BUDDHISM COMES WEST 305trality of the teacher-student relationship, expressed in the terminology of
Gestalt psychotherapy. The ideal relationship was of a "raw, naked" variety, in
which the teacher called into question all of the student's ego defenses and
ruthlessly stripped them away so as to leave only the pure nature of the mind.
Trungpa's writings-in particular, the book Cutting Through Spiritual Material-
ism (1973)-were quite popular, and his frank rejection of ethical norms no-
torious. In addition to founding the Naropa Institute, a center for Buddhist
studies in Boulder, Colorado, he established a network of meditation groups
and retreat centers throughout the United States and Canada.
The general mood of cultural relativism affected even the conservative
Theravadin meditation methods that began appearing in the West in the
1970s. In 1975 a band of Americans-including Joseph Goldstein, Sharon
Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield-who had studied the Mahasi Sayadaw method
ofvipassana meditation in Asia (see Section 7.5), established the Insight Medi-
tation Society in central Massachusetts. Through their work, this society has
become the major lay center for the practice of vipassana in the West. Al-
though they have enforced the Five Precepts (see Section 3.4.4) during their
retreats, not until the early 1990s did the group formally adopt a code of con-
duct for its teachers outside of the retreat context. Based on the Five Precepts,
the code reflected their desire to make the precepts more appropriate to "this
particular time in history and in this specific cultural setting." The precept
against use of intoxicants, for example, was changed to forbid only the misuse
of intoxicants. The precept against illicit sexuality was changed to forbid sex-
ual exploitation, which in practical terms meant that a teacher should observe
a three-month moratorium after a retreat before entering into a sexual rela-
tionship with a former student. There was some disagreement over whether
the precept against killing would cover abortion and the killing of insect pests,
so the group agreed to leave these particular issues unsettled for the time being.
Meanwhile, in 1977, Sumedho Bhikkhu, an American trained in the Thai
forest tradition (see Section 7.5.2), had been invited to establish a Theravadin
monastery in England. He managed to attract a large following, and his chief
monastery, Amaravati, now has three branches in other parts of England, as
well as affiliates in Switzerland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, and America.
Although the monks and nuns at these monasteries have made only slight ad-
justments in the precepts they follow, eclecticism and cultural relativism play a
role in the Dharma they teach. The purpose of religious practice, according
to Venerable Sumedho, is to realize the ultimate reality that is found by tran-
scending one's cultural conditioning. He calls the Buddhist approach to this
process the practice ofbeing, rather than trying to become, enlightened. It in-
volves maintaining a reflective attitude toward the way things are in the body
and mind in the present, letting events arise and go to cessation on their own,
and opening to the state of peaceful emptiness that contains their arising and
ceasing. He notes, however, that contemplative traditions in all major religions
can lead to the same state. Thus one's choice of a religious path is a matter
of personal preference, as no one religion can claim to possess the only true
way. What matters most is that one trust in the conventions of one's chosen