Like the Frog that Lived in the Well

Note from a Reader:

Rarely do I have the chance to see living examples of passages I’ve read in books so vividly as the recent rantings by this Cassidy man. During my sputtering attempts at understanding the Master-disciple relationship in Vajrayana, I’ve spent some time reading the foundational text “The Words of my Perfect Teacher” by Patrul Rinpoche. This current display of perverted activity by the so-called “tenpa” is right off the pages of that revered manuscript. Patrul Rinpoche describes the personality types to avoid when seeking a spiritual friend. We’re clearly taught to avoid “mad guides”; they “…lead anyone who follows them down wrong paths”. Also mentioned are “blind guides”; “…and with such friends as these/ As your blind guides, you’ll wander deeper into darkness.

The only benefit I see in Cassidy’s wierdness is his capacity to demonstrate what not to do. In his rantings I see pride, jealously, anger, and self pity- but completely lacking are any of the pure qualities Patrul Rinpoche advises us to seek out. Respect for the unbroken lineage of accomplished masters is essential, creating your own distorted religion, manipulating others, and using the great devotional stories as an excuse for committing felony crimes is just stupid.

This guy is like the frog who lived in a well, completely trapped in darkness.

The Nature of the Teacher Is the Nature of the Teachings

“The Great Master of Oddiyana warns:

‘Not to examine the teacher

Is like drinking poison.’”

 

from Words of My Perfect Teacher

by Patrul Rinpoche

We  acknowledge the dubious honor of a response by William L. Cassidy to our recent post, “Haspori.”  Cassidy responded on his blog, Digital Tibetan Buddhist Altar, with a post entitled “Answering Echoes.”  (He maintains his blog under the name “Tulku Urgyen Tenpa Rinpoche,” titles to which, as we have shown elsewhere, he is not entitled.)

Cassidy begins his response with the following ramblings.  (Really, lest you wonder why we bother, his writing is often more syntactically skillful than the following excerpt evinces.)

The use of the term “parroted phrases” is a cheap shot at those who repeat the Buddhist teachings as offered by qualified masters.  Cheap, we say, because of the illogic of both deriding the use of the teachers’ phrasing AND insisting that “we are only talking basics.” In fact, we openly admit that we do not feel in any way qualified to instruct anyone in the Dharma.  We do, however, feel not only free, but obligated, to repeat teachings given by qualified Teachers.   We do so in the hope that they may bring some benefit to others who do not possess “lived through experience of the dawning of knowing the nature of their own minds,” as the DTBA blogger is inspired to put it.

In his post, Cassidy clearly suggests that he HAS lived that experience and is somehow able to instruct us on the nature of mind.  Moreover, he claims learning and realization to the degree that he can assert that no Western translation of Vajrasattva practice is adequate—and we must trust him to give us the “real deal.” The hubris in this claim reveals the quality of his “knowing the nature” of mind.

Rather than debate his assertions point by point, we wish instead to place his remarks in perspective.  We have shown over and over that the writer of DTBA is a con man.

Con men are successful not because people are stupid (although they may believe we are), but rather because people tend to be trusting, especially in the presence of something that “sounds” convincing. There is no question that Cassidy has devoted a portion of his life to studying Dharma texts, and has some familiarity with Dharma practice—but ask him any detailed questions and you will find you receive an evasive response. He knows only enough to put on a good show that he knows more than you. Watch for evasions like, “It isn’t important,” or “It depends,” before you follow him down the road of his logic.  We have covered this point previously on this blog.

At this time, in the context of Cassidy’s latest display of his “wisdom,” we wish to examine once again the teachings about what to look for in a qualified Teacher, as well as some of the characteristics of those who, we have been warned, will try to lead us astray.

