Debunking Buddhist “Experts”

While cleaning out my email, I found this old article a friend had sent me years ago, and I had saved it for a day like this.

This is a great article about what makes one an expert and what doesn’t. The article states that self-styled experts are not experts at all, and that real experts are people who never stop learning. Or as he writes:

So if you want to be an expert in practice rather than in name only, take a page from Steve McQueen’s book. Don’t be the guy telling everyone what to do. Be the guy asking all the questions.

Also, I found this point helpful (near the end): Don’t confuse experience with expertise.

If you look online, you’ll see a lot of people who advertise themselves as “mind-body thought experts”, “meditation teachers”, “life coach” or other related titles. You can also see them on Twitter a lot too. People want to be an expert on something, and like to advertise themselves.

But the article makes a good point, that it’s all very dishonest. People can post credentials, awards and other things that sound very attractive. Some of these experts above even write books (even though few have ever read them). How many books have I written? None.¹ I guess I am not an expert.

So, if you’re looking for advice on Buddhism, computing, the JLPT, whatever, don’t look for experts, look for experienced people. I know certain priests and monks who read this blog and whom I’ve encountered here in Seattle. They are not experts, have no websites, sell no books, etc, but they have a lot of on-the-ground experience dealing with people, problems, and learning Buddhism as they go. They don’t have all the answers, but they have a lot more practical experience than online gurus and people with nice websites.

These are the kind of people you want to ask for advice from, not the guys online. Yes, I mean myself too.

I like posting useful information to people (at least I try to cite sources), but the truth is I have almost 0 experience in meditation, no ordination, no professional training, I am not a vegetarian, and I just read and regurgitate a lot of what other people say. Everything I say on this blog is just stuff I’ve learned, and I hope people realize that I am neither an expert nor a professional.

And if you still need advice on Buddhism:²

You can learn quite a bit about Buddhism for example by reading the sutras themselves. Not one or two, read a variety, and you’ll start to see recurring themes throughout. Rather than getting hung up on details, the recurring themes in the sutras are where the real lessons can be found. This is true of many other things as well.

So, don’t let the nice blogs, websites and books fool you. Get to know people in person, don’t take strangers on the web seriously (myself included). You’ll know the real experts because they approach a devoted topic with a “beginner’s mind” always.

P.S. Just make sure you don’t act like this version of Steve McQueen.

¹ I write lots of things on the side, but almost never finish them.

² RTFM = Read the Fucking Manual, for those not familiar. It’s a frequently used term by computer engineers like myself to other engineers who ask stupid questions (and obviously didn’t read the manual). But I think it applies to religion and many other things too.