who is your real teacher?

[dharmapasschakra]

finding your real teacher is like the journey of a young kid finding his real mother.

you're a young kid, one day, your neighbor Michelle says that i'm your real mother and 3 years later, another neighbor Barbara says i'm your real mother, and again, 5 years later, your biological mother comes with a paper of proof, and 7 years later, it's found that the doc is forged, and one day.............................................

if these sorts of ordeal happen more than 10 times or infinitely.

you will doubt.

who is my real mother?

it's like,

who is my real teacher?



while you doubt every single moment that who is your real mother for any extended length of the time, be it 2 secs or 50 years, finally the thing arises.

"i don't need a mother to be proved.

i'm already 18 years old.

my life goes fine without.

who my mother is is not a question which bears anything on my life anymore.

if no mother takes care of myself.

i will become a mother of mine and i will take care of myself."



and ask yourself now.

who is your real teacher?

[manas]

I wanted to say, 'your own heart', but then I remembered that even our hearts can deceive us sometimes. So I will say, 'a calm and watchful heart in tune with the Dhamma'.

_/I\_

[Sam Vara]

Everything is teaching us

(Ajahn Chah)

[dharmapasschakra]

I wanted to say, 'your own heart', but then I remembered that even our hearts can deceive us sometimes. So I will say, 'a calm and watchful heart in tune with the Dhamma'.

_/I\_

_/I\_

[dharmapasschakra]

Everything is teaching us

(Ajahn Chah)