Important

Michael Erlewine -- Archivist Popular Culture

3 min readOct 29, 2025

By Michael Erlewine

I remember early-on in my study and practice of dharma, after a number of years of practicing under Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche direction, I asked when I should start helping others who are just starting dharma practice as best I could.

Rinpoche’s answer was clear, that it would be down the road quite a way before we are given permission to teach dharma. You can’t teach something that you don’t know, and that point of ‘knowing’ is not anywhere near.

It has been almost 70 years since I first flirted with Zen Buddhism and even today, I consider myself someone who shares dharma, rather than I am a dharma teacher. I am not.

And the reason is that I only know the path (yidam) that has worked for me, which may be of little use to others, especially if we consider that traditionally there are 84,000 dharmas. I only know one of those from personal experience, yet that I do know.

The people who are trained to teach dharma are monks and nuns that take the traditional 3-year closed retreat. I used to think that doing the 3-year closed retreat was to get enlightened, but I subsequently have learned that the main purpose of the retreat is to learn the basic main dharma practices so that you could teach them to others. If you get some realization along the way, all better, but to come out a dharma teacher and instructor seems to be the main point.

So, in the quicksand of time where there is so much uncertainty, what do we know for certain? It took me a while to figure that one out, but finally it is clear to me that only my own authentic experience with the dharma is something I know. Anything other than that is only hearsay, thoughts and conceptuality, and that and a ticket will get you a ride on the bus.

Anything other than my own experience is like trying to walk on a quaking bog. Just parroting what we have read or heard about dharma is pretty much a waste of time and a dangerous footing at that. It rings hollow and should not be passed on to others. At least, I do my best not to do that.

If I stick to my actual dharma experience, any realization that comes from that is generally solid ground. I learned pretty early-on to share only my own dharma experience, because right or wrong, it is all I really know anything about. If it feels too much like my personal story, it is.

The path that I have walked is the path that I have actually walked and know. It is what is authentic for me. As mentioned, by definition, our personal yidam or dharma path is only unique to us and while perhaps at best interesting to others, not the path that they will end up walking.

We each must turn the wheel of the dharma by ourselves, yet I encourage others to share their own authentic experience, dharma or other experience