Buddha At The Gas Pump

Presentation at the Science and Nonduality Conference. Many well-known spiritual teachers and gurus have been accused, credibly, of sexual, financial, and behavioral abuse, despite their own spiritual attainment having seemed significant, and their teachings beneficial. As a result, some people have concluded that higher consciousness and ethical behavior are not correlated, that we are governed by our genetics and conditioning, or by "nature", and that we have no free will and thus no control over or responsibility for our actions. That logic has been used as an alibi by some misbehaving spiritual teachers. Others have become cynical about the motives of all gurus and teachers, and some have even lost faith in spirituality altogether. Yet, every spiritual tradition includes codes of ethics that apply to both teachers and students. Ethical behavior has been regarded not only as a reflection of spiritual development but as a prerequisite to it. To some extent, ethical values vary from culture to culture. B