In recent post, Cassidy has shown a predilection for quoting Gyaltrul Rinpoche, so we will begin with an excerpt from Gyaltrul Rinpoche’s commentary on “Great Perfection Buddha in the Palm of the Hand” published by Yeshe Melong, 1992. Gyatrul Rinpoche refers to the teachings of Padmasambhava, Guru Rinpoche, about the false teachers who were predicted to arise in these degenerate times:

“Also, Guru Rinpoche says that in these degenerate times demonic forces (demons, negative spirits, and harmful entities) are intentionally manifesting, sending forth deceptive emanations of themselves of spiritual teachers, appearing as great scholars and realized ones, honorable and disciplined on the outside yet actually harmful entities on the inside. They are intentionally trying to lead sentient beings into the lower realms.

Guru Rinpoche also said that during these degenerate times there are many demons and spirits who will say they are deities when they are not. Specifically, there are nine types that will come into human realms to lead beings astray on the spiritual path in these times. These negative spirits will manifest deceptive displays, making it appear that they have reached the first, second, and third bhumis when in fact they haven’t. They will display magical signs to cause you to believe they have. They will even appear as bodhisattvas when they’re not. They will manifest different signs and miraculous displays, through body, speech and mind, so inconceivable that they will take your mind away. Seeing these deceptive displays of power, beings with weak merit and karma will experience the arising of faith and will focus their devotion on these negative beings.

It is also taught in the sutras that in the future there will be demonic spirits, demons, who will become khenpos and will be called archaryas, and will be exceedingly honorable and peaceful. Yet you mustn’t trust only in this. They will be very skillful with words, but still you shouldn’t trust them. It is very difficult for such a being to show the signs of one who has been liberated from the snare of cyclic existence, and therein you can find your sign.”

Indeed, according to these teachings, it is very difficult not to be deceived. So, what are the qualities to look for?  Gyatrul Rinpoche describes the qualified teacher in this way:

“He should have great pure vision, pure perception, and should work solely for the purpose of others. The lama should have abandoned the eight worldly concerns, and without a single concern for this life and for the things of this life, he should direct all efforts towards preparations for future lifetimes.  He should be a true holder of a lineage containing the powerful blessings of great realized masters. . . .”

Gyaltrul Rinpoche continues in the same text to describe some things to look out for, such as one who mixes traditions.

“Such a teacher may be clever with words, there may be much to listen to, but the path is upside down. Such a teacher will say he is non-sectarian, saying this is why he’s bringing all these different teachings together (p. 47).”

Emphasizing the importance of all the traditions, Gyaltrul Rinpoche stresses that they should not be mixed.

According to Gyatrul Rinpoche, the clarity of the teacher, the teaching, and the lineage is essential because of the confusion in which we sentient beings find ourselves.

“You are already in a state of deep-rooted confusion. When a teacher doesn’t lay out a path clearly, when he can’t document its origins, its lineages, and has no proof of its validity, when he mixes traditions, creating his own path, and tries to convince you of its validity, confusion increases. On the other hand, if a teacher is very clear and teaches in a straightforward way: ‘This is our tradition; this is the origin, these are the principles, this is the path,’ no matter what religion or what tradition, keeping it in its proper context, this makes things much easier for the disciple (p. 49).”

We beg you to examine anyone who attempts to offer teachings in the same way.

“By not examining a teacher with great care

The faithful waste their gathered merit.

Like taking for the shadow of a tree a vicious snake,

Beguiled, they lose the freedom they at last had found.”

 

from Words of My Perfect Teacher

by Patrul Rinpoche

Lineage Is Not a Mobius Strip

You can make a Mobius strip very easily.  Take a strip of paper, twist it once, and join the two ends with tape.  Remember, you started out with a piece of paper that had two sides, right?  Now, run your finger along one side of the strip.  And you will find there is only one side.

That is the problem with the Dec. 9 post about lineage on Digital Tibetan Buddhist Altar.

Provisionally, we have no problem with the idea of blogger William Cassidy being allowed, as he puts it in his post, “to be me.”  As long, of course, as he goes straight—for he is an ex-convict.  As long as he refrains from the aggravated assault and arson, the crimes for which he was convicted.

