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Is a teacher needed?
Blayne
New
I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that you must have a teacher in buddhism but there isn't a buddhist temple for miles and miles from where I live. So can I just teach myself from books and online ?
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The whole " must have a teacher" thing is true or not depending on the tradition. For most of my practice I've been without a teacher or a sangha(community), the nearest is a very small monastery of 3 monks about an hour away. Then I go 5 hours away every other month to Bhavana Society where I learn a lot. I've never had a teacher of a sangha available to me in my daily life.
I highly suggest doing a search on the world buddhist directory to find out what is really around you - http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/
If you can go to a place and learn dhamma, thats always a good thing. If you cannot, well check out videos and recorded dhamma talks.
you can do a google search for many of the following monastics and teachers, the ones i've listed are from a variety of schools:
Dalai Lama of course(tibetan)
Thich nhat hanh(Mahayana)
Ajahn Brahm(theravada)
Bhante G(Theravada)
Venerable Yuttadhammo(theravada, he is a younger monk with a young following, he may interest you)
Stephen Bachaelor (Secular)
John Peacock(secular)
There is a whole channel on youtube with over 1000 dhamma videos, mostly in the theravada tradition : http://www.youtube.com/user/dhammatube
There are many websites with recorded dhamma talks(voice). This is one I know of
http://dharmaseed.org/teachers/
http://www.audiodharma.org/teachers/
Listen to a bunch, see what suits you, what connects with you, and keep searching after that. on my youtube channel I've put hundreds of videos i've watched over the years into playlists by teacher.. there is a lot out there and I still find new stuff now.
The rest? We now have the internet to help you with the Buddhist practice.
If not, don't worry about it.
The Buddha didn't have a teacher. The Buddha also had remarkable karmic capacity.
Marpa traveled, on foot, from Tibet to India to receive teaching from his guru, Naropa, not once but twice. Each time he returned to Tibet.
The internet is no substitute for a sangha, or a teacher.
So in this instance Buddhism (one sect/school) can include no teacher. The JoL also, mind you, includes much instruction on how a guru gives the method to the student.
This is also why you need a teacher for Buddhism.
Our access to information has exploded. We don’t need a teacher for that, we have Wikipedia and that’s just to get us started on the internet.
At some point though, I admit I needed sangha (fellow students) and teachers. That was probably for mutual encouragement and I really wanted to listen and talk to Teachers who I supposed were very special and wise people.
:rolleyes:
There are many who feel, foolishly, that they can do the same.
If beings in samsara need no teacher, then why did the Buddha teach those who came to him? Compassion? Would not the greater compassion be to not waste the life-time of the precious human birth of his aspiring students, and send them away to find enlightenment in solitude, just as he did?
A few areas from the final days of the buddha may be helpful to show at this point.
Quotes from the maha-parinibbana sutta
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.1-6.vaji.html
in relation to the Buddha's other teacher(s)-
Alara Kalama was one of the Buddha's teachers before his Enlightenment. He taught the Bodhisatta how to attain the sphere of nothingness, but could not show him the path to Nibbana.
Also this section where the Buddha is saying that his teaching has been open, with no secret or hidden teachings, and who/what the people should take refuge in(mainly being an island unto your self, and no master except dhamma)
32. Thus spoke the Venerable Ananda, but the Blessed One answered him, saying: "What more does the community of bhikkhus expect from me, Ananda? I have set forth the Dhamma without making any distinction of esoteric and exoteric doctrine; there is nothing, Ananda, with regard to the teachings that the Tathagata holds to the last with the closed fist of a teacher who keeps some things back. Whosoever may think that it is he who should lead the community of bhikkhus, or that the community depends upon him, it is such a one that would have to give last instructions respecting them. But, Ananda, the Tathagata has no such idea as that it is he who should lead the community of bhikkhus, or that the community depends upon him. So what instructions should he have to give respecting the community of bhikkhus?
"Now I am frail, Ananda, old, aged, far gone in years. This is my eightieth year, and my life is spent. Even as an old cart, Ananda, is held together with much difficulty, so the body of the Tathagata is kept going only with supports. It is, Ananda, only when the Tathagata, disregarding external objects, with the cessation of certain feelings, attains to and abides in the signless concentration of mind, [19] that his body is more comfortable.
33. "Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge.
Now the Blessed One spoke to the Venerable Ananda, saying: "It may be, Ananda, that to some among you the thought will come: 'Ended is the word of the Master; we have a Master no longer.' But it should not, Ananda, be so considered. For that which I have proclaimed and made known as the Dhamma and the Discipline, that shall be your Master when I am gone.
Right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhūmi_(Buddhism)
i'm don't think the buddha's goal was to "teaching beings", his goal was to proclaim the dhamma until it was well known and a sangha established to pass on the teachings, that he did, and then he ended his last life.
I'm not sure if we have entered into a debate on the need for a teacher, or just about sutta stories LOL, but I think my point was not that people should not use the experience of wise teachers to help on their own path, just that they don't HAVE to RELY on said teachers to hand hold them. Going back to my original post, confidence in our own ability is most important, with or without a teacher.
I think of that now as an essential part of practice: that the process of blowing things out of proportions is seen - and overcome.
The desires, the fears, the unrealistic images and expectations; they are fabrications of my own mind. My mind is blowing things out of proportions all the time, right?
Instead, I can just drink my morning coffee now and be at ease.
:coffee:
An individual steeped in dharma, practice and experience can offer us insight or confirmation on the nature of difficulties, potential way forwards, advice and so forth. This is the value of good companionship.
