Hi,
I just want to raise some questions that you don’t have to give me an answer but rather, you may ask yourself
- Why do you wonder about the authenticity of LBTs?
- Is it because of the arguments against LBTs?
- If so, what do LBTs mean to you? What of LBTs do you care about?
- Do those of LBTs that you care about bring you satisfaction here and now?
- If you think you are satisfied, happy with those of LBTs you care about, then why do you raise the question about authenticity of such? (I assume it’s not to win the debate for the sake of the ego)
- If you raised the question (about authenticity of those of LBTs that you care about) out of dissatisfaction (you may feel unpleasant to hear arguments against LBTs), then it can be because those of LBTs you care about haven’t given you what you really want. Then, what is it that you want when you follow those LBTs?
- The answer to what you really want in those LBTs may lie at the beginning when you started to learn those LBTs. What (occasion) bring those LBTs to you?
Some people approach what supposed to be teachings of The Awakened One, through other people’s recommendation or actively seeking because they experience sufferings in life, like losing a family member. Some people see the sufferings of others: aging, sickness, death, and wonder about these: It’s suffering. Why is it so? What’s the cause? Is there a way out? How? In these cases, it is being aware of sufferings that drives those people to search for the solution and with sufficient conditions, they have come to the Awakened One’s teachings. In other words, those people seek the way out of the dissatisfaction (they experience themselves or of other people’s that they observe) they are aware of and dissatisfied by.
Some people have a philosophical inclination, they have scholarly approach to things in life, they study philosophies, and on an occasion, they encounter some phrases like “the path to release from sufferings”. They, the philosophers who wonder about the nature of life, existence, the universe and so on, hear/see the phrase that catches their attention. And from that, driven by philosophical and science curiosity, they study the Awakened One’s teachings. In this case, it is the philosophical inclination and curiosity that make those people dig into the Awakened One’s teachings. Being motivated by the tendency to ask and search the answer, the tendency of curiosity is because of dissatisfaction in what they have already known.
In both cases, it is the dissatisfaction (of a certain sort) people experience that drives them to seek an escape, a release from the dissatisfaction (stress, sufferings, discontentment), and with sufficient conditions, reach the Awakened One’s teachings.
If the teachings give you a satisfied answer or not yet completely but they have been helping you solve problems in life, bringing you happiness, the dissatisfaction that drove you into the teachings is decreasing, and you have been becoming better with morality and wisdom, then the teachings are working for you. That’s great and congratulation. But then, why questioning the teachings’ authenticity?
If the teachings haven’t been helping you with above things yet, then there is something wrong here. Either you grasp the teachings wrongly despite their potential to solve problems and bring happiness and satisfaction (which some people have achieved by following the teachings), or the teachings in their essence are flawed (of course in this case, no one has ever gained positive things out of the teachings as the they claimed to have). In both cases, there is still dissatisfaction in you, the one that drove you into the teachings.
There be some difficulties arising during practice but the original dissatisfaction that drove you into the teachings has to decrease through the practice. MN 36 stated difficulties the recluse Gotama faced during practicing and reaching culmination of extreme austerities, yet those practices didn’t give him a satisfied answer to his original question (dissatisfaction) about how to end sufferings in life. The recluse Gotama then reflected the practice and result, realized that austerities in their essence were not capable of bring the one practicing them awakening and release. Then he doubted there could be another way and abandoned austerities.
Likewise, the teachings may not be compatible with you, they may not be capable of bringing you satisfaction, happiness, release from dissatisfaction and suffering. From dissatisfaction comes doubt and uncertainty. If so, is it time to abandon them and go back to the original dissatisfaction that drove you into the teachings, ask the question again and seek the solution from the beginning?
AN 3.65 (AN 3.66 - Thanissaro) may help you. Personally I care about release. So if either what claims to be the Awakened One’s teachings or his actual teachings is irrelevant to the path to awakening and release from dissatisfaction (stress, sufferings, discontentment), then I won’t care about them. Just a bonus, MN 22 (Thanissaro) stated that: “Both formerly and now, monks, I (the Awakened One) declare only stress and the cessation of stress”. So I doubt, there is a high chance what that is irrelevant to release from dissatisfaction (stress, sufferings, discontentment) is not taught by the Awakened One.
For more information: https://goo.gl/rBf3i6