We do have a problem with that request from someone who calls himself “Tulku Urgyen Tenpa Rinpoche” without credentials or authorization.  In fact, we are offended. “Tulku” and “Rinpoche” are titles specifically conferred by Lineage Masters in order to confirm others as Lineage Masters.  Mr. Cassidy claims the right to publish under those titles, while at the same time minimizing—even denying—the importance of lineage.

His clever, twisting arguments remind us of a Mobius strip—a one-sided geometrical conundrum.

That is the way Mr. Cassidy’s argument runs:  he is too modest to claim lineage, and he decries those who do, but he reserves the right to use the titles that confer recognition within a lineage.  And of course he is right some of the time:  no title can confer accomplishment.  Here is what he says:

If I point to my teachers, and my teacher’s teachers as some sort of authority, or justification, or credential, or even excuse for myself, this is a wholly incorrect and mistaken appreciation of what lineage actually means.

Lineage is both delimited and defined by accomplishment. One cannot be said to “hold” a lineage in the absence of actual accomplishment.

And that is where we see the one-sidedness.  One does not “point to” one’s teachers; one’s teachers point to the ones they recognize as accomplished.  Conferring of these very titles by Lineage Masters represents that recognition of accomplishment.

Recognition comes with credentials for the very same reason that consumer products are often certified.  Let the buyer beware!  Let the spiritual consumer be wary of being sold a bill of goods.  Or bullshit.  Because the stakes are higher in one’s spiritual life than they are in a consumer supermarket.  More than your life is at stake.

And as if to confirm our very point, the blogger of Digital Tibetan Buddhist Altar closes with a very real threat.  He admits to engaging in “the odd bit of sorcery now and then.”  For the benefit of all sentient beings?  We don’t think so!

Have You No Shame?

Bill Cassidy (aka Tulku Tenpa, etc.) has now reached the acme of arrogance.  He had the audacity to criticize Orgyen Dorje Den, Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche’s center in Alameda, California, for the way they handled the plans for Ven. Yangthang Tulku’s visit to confer the Rinchen Terdzod this November, which has been postponed.  But then humility has never been one of Cassidy’s strong points.

The Rinchen Terdzod is a compendium of termas (hidden treasure teachings) compiled by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye (the Great) in the last three decades of the nineteenth century with the assistance of his teacher, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.  It is the very heart of the Nyingma tradition and a living transmission of the Vajrayana path from beginning to completion, the fruit of 11 centuries of sublime teachers and tertöns (treasure revealers).  It takes some four months to confer these precious empowerments, quite a strenuous feat for Yangthang Tulku Rinpoche, who is in his 80s, and a mark of the depth of his compassion.  The Rinchen Terdzod has only been offered once before in the United States, in Maryland at Kunzang Palyul Chöling by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche in 1988 at the behest of Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo.  That is how rare it is.

Ven. Yangthang Tulku is a precious living Buddha, a treasure in his own right, who spent 22 years in a Chinese jail where he was subjected to torture, all for the “crime” of being a Buddhist.  In return he helped his fellow prisoners by offering them succor and guidance and performing the ritual of Phowa for those who died at the hands of the Chinese in order to guide their consciousness to the Pure Lands.  Towards his captors he expressed only compassion and even became a spiritual advisor to some of his guards.  Since his release he has continued to teach wherever he is needed, including several trips to the United States.

Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche is also a living treasure.  He was asked by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche to come to America to teach the Dharma back in the 1970s, and in 1980 he started Tashi Chöling in Oregon.  He has dedicated his life to teaching the Dharma in a new land and is much revered by his students.

So who is Bill Cassidy to criticize these precious masters, which is what he is really doing?  He’s a convicted felon and con man who pretends to be a tulku or Zen master or whatever his whim is at the moment.  He knows nothing of the Dharma and uses it solely as a means of bilking unsuspecting Buddhists (who tend to be a trusting lot and thus easy marks) out of their hard earned cash.  This is who has the utter gall to criticize real masters and to look down his (long) nose at them.  He’s a NOBODY who has nothing to offer the world but poison.  This is proof that he will stop at nothing to try to pull down the Dharma in the West and inject his poison into the minds of anyone unfortunate enough to encounter him.

