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Blessing Teachers ...
lobster
Crusty Veteran
From another thread ...
Well I had my ten minute time-slot with Ajahn Brahm.
The main thing I took out of it you may ask?
- Don't take things too seriously
- Be kind
As we all suspected, good dharma teachers are the norm. I remember the first time I met my informal teacher. Continues to inspire me and was barely Buddhist.
Should we bless teachers with our inanity or improve ourselves by being blessed?
OM MANY PEME HOME (something like that) 
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Comments
Good question @lobster.
Two of the best teachers I have share my surname and reside in the bodies of an 8 year old girl and 5 year old boy.
@Bunks - tell me about it!! ??
I echo the "Children teach your parents well" sentiment.
The question, ‘who is the teacher?’ eventually encompasses, symbols, children, everything a Buddha ...
For example this uneasy spiral is two circles for your finger to follow ...
Outer and inner ...
nice.the arangement of two circle is trippy.
I have learned the most by observing my teacher when he is not sitting on the teaching platform. it is a blessing to have a teacher.
The Most Important Teaching
A renowned Zen master said that his greatest teaching was this: Buddha is your own mind. So impressed by how profound this idea was, one monk decided to leave the monastery and retreat to the wilderness to meditate on this insight. There he spent 20 years as a hermit probing the great teaching.
One day he met another monk who was traveling through the forest. Quickly the hermit monk learned that the traveler also had studied under the same Zen master. “Please, tell me what you know of the master’s greatest teaching.” The traveler’s eyes lit up, “Ah, the master has been very clear about this. He says that his greatest teaching is this: Buddha is NOT your own mind.”
http://detoxifynow.com/zen-and-sufi-parables/
There is a difference between what teachers teach and what they are. Both can be useful to a student, but it takes some insight to see what you are learning.
"Do as I say, don't do as I do"....?
Hmmm...
So that kind of brings us back to whether a Teacher's reputation mars what they teach, or whether we are able to discriminate positively and separate the two...
I hereby make an analogy:
Wheat and Chaff.
The wheat is not marred or tainted by having been connected to the chaff.
The Chaff is a separate part entirely.
What is done with it, is not up to the gleaner.
But the quality of the wheat still needs to be tested.
The proof of the 'pudding' is in the eating...
True, but there is also the question of if you do as the teacher does, are you learning what is appropriate for you, or are you merely learning to copy the teacher? Sometimes learning by copying, which we all often do subconsciously, is not an appropriate strategy...
I said 'do as I say, DON'T do as I do'... Or am I misunderstanding you?
And sometimes it is. That's where discernment comes in, doesn't it? That's where Seeing Things for Ourselves is appropriate, no? We evaluate our behaviour according to the results. So then we can decide whether copying is appropriate or not.
If it works, don't fix it.
Or better yet -
If it feels good, do it. When in doubt - don't.
I often use this adage, because it's universally applicable.
A good teacher is in accord with her teaching. A bad teacher has not learned, even their own advice ...
Who knew?