Hungry Bear Syndrome – The Ones That Get Away

A bear was hunting marmots to eat when he found a burrow housing a whole family of marmots. He greedily pulled one out and held it under his arm while he set to catching the rest. He caught a second and placed it under his arm next to the first. Unbeknownst to the busy bear, as he lifted his arm to insert the second marmot, the first slipped away and escaped. This kept happening: he’d catch one, place it under his arm and the prior catch would escape.

All the while then, the bear was working very hard with the thought that he had a good store of marmots for dinner. It was only after he had caught the last marmot and went to place it under his arm that he noticed that all the rest had escaped. With the shock of seeing that he’d let them get away he dropped the last one, which too scurried off to safety. So after all his hard work he was left empty handed.

I see a similar pattern playing out in the monasteries and dharma centres. Buddhism for most of those who attend the dharma centres is more like a hobby, a side interest. But occasionally, someone new comes along and demonstrates a longing and dedication to the dharma rarely seen. They attend all the teachings, every practice session and are always willing to give time to the dharma centre. The centre, being short of committed people, starts to depend on this person. They are asked to take care of this or that job. They start to do administrative work for the courses and programmes. This means that by the time the teachings start they are often worn out, if they have time to attend the teachings at all.

The situation becomes such that they, who are very keen to receive and learn the teachings properly, forsake the opportunity to do so in order to help those who are only half-interested to receive the teachings. It doesn’t take long before the person realises that this is not what they signed up for and proceeds to look for the dharma elsewhere. Alternatively, they become enamoured with their position and status in the centre and carry on until they become totally jaded in the dharma.

Maybe after a couple of years, a new enthusiastic and capable person will turn up, but ‘rinse and repeat’ they too slip away.

What a dharma centre really needs is members who are learned and well practised in the dharma. But so often those who are motivated and capable of becoming true receptacles and representatives of the teachings have their long-term development sacrificed for the short-term needs of the organisation and its less promising members. So the individual loses out but so too does the centre in the long-term.

It needn’t be like this. A simple review of the organisation’s priorities and a reorientation towards the long-term development of individuals will lead to a much better centre. Better both from the dharma perspective and from the mundane perspective of maintaining the centre. To survive and thrive a dharma organisation needs people and resources. What is it that will attract these? People who embody and impart the teachings.

Drupon Khen Rinpoche

Samye Ling Women’s Retreat, Holy Isle, 2012