The bestowal of the Rinchen Terdzod at Orgyen Dorje Den was intended to offer this powerful blessing to those who live on the West Coast of the United States.  It is unfortunate that the event had to be postponed, and we pray that it will yet happen.  Let us also pray that the toxic activities of gnawing rats like Bill Cassidy will never harm the activities of our precious teachers.

Lunacy

Bill Cassidy (aka Tulku Tenpa, et al) has treated us to another look inside his twisted mind on his pretend
Buddhist blog, Digital Tibetan Buddhist Altar. Scary! It is one more example of long, rambling, semi-
coherent pseudo-pretentiousness meant to impress the reader (if there are actually any left) with the
awesomeness of his insight and wisdom. Too bad it doesn’t make any sense. In fact, at certain points it
becomes downright creepy, such as the reference to OJ Simpson and the part about “sitting with you in
the dark.” Um, no thanks, Bill. We don’t find that comforting at all!

Hopefully no one is fooled anymore by this phony bombast. It’s all just a show to impress the rubes so
that he can steal their wallets with his off hand while he dazzles them with his sleight of hand with the
other. Don’t let yourself be taken in. Bill is a wolf in sheep’s clothing (well, except for those times when
he slips up and the sheep suit falls off).

In order to avoid future embarassments like the present example we would recommend that he not
write anything on the full moon.

Toys

Poor Bill Cassidy, aka Tulku Tenpa Rinpoche.  He sits out in the California desert, alone in his empty play temple (It had been inhabited by Chinese Buddhists at one time but they abandoned it after they found Cassidy’s presence so odious they could no longer stay), complete with garden ornament “stupas.” But no one visits his “temple.”  There are no students, no Buddhist pilgrims, no friends, just Bill, pretending away that he is a “tulku,” a spiritual teacher, kind of like a five year old playing with his toys.  Is it possible to imagine anything more pathetic?

His latest “teaching” http://tibetanaltar.blogspot.com/2010/07/as-much-as-you-can-relax.html reflects his useless life.  He wants so badly to be meaningful and deep, but he comes off instead like some dime store New Age preacher.  “Just relax,” he says. “That’s all you need to do.  Forget all your goals, your aspirations, your life.  Just relax. Then you’ll be enlightened.” (like him?)  Wouldn’t it be great if that were true? Lacking the courage of his own convictions, he attempts to enlist the stainless teacher Longchenpa to come to his aid, but as usual he completely misses the point of Longchenpa’s teaching.  Longchenpa isn’t talking about folding your tent and dissolving into a lump of laziness; he’s talking about concentrating on what is important and abandoning that which isn’t.

Buddhism isn’t easy, and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise just doesn’t know what he is talking about.  It is about rooting out the poisons that lie embedded in our minds, products of countless lifetimes of deluded belief in “self,” poisons that prevent us from seeing our true nature.  It’s hard work, true, but it’s the only thing that is worthwhile in this life.  Perhaps Bill should try doing that for a change.  After all, he has plenty of time on his hands.

Criminal Mind

Continuing with the psychiatric aspects of William Cassidy and what motivates his increasingly psychotic outbursts, it seems clear that he is more than just a sociopath, although he is a fully developed sociopath.  One for the textbooks you might say.  But he is more complex than it would appear.  He also shows traits normally associated with things like borderline personality, and narcissism.

Of course, narcissism is also a symptom associated with the sociopath disorder, but his is very well developed to the point of obsession with himself.  Everything in Cassidy’s universe revolves around himself.  Nothing and nobody else matters unless they can somehow benefit him (which in Cassidy’s view means anything that would profit him or feed his enormous ego).

