[kneexyFreedly]

Thanks for the thoughtful replies.

Element I think you have summed up the idea of joining groups very well.

Aloka I think you have hit on another concern I have in relation to the power of teachers/gurus and how they are treated very much like royalty if not Gods in themselves. I wonder though is this is consequence of the historical transmission of practices by word of mouth? Or is there something deeper to this?

I feel Western Buddhism needs to find its own way of being and maybe this will bring more elements of democracy into groups.

Mayeb I need to look more at Theravada