They may as well have kissed Barney Rubble

Apprentice The intellect seems to get a raw deal in our lineage.

Ngak’chang Rinpoche That has more to do with Khandro Déchen and myself. We are fairly simple people. We have average to low IQs. Khandro Déchen’s is low-average—under 100—and mine is decidedly low. I scored 49, 66, and 84 in three tests. Be that as it may, we find that the more intellectual people are the more problems they tend to have.

Apprentice I think of myself as something of a clever fellow, yet this seems somehow a useless quality. 

Ngak’chang Rinpoche We have no argument with clever, bright, intelligent, witty, entertaining, engaging, ingenious, knowledgeable, adroit, sharp, talented, artistic, clever, surprising, imaginative, or competent.

Apprentice I’ve heard you say in the past something to the effect that having a strong intellect has the advantage of meaning one can comprehend the logic and structure of the teachings, which can be useful, but that’s about it.

Ngak’chang Rinpoche Yes. That is about it.

Apprentice However it seems to me that people’s natural strengths, inclinations, aptitudes, or predilections, often appear to be the route through which they can access the teachings. 

Ngak’chang Rinpoche True.

Apprentice Having a pleasant voice and propensity for song, a keen eye and propensity for craft, a fiery heart and propensity for martial arts, seems to offer a window into the lineage. Other than one specific teaching of which I am aware, the intellect doesn’t provide that route.

Ngak’chang Rinpoche You got me there—fair cop Gov.—caught me by the right-abouts—no mistake—no doubt about it. [Ngak’chang Rinpoche is ‘speaking’ in mock petty criminal patois of the 1950s—Ed.]

Indeed my theoretical propositions are all awry—I am hoist by my own petard. Actually, intellect does provide that route. There is however a caveat: the intellect in question has to be open to play. We have a handful of extreme intellects in our sangha, two with IQs approaching 200—but they have managed to recognise intellect as a sense field rather than the absolute dictator of all perceptual input. They also recognise ‘the limits of intellect’—which is in some way easier for them as they are so perilously close to those limits. It also fascinates them that I am a moron. I have an IQ of 66 and so they are aware that IQ does not quite equate to comprehension of Dharma. The interesting factor with these high IQ apprentices is that they can almost understand anything—but there comes a point where the intellect fails and that forces them into the realm of experience. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s books are wonderful in this respect—as they go beyond the intellect. I think that is why there were so many intellectually gifted individuals in his sangha. It was a challenge. The problem with intellectuals really comes to the fore when they become tricky, or imagine that kissing the Blarney Stone is going to enable them to slip sideways in terms of being recognised in devious ploys. They may as well have kissed Barney Rubble or Fred Flintstone. Khandro Déchen and I may be intellectually impaired—but that does not prevent us from recognising evasion, prevarication, elusion, avoidance, equivocation, fabrication, misrepresentation, deception, calculated vagueness, fudging, dodging, and ducking. We can see the whole gamut without having to tax our meagre intellectual resources

Apprentice: Am I missing something or am I simply thinking about thinking too much?

Ngak’chang Rinpoche You are engaged in something or other—that’s for sure and for certain. As long as you regard the intellect as a sense field with which we are welcome to conjure, you are free to be as intellectual as your heart desires.