Borderline personality disorder is a related condition that is characterized by pervasive mood instability and significant dysfunction in personal relationships, self-image, and behavior.  We have already commented on Cassidy’s wild mood swings which are characterized by outrageous rants followed by a retreat into a “safe” mode where he tries to fend off any responses to his rants by locking up his Twitter accounts.  His inability to form relationships with women is another example of this condition.  He went to prison for beating up, raping, and burning up the business of one former wife.  No one is really sure how many wives he actually has had, but no evidence has been found of any happy marriages or relationships.  This suggests a very negative relationship with his mother that has made it impossible for him to have a loving relationship with a female.  In fact, borderline personality disorder (BPD) is essentially a disorder of emotion regulation.  To quote from the National Institute of Mental Health:

“While a person with depression or bipolar disorder typically endures the same mood for weeks, a person with BPD may experience intense bouts of anger, depression, and anxiety that may last only hours, or at most a day.  These may be associated with episodes of impulsive aggression, self-injury, and drug or alcohol abuse. Distortions in cognition and sense of self can lead to frequent changes in long-term goals, career plans, jobs, friendships, gender identity, and values. Sometimes people with BPD view themselves as fundamentally bad, or unworthy. They may feel unfairly misunderstood or mistreated, bored, empty, and have little idea who they are. Such symptoms are most acute when people with BPD feel isolated and lacking in social support, and may result in frantic efforts to avoid being alone.

“People with BPD often have highly unstable patterns of social relationships. While they can develop intense but stormy attachments, their attitudes towards family, friends, and loved ones may suddenly shift from idealization (great admiration and love) to devaluation (intense anger and dislike). Thus, they may form an immediate attachment and idealize the other person, but when a slight separation or conflict occurs, they switch unexpectedly to the other extreme and angrily accuse the other person of not caring for them at all. Even with family members, individuals with BPD are highly sensitive to rejection, reacting with anger and distress to such mild separations as a vacation, a business trip, or a sudden change in plans. These fears of abandonment seem to be related to difficulties feeling emotionally connected to important persons when they are physically absent, leaving the individual with BPD feeling lost and perhaps worthless. Suicide threats and attempts may occur along with anger at perceived abandonment and disappointments.

“People with BPD exhibit other impulsive behaviors, such as excessive spending, binge eating and risky sex. BPD often occurs together with other psychiatric problems, particularly bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and other personality disorders.”

This description of BPD reads like a biography of William Cassidy.  Obviously he suffered significant psychological damage as a youngster.  Equally obviously the man needs expert medical treatment , though the likelihood of him ever seeking it out is nil.  One more reason to avoid dealing with him at all costs.

Cowardice

One of the characteristics, or more correctly chief symptoms, of an antisocial personality disorder, is a complete inability to recognize any flaw within himself, any need to change.  In his world he is supreme, smarter than everyone else, and completely without morals of any kind.  He feels he can do or say anything he wants because of his innate superiority to everyone else, and he becomes livid when others do not recognize this alleged superiority. This is why Bill Cassidy goes into his frequent rants on Twitter, spewing vile lies and slander right and left with little regard for truth or even sanity.

But beneath all the bravado, the sociopath is at heart a true coward as down deep he realizes that he is worthless and empty.  At the end of his rant he withdraws and locks the doors to his numerous Twitter accounts so no one can attack him.  All the shouting and carrying on he does is to draw attention away from the emptiness he feels, a pitiful attempt to draw the attention of the world away from his true self, which he believes is so horrible that even he cannot face it.  He knows at some level that he does not have feelings like a normal person, that he is completely unable to feel anything for another person except blazing rage because they have what he will never have.  This is why Cassidy projects his rage onto someone like Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo.  Her status as a tulku becomes a symbol of everything he lacks, so he lusts after it, and if he can’t have it, then he wants no one else to have it either.

