Purity of Dhamma.

The essence of Dhamma cannot be changed as it is established on the realities of our life such as old age, sickness and death. These, in the end, were the ultimate teachers of the Buddha and led him to his great awakening under the Bodhi tree in the forest of Uruvela.

However, the presentation of these realities changes according to culture and different generations. Now, when teachers travel to other countries, it is rare to find a completely pure Dhamma transmission as there is always a the cultural interpretation and presentation of these things. That is why we find westerners claiming to be Tibetan Buddhists or Thai Buddhists or Japanese Zen Buddhists, etc, dressing in clothes, and performing rites and rituals of other cultures. It is not simply Dhamma, but the picking up of a whole new identity, something else that must ultimately be relinquished for complete liberation.

So whilst Dhamma itself remains pure (actually it cannot be Dhamma if it is not pure, as the word translates as Ultimate Truth) its presentation will be different according to the understanding, culture, nationality and often gender, of the teacher.

People are attracted to something that is new, exotic and outside their usual and quite boring way of life, but in the end don't really want to awaken, they simply want their sleep to be more interesting and comfortable.

May all beings be happy.