FOR A LONG TIME, I thought of samaya as the intimate bond of care in which students agree to entrust themselves entirely to a teacher, and the teacher agrees to act entirely in ways that benefit the student. This understanding did not come primarily from what is taught during and after empowerments, but from how I heard the term used in more vernacular Tibetan. The idea that two individuals could make this sort of commitment to one another seemed beautiful and inspiring to me.
Then, some years ago, as I began serving as an ally to survivors of abuse by Vajrayana teachers and hearing their stories, it became clear that the notion of samaya has been one of the principal mechanisms of coercion in these cases of abuse.
All the survivors I know are strong and exceptionally intelligent. I was confident they had not misunderstood what they had been taught. Had the concept of samaya been misrepresented and weaponized against them? Is samaya inherently conducive to abuse? Is it outdated and inappropriate to our times? Does it still have anything wise or beautiful to offer us?
THE COMMON UNDERSTANDING OF THE SAMAYA BOND
The person who is offering the dharma to us can become a fundamental figure in our spiritual lives, and different Buddhist traditions