The futility of such rage is obvious.  It is bound for failure no matter what he does.  That he cannot see this simple fact is perhaps the saddest thing about him.  He has created a hell realm for himself that he cannot escape because he is not even conscious of its existence.  He is incapable of admitting to himself the reality of his situation, and instead he projects all his frustrations out into the world, choosing Jetsunma as his target, but in reality hating and despising everything and everybody.  Such a being is worthy of our compassion, but he also requires the utmost caution as he also has the potential to be extremely dangerous, as he has proven time and time again in the past and for which he did prison time.  We can only urge the utmost caution and repeat our advice to avoid any dealings with this man.

Good Boy

We find it very interesting how quiet and well-behaved William Cassidy becomes whenever someone he is trying to court is in town.  For example, Ogyen Tulku, Cassidy’s latest flame, is in Springfield, Massachusetts, to give a talk.  Coincidentally, Cassidy’s incessant malicious tweeting to defame Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo and her sangha from various bogus Twitter accounts came to a sudden halt on Saturday, July 10th.  Ogyen Tulku’s talk is July 15th.  Like his and her monogrammed hand towels, there were matching blog posts today on Cassidy’s Digital Tibetan Buddhist Altar and Tulku Ogyen’s Blog announcing Tulku Ogyen’s teaching event on the 15^th.  Not surprising since Cassidy moderates both of these blogs as confirmed by Tulku Ogyen himself.

This is Cassidy’s usual pattern of behavior.  He puts his best face forward, at least publicly, whenever someone he is interested in cultivating is near.  In other words, when no one (supposedly) is looking, he spews the vilest hate imaginable at those he considers his enemies, including most of the Palyul lineage lamas, such as His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche and Mugsang Tulku Rinpoche.  Then when someone he wants to impress is paying attention, he is on his best behavior.

Such a pattern of behavior is not the behavior of a serious Dharma student, much less a “tulku,” as he claims to be.  But it is the typical behavior of a con man.  Be forewarned.  For more information on Cassidy’s criminal record, click here.

The Patterns…

One of the symptoms or characteristics of psychopathic psychology is total self-absorption. Even a little criticism will send a psychopath into a rage of wild self-defense. They are dead serious about themselves and think they know it all, so when anyone suggests otherwise, they totally lose control. This is the modus operandi of Bill Cassidy, the man who wants to be tulku.

Several days ago Cassidy flew into one of his periodic rages and went into a two day rant on Twitter. Then, as is his habit, he locked all his pseudonymous accounts so that no replies could be made to his rants. The next day he put up a post on his blog to continue his self-defense by invoking his usual explanation for everything when people call him on it, namely that everything is emptiness and therefore doesn’t exist, so it doesn’t matter what he says or does. This is a sad perversion of the Dharma.   But what is worse, he then quotes the Diamond Sutra in his defense, except that it is really not the Diamond Sutra at all that he quotes. Instead he has had the chutzpah to rewrite the sutra so that it appears to justify his antisocial behavior.

Thus have I heard. At one time the Lord was staying near Savatthi in the Jeta Wood at Anathapindika’s monastery. On that occasion the Lord was instructing, rousing, inspiring, and gladdening the bhikkhus with a Dhamma talk connected with Nibbana, and those bhikkhus, being receptive and attentive and concentrating the whole mind, were intent on listening to Dhamma.
Then, on realizing its significance, the Lord uttered on that occasion this inspired utterance:
“There is, bhikkhus, that base where there is no earth, no water, no fire, no air; no base consisting of the infinity of space, no base consisting of the infinity of consciousness, no base consisting of nothingness, no base consisting of neither-perception-nor-non-perception; neither this world nor another world nor both; neither sun nor moon.  Here, bhikkhus, I say there is no coming, no going, no staying, no deceasing, no uprising. Not fixed, not movable, it has no support. Just this is the end of suffering.

This is not the Diamond Sutra.

