RAF,
> and what did they or their heirs say in regard to their awards of inka?
By the way, when it comes to _inka_, a thought comes to mind about what it
signifies.
Inka is given to a student who has awakened, and who has finished the formal
part of training in the Master's lineage. But there are two other conditions
which must obtain. These are, that the student must want to teach; and, that
the student must be ABLE to teach. The student's feeling able to teach
sometimes depends on the student having a place to teach, a space, a setting,
in which to teach (rather than just out in the open air, for example).
So, Inka is a seal of approval of a student's realization and worth, and an
acknowledgement that the teacher knows that the student wants to teach and that
he/she CAN teach. On the latter point, the student has probably served as an
apprentice teacher under the master, and been trained in teaching, and has
demonstrated ability, there, and been accepted by students training under
him/her.
I've just given a little fleshing-out of what I've gathered over the years that
inka "means".
Yet, I find no answer to your question arising in me over the past days.
Now, *these* "answers" are publicly available: my teacher Sheng Yen writes
something of his training and experience and his being given authority to teach
in two lineages of China, in his autobiography, FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW -- THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CHINESE BUDDHIST MONK, 2008, Doubleday. It's a small book,
208 pages, and he calls this account of his life "impressionistic, and not a
perfect record" (I don't think I've known another autobiographer ever to admit
that).
--Joe
> R A Fonda <rafonda@...> wrote:
>
> On 12/9/2012 11:10 AM, Joe wrote:
> > There are confirmatory signs which a teacher can recognize
>
> I find myself more interested in the occasions when a /teacher/ emits a
> sign of /their/ illumination. Might you, or Bill, share with us some
> instances you have encountered in your time immersed in the American zen
> scene? You have mentioned Bernie whatshisname and Aitken, for instance;
> what did they do or say that stands out in your memory? Of course, I
> don't mean to confine such observations to them, and what did they or
> their heirs say in regard to their awards of inka?
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