not that this needs be discussed, but a quote from a buddhist sutta:
"It is proper for you Kalamas, to doubt, to be uncertain; uncertainty has arisen in you about what is doubtful......... Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon rumour; nor upon what is in the scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon consideration , 'The monk is our teacher'.
Kalamas, when you yourselves know; 'These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness', enter on and abide in them".
i find it a useful rule of comparison
with regard to CH, he practices most of what he preaches, including the inherent "darkness" of his tradition, but is by most standards a glutton (something that is against his basic teachings of anger, lust and greed)
i'm talking about eight or more huge, thick cohibas over a day - and the night with beer, very good wine, very good food and more cigars
the cigar thing is particularly intense and in and of itself has very cultic qualities, as everyone around invariably starts to smoke cigars - i did a little until i saw the deception of it, including the food and wine etc
i feel that CH is a wild nomad spirit let loose in high urban materiality, and the people closest to him just ape his actions and thus trap him further in the lifestyle
a guru sometimes needs to be taken care of, and put in his place by the people closest to him
CH told me very directly once, in between jokes and the very peculiar waaaay out banter that he enjoins, that its the students responsibiity to know when to put the teacher to bed
later that evening, as i had left CH to the hanger-oners in his hotel room, i remember opening the door to my car on a frozenly bitter cold night and was literally be struck motionless with a voice that entered into my head "no being is free from suffering" - it left me sort of reeling for several seconds...
this statement is the essential truth of many religions, most notably buddhism, but also of bon, or at least the bon that CH teaches
an example of some of the teachings he has "revealed" is the flowering light tantra:
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www.thunder-island.net]
i doubt you will find it in any other source, and if a charlatan can make this up then he is channeling something beyond a need to simply swindle people out their hard earned dollars
i sincerely hope he is not continuing to live excessively and is now taking a more proactive stance to be healthier - i believe that this might be a strong possibility as he did recently find a person that is strong enough to do this
the problem with CH and all gurus is that people are so ready to give up personal responsibility for their own development that they give themselves away and get caught up in an external truth, and thereby perpetuate it
a true guru awakens the inner eye - don't be fooled by appearances