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Good and Bad Teachers

lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
in Buddhism Basics
As beginners we often prefer to be taught by credible and genuine teachers. Naturally.
It never occurs to us initially that we are attracted to the true or false based on our own internal integrity. We assume that we are ready to find and know the genuine . . .
Several of the teachers I have been involved in had serious and now exposed flaws. Strangely enough I still find valuable lessons from their efforts. Sometimes we have to be involved and attentive rather than passive sponges. :)

Comments

  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited November 2012
    What tradition were/are you in? I think it's important to wear our critical thinking caps to sangha. That's a type of mindfulness, too. IMO, teachers need to earn our trust, they don't get it automatically, just because they have a title or come from this or that lineage.
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    edited November 2012
    I agree Lobster

    The sorriest teachers teach spiritual mimicry.
    The worst students imitate such teachers.

    The best teachers, simply show the student how to chart their own meditative course beyond the limitation of anothers accomplishments.
    The best students honor their teacher by surpassing them.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    If you see a teacher is bad then you have already learned something. ;)
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    The only thing I had to learn was that I had to implement the teaching. Before I was a dabbler. So it is not the teacher that is critical. It is us as students.
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    The best students honor their teacher by surpassing them.
    My teacher did not have any students, that is going to be hard to surpass. I am working on the premise that I was taught Nothing . . . after that it is all downhill . . .
    Anyway it is all academic now as I have abandoned Buddhism as unworkable
    :wave:
  • DaozenDaozen Veteran
    Once you abandon, you are ready to begin.
    lobster
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I recommend the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Once you are out of Buddhism you can turn towards other teachers.

    Follow your bliss.
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    Once you abandon, you are ready to begin.
    Cool. I may have to abandon abandonment.
    Sure is tricky giving this stuff up . . . :wave:
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Sorry I got an error message and I kept trying again and got the same. So sorry on the double post.
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    lobster said:

    The best students honor their teacher by surpassing them.
    My teacher did not have any students, that is going to be hard to surpass. I am working on the premise that I was taught Nothing . . . after that it is all downhill . . .
    Anyway it is all academic now as I have abandoned Buddhism as unworkable
    :wave:

    Like Bruce Lee said "A good teacher is merely a catalyst". Teachers cannot give truth but can only point to it.

    Maybe the quest for a good teacher should be abandoned in some cases especially if one is looking for truth.

  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    Jeffrey said:

    I recommend the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Once you are out of Buddhism you can turn towards other teachers.

    Follow your bliss.

    Great series. Clik-a-klak?

  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    What tradition were/are you in?
    "I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member."
    -- Groucho Marx :D

    tmottes
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