cult Of -- Religious Provincialism -- Cultural Veils Over Authentic Spirituality -- Understanding Holy Madness -- Holy Madness Revisited -- Of Holiness, Wisdom, And Ignorance -- Holy Madness, Spontaneity, And The Chaos Of Existence -- The Playfulness And Humor Of Enlightenment And Crazy Wisdom -- Holiness, Madness, And Morality -- Madness And Holy Madness -- The Personality Of Adepts : Self-transcendence And Compassion -- Holy Folly And The Transcendence Of Good And Evil. Georg Feuerstein. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [455]-499) And Index.

2014-01-30