From Unpacking my attachment to the myth of dharma transmission

On Jul 17, 2013, at 5:44 PM, Ed Levin wrote:

Franz –

Yes, bodhicitta and vocation go together. I didn’t mean to imply it should be a problem. The distinction between bodhicitta and vocation was only a problem for me because I struck out trying to get authorization to teach. The door to that vocation seemed blocked, and I thought that if I couldn’t be a dharma successor I had nothing. I apparently had too much ego investment in the power aspects of the role to ever be authorized to inhabit it. I did what I thought would allow me to have dharma transmission, to no avail, for almost 30 years. I also had commitments to family and making a living. The reality finally  caught up with me that what I thought was my manifest destiny was not going to happen in this lifetime. I thought the only way for me to be a bodhisattva was to be a zen master. That was my limited view, clouded by striving for position, power, and prestige. Not your problem.

Ed