"Rev Genryu" ..> wrote: > A genuine teacher is not interested in whether you soar above the forest in your mind, except inasmuch as that is a distraction and a delusion. What they are interested in is whether you can let go of that, and see what's directly in front of you, right now, right here.>
If a teacher is interested in helping his student see something that he did not see, then the teacher is expanding the student's mind to soar above the forest of his mind. Zen is not about just seeing the cushion in front of you and living a droll life shuffling cushions. Zen is about seeing the life inside the cushion and all around you. Why is the difference between those who see and those who do not so obvious to the Teacher? >As for making more of you than was already there, if a teacher claims to do that - walk away.>> Any teacher will make more of any student if the teacher is doing his job. Even your dog will leave you greater than when you met. Unless you shut yourself from life, every meeting increases you in a positive way. >>Practice is concerned with how things are, not with fantasies of becoming something you are not already.>> Zen is about living. Living is all about movement, growth, expansion, learning, and being alive. Zen & Zazen exists to benefit Life. It is the primary tool used by Zen practitioners in order to understand life, but Zen is not what Life is for or about. Only a monk could believe that. >>And a good teacher will tell you whatever is honest and appropriate, in order for you to realize that what you're seeking is nowhere else but here and now.> Honest & Appropriate is not Verbal Abuse. Degrading remarks and aspersions regarding the character of various people on this list is not Appropriate. It is also intellectually dishonest. >They don't care if they're perceived as nice or nasty, or whether they fit someone's projection of what a teacher is or isn't.>> Criminals, sociopaths, and assholes also fit your description of a teacher. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/WwRTUD/SOnJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
