Spiritual exhibitionism.

One negative thing I've noticed about Buddhist circles in the West, both academic and faith ones, is that there is a shit load of one-up manship that goes on. Sure this goes on everywhere people have egos, but it seems more overt here. Usually it follows a pattern of "I've got such and such initiations, Lama superspecial is my root guru and I've spent over 9000 days in retreat". My personal version of this tends to start off with some namedropping of various teachers, then some ridculous annecdotes about how unattached I am to everything, possibly interspersed with referencing retreats.

Why do we do this? Well the obvious answer would it's ego driven and rooted in the eight wordly concerns, particularly the latter four of these. However on a more manageable level I think it to some extent also comes down to the newness most Western Buddhist have to it all. There is uncertainity about how we are practicing on lots of levels, so making ourselves sound like 'proper' practitioners or reacting strongly to those who criticise us, or our teachers or lineage, is a way of trying to feel better.

I think some of this also comes from most Western Buddhist carrying loads of theistic emotional and cultural baggage. Simply because you have seen the irrationality and imorality of a theistic view on an intellectual level, does not mean you will be over the deeper impact and conditioning it may have had on you. At this point I could liken it all to how someone in an abusive relationship leaves, yet occasionally yearns back to it, or how former cult members sometimes go back even though they know it is harmful for them. I realise that this paragraph might provoke as much hatemail as the pompous "Porn and meat" blog I wrote a while back did.

Back on topic a bit. In the sixth chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara, Shantideva famously spoke about 'enemies' or those who attack and criticise us as being our greatest teachers because without them there is no way to develop patience and forgiveness, as well as the fact that they are providing us with a chance for some of the ocean of bad karma we are carrying to be purified.

How to do this as something other than an intellectually appealing and somewhat abstract idea? I'm guessing the mind training approach is the most direct with this. I don't really practice so trying to elaborate or explain would be beyond ridiculous.