Question

Is Idealism always harmful or dangerous in one's practice, or can it be sometimes that it helps to develop courage, energy, confidence and creativity for one's practice?

Answer

Without some idealism probably none of you would be here. In my opinion, I look at the Buddha and think that he was the ultimate idealist, perfectionist, but he was also a realist. Idealism has a tendency to have strong principles or an aspiration in it. So it can develop a great deal of inspiration, having an ideal. We wouldn't want you to throw away all idealism in your practice, but just have it balanced, to understand that the ideal and the process also have to be worked on. When we reflect on the Buddha, this is our ideal, and it reminds us of our human potential, and it does give us courage, energy, confidence and creativity in one's practice. However, there is also the Compassionate intention, that is, realizing we are who we are now and trying to work compassionately in the process, so that we replace our excessive idealism with a certain amount of realism and reality of what's going on now, and having Compassion for the difficulties in the practice. Unbalanced idealism is dangerous, but we wouldn't want to you to throw away all idealism, because actually then you may get too complacent. So it is very helpful to have it balanced.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.