Teaching Pa Auk in the West
Years ago, Beth Upton joined our podcast platform just as she was gearing up to begin teaching meditation in the West. When I asked her about the challenges and differences in teaching to Westerners, as opposed to the many years she had spent previously in Myanmar, this is what she had to say.
“The Pa Auk method takes time. It takes time for the understanding of non-self to deepen and the mind to mature.”
“Teaching Westerners is what I hope to dedicate the next chunk of my life to. And the biggest issue is creating context for that. I don't see any particularly big issue in terms of the Western mind or anything like that. Westerners can practice well.
But the Pa Auk method takes time. It takes time for the understanding of non-self to deepen and the mind to mature.
A lot of meditation practice in the West is done in the context of retreats. I find that really limiting. What I'm doing this year is teaching back-to-back retreats, but I don't see that as a sustainable way to bring depth of teaching to the West. We also face an integration problem where people's experience of the Dharma is limited to 10-day or one-month retreats. So I've spent the past six years trying to build community. Initially, it worked well for us when we were squatting the land and living in caves in southern Spain, keeping costs low and sustaining ourselves through dana. However, that was an adolescent community, and we weren’t legal. Now, I'm looking at how we can scale and establish a long-term space to hold the Dharma at depth. There are contextual problems to address. We don't have a culture of dana, wise association, or an abundance of good teachers [here in the West]. Those in teaching positions can easily burn out and lack adequate resources compared to Myanmar. I'm still gently trying to figure out the best way to approach these challenges. As for the ability of Western meditators to practice this type of meditation, I don't see an issue.”