| In this dissertation, I examine the teacher/student relationship as it is developing in North American Buddhism and explore how "Western" social, ethical, and political thought has influenced attitudes toward authority, a traditionally integral element of that relationship. I locate dominant sources of tension in the encounters between Western students and their Buddhist teachers, both Eastern and first generation Western, as well as in some of the first North American Buddhist communities, several of which endured scandals involving the teacher/student relationship. By examining contemporary narrative accounts of the teacher/student relationship in these contexts, I uncover negotiated and adapted approaches arising from the often vexed notions of authority held by teachers and students. These negotiated models have addressed some of the challenges facing North American Buddhists, while nevertheless rendering the teacher/student relationship dangerously vulnerable.;In an attempt to reconstruct a new account of the relationship for North American Buddhists, I employ hermeneutical analysis to rehabilitate problematic conceptions of authority and tradition. This new narrative is based on a Gadamerian dialogical model of understanding and seeks to clear the eclipse of authority threatening the transformational efficacy of the relationship. By outlining a model for the teacher/student relationship that affirms the roles of reason and authority, this dissertation seeks to demonstrate how North American Buddhists may benefit from this traditional and necessary aspect of the Buddhist path to enlightenment. |
