Esoteric Practices

This morning, I was reading chapter 45 of Master Sheng Yen's Common Questions on the Practice of Buddhism, called "Esoteric Buddhism and the Fate of Buddhism". This chapter describes the way that esoteric Buddhism tends to rely on the special powers of teachers, which can make it particularly vulnerable to straying from the Buddha's actual teachings. As I was reading this chapter, what struck me was how appealing it is to find a personal teacher who somehow speaks to one's own personal affinities and interests. I also begin to wonder, why might charismatic leadership have a large role to play in the way people are attracted to Buddhist or other spiritual teachings?
  One particular answer I was reflecting on is the potentially psychotherapeutic dynamic that might sometimes happen between a guru and a student. Rather than simply serving to point to one's mind, spiritual teachers might also serve the purpose of providing missing or incomplete roles from a student's childhood, such as that of a parental figure, while gradually subverting or weaning the student off such relationships. Particularly in the case of tantric practices (of which I profess to know very little), I do wonder whether the supposed completion of male and female energies might correspond to or at least appeal to someone whose personal dynamics with the opposite sex might be underdeveloped or somehow unresolved. Could it be that some of these practices mirror a "rapprochement" that might resolve old issues from a person's past, or at least in one's current relationships?
    Many Buddhist practitioners shy away from more esoteric practices. However, I do have to wonder whether having such practices or even knowing they exist might serve as a repository for unfinished or incomplete emotions--almost serving as a kind of shadow where one's transgressions are played out, yet "in the safety of one's mind" rather than being enacted. Eventually, one matures away from these incomplete emotions when one realizes (perhaps to one's disappointment) that there isn't really an all-knowing caregiver who is able to fulfill such desires whenever one wants them. In this way, one safely lands back to the Four Noble Truths, yet much more empowered not to revisit the past hopes of an all-knowing, omnipotent parental figure who can buffer one from such truths.

ShengYen (2017). Common Questions on the Practice of Buddhism. New York: Sheng Yen Education Foundation