The actual sutra reads as follows:

This is what I heard one time when the Buddha was staying in the monastery in Anathapindika’s park in the Jeta Grove near Sravasti with a community of 1,250 bhiksus, fully ordained monks. That day, when it was time to make the round for alms, the Buddha put on his sanghati robe and, holding his bowl, went into the city of Sravasti to seek alms food, going from house to house. When the alms round was completed, he returned to the monastery to eat the midday meal. Then he put away his sanghati robe and his bowl, washed his feet, arranged his cushion, and sat down.

At that time, the Venerable Subhuti stood up, bared his right shoulder, put his knee on the ground, and, folding his palms respectfully, said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One, it is rare to find someone like you. You always support and show special confidence in the bodhisattvas.
“World-Honored One, if sons and daughters of good families want to give rise to the highest, most fulfilled awakened mind, what should they rely on and what should they do to master their thinking?”… The Buddha said to Subhuti, “This is how the bodhisattva mahasattvas master their thinking.”  However many species of living beings there are — whether born from eggs, from the womb, from moisture, or spontaneously; whether they have form or do not have form; whether they have perceptions or do not have perceptions; or whether it cannot be said of them that they have perceptions or that they do not have perceptions, we must lead all these beings to the ultimate nirvana so that they can be liberated.  And when this innumerable, immeasurable, infinite number of beings has become liberated, we do not, in truth, think that a single being has been liberated.’  ”Why is this so? If, Subhuti, a bodhisattva holds on to the idea that a self, a person, a living being, or a life span exists, that person is not an authentic bodhisattva…”

The point of this passage of the sutra, called The Vajracchedika Prajñaparamita Sutra, is not to show that emptiness = nothingness. That is nihilism, which was specifically denied by Lord Buddha. Note that the Buddha here is talking about the existence of a self, not the existence of the elements or the world or the sun and the moon. Emptiness as taught by Lord Buddha has to do with the direct experience of reality without condition or filter, not that nothing is real and thus doesn’t matter. What he is teaching here is that the self does not exist, not that the world does not exist. The self is the product of our own deluded perception. In other words, it has no existence outside of our belief that it does. Cassidy twists the meaning to say that nothing exists, not the four elements, not the world, not the sun and the moon. If that were so, it would make the perfect excuse to get away with anything on the grounds that nothing really matters ultimately. Nothing, however, could be further from what the Buddha actually taught.

Note also that in the original there was not even any mention of the four elements, the world, or the sun and moon. Pure fabrication on Cassidy’s part.  Not only do the subtleties of the original sutra escape Cassidy, but he chooses to ignore them and create his own fabrication in the name of the Buddha!

It is truly sad to see such a perversion of the Dharma as taught by Lord Buddha, and what is most sickening about this post is the extreme megalomania of any individual who would rewrite the sutras to serve his own selfish ends.  Bill Cassidy knows no limits in pursuing his endless attempts at self-justification in the face of his total ignorance of the essence of the Dharma. It also illustrates how dangerous he can be when confronted with his own illness.  Cassidy might have benefited from reading on a few paragraphs below the passage he subverted. There it says:

Five hundred years after the Tathagata has passed away, there will still be people who enjoy the happiness that comes from observing the precepts. When such people hear these words, they will have faith and confidence that here is the truth. We should know that such people have sown seeds not only during the lifetime of one Buddha, or even two, three, four, or five Buddhas, but have, in truth, planted wholesome seeds during the lifetimes of tens of thousands of Buddhas. Anyone who, for only a second, gives rise to a pure and clear confidence upon hearing these words of the Tathagata, the Tathagata sees and knows that person, and he or she will attain immeasurable happiness because of this understanding. Why?

“Because that kind of person is not caught up in the idea of a self, a person, a living being, or a life span. They are not caught up in the idea of a dharma or the idea of a non-dharma. They are not caught up in the notion that this is a sign and that is not a sign. Why? If you are caught up in the idea of a dharma, you are also caught up in the ideas of a self, a person, a living being, and a life span. If you are caught up in the idea that there is no dharma, you are still caught up in the ideas of a self, a person, a living being, and a life span. That is why we should not get caught up in dharmas or in the idea that dharmas do not exist…”