The Great Debate

(“Citadel of Light Merit Badge”, 2016, original pen and ink) The Great Debate The great debate in buddhism Specifically in ancient Tibet, Was between the sudden and gradualist schools. Even though the event is apocryphal And never actually happened, It’s a good and relevant story Because it is the debate that happens to this day Between students and teachers, Dharma brothers and sisters And within our own heart, Because it concerns the nature of actual enlightenment. You see, The two schools view and conceive The nature of reality, And thus nature of ourselves, Fundamentally differently. The gradual school says life is like a dream While the sudden school says it is a dream. Disregard for a moment The popular row row row your boat song Which somehow inexplicably Gave us all in the West The sudden school lesson, The vast majority of spiritual aspirants Are of the gradual path While only the very few are sudden types. But the bottom line Is that everyone is a gradual path type Until they are a sudden enlightenment type. (8/11/25)