So there is great value in the sangha and senior practitioners as repositories and exemplars of wisdom. We too have a responsibility to make use of these resources and not squander them.
You will notice that we all bring our opinions, experience and advice. Do we develop the capacity to listen, to find the value rather than the immaturity or dwell on the nature of the adviser? Are we developing the capacity to learn? Nobody teaches until they can learn.
Teachers needed? Plenty available. Are we learning from them, from our companions, from life, children, pets, life etc?
. . . and now back to the studies . . . :wave:
I am sorry if I haven't always 'got' what you have taught me...
Seriously, some people need the discipline of a teacher while some people are best going off by themselves and struggling with their inner demons on their own. For some people no teacher will make a bit of difference because the person doesn't know how to be a student. We have examples of Masters who have learned at the feet of another Master, and Masters who have learned their wisdom from the universe itself, the ultimate teacher.
So...yes and no.
Isn't Buddhism wonderful?
One of the biggest and hardest lessons I've had to learn is that you don't have to be in the same place as your teacher all the time.
I haven't had any real time with my Guru in going on ten years. That's a long time. It hasn't always been easy. There have been a lot of frustrations in that he hasn't come here and I haven't had the money to travel to where he teaches. I've had content myself with his books and videos. Not quite the same thing, but it's enough. Our resident teacher is also very good and that's a blessing - except he's going on sabatical of a few months :-(.
Our Guru is actually coming to town for a weekend seminar at Naropa in April with the possibility that's he'll add a few days to spend with his students. Expensive, again, and hoepfully I'll have it together in time to get a spot at the Naropa sessions. If he chooses to spend some extra time, that will be awesome.
The lesson to be learned, for me, is that the Guru's blessing remains and is not affected by time & distance. The rest is to learn to not cling to my frustrations and expectations.
It's a great teaching he's giving you…
:aol:
Do I see my attachment to my Guru? No, I don't see it that way. Where I think my attachment lies in how I percieve his role in my life - like my need for him to be in a certain place and doing certain things.
I've actually spoken with a senior Lama (Acharaya) in our Sangha about this, at length, I'm abiding by his counsel in the matter.
Why? Are you having attachment-to-guru issues and need some help?
I try not to get too attached to what I am posting. Do ya know what I mean (rising intonation)?
One can find books and articles and video lectures that explain the fundamentals of Buddhism and meditation. Once a person knows what the precepts are, as well as the 8 fold path, 4 noble truths, and can mentally and emotionally grasp them, they can begin practicing.
As for meditation, again, if the goal is to use meditation as a means of training the mind towards detachment and awareness of thoughts (in equal doses) I believe most people can learn meditation on their own -through books, etc - without a real life teacher.
If one has much higher (spiritual) goals in mind for a meditation practice, such as "Enlightenment" or wishes to employ meditation as a strict 'devotional tool' -- then I can see where a Guru or Teacher would be necessary.
You can't ask a book questions.
Teaching ones self can lead to problems with not doing things right. Bad habits are easily formed.
If someone has the option, getting instruction is a BIG plus. For example, you can go to any Shambhala center on the planet on a Sunday morning and get excellent introductory instruction at no cost - enough to keep you going for years AND you can go back and get refreshers. It seems fololish to not take advantage of something like that if it's available. There are also weekend seminars that are available in many centers, that while they may cost some $$, it's well worth it. My first meditation instruction was in that setting. Worth every penny and in hindsight traveling twice the distance would have still been a bargain.
Another advantage to the meditation instructor is, if you establish an ongoing relationship, you have someone who can help when problems or issues arise. Online communities like this try to be helpful, but oftentimes end up offering way too much info from too many POVs to be really useful. A teacher knows you and your history and will give consistent advice.
On the other hand, if such options simply aren't available or practical because of distance, etc., then there not much left except the spotty resources elsewhere.
I agree but sometimes different points of view give a different perspective. You do not necessarily know what your teacher's obstructions or habits are.
Just offering a different POV.
In an online enviornment, who is to say which perspective is the appropriate one? Most of the time we're left to our own choosing and that may be the wrong choice. A qualified teacher should know enough about the student and various issues to give appropriate advice. You may choose the right course, but thaere are plenty of times when what we choose to do is the most comfortable, when what we shopuld do is quite the opposite. But that's why you establish a working relationship with someone.
There's also an element of trust to be established and observed. This is VERY important. If trust isn't there, then a relationship is impossible. In fact, without a certain trust, the path itself is impossible.
Everything else becomes peripheral. The task becomes possible. Relationships with each other can be independently forged.
At some point you have to believe in and trust, and be guided by, your wisdom mind.
Your teacher cannot do that for you.
Most of us don't.
Wisdom comes with time, experience and devotion. We can develop that on our own, but a teacher will speed up the process and focus it, if we let that happen.
I don't ask that to 'torpedo' you. I just ask sincerely because I don't know and that's what I first think of.
This is from the dhamapada:
'One truly is the protector of oneself, who else could the protector be? With oneself fully controlled one gains a mastery which is hard to gain.'
The 3 jewels are there for me - and I take refuge in them when I sit.
I am here to master myself. Hope that suffices for an answer.
The need finds its requirement. Quite often this perception of 'special and wise' empowers and invigorates our resolve. Tantra with its fourth refuge of the Guru, requires this connection for much of its beguiling blessing.
However being blessed comes eventually from our special wisdom.
Here is some sense to bless ourselves with . . .
http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2012/01/bg-243-the-myth-of-the-teacher/
and here is a mantra to empower it
OM MANI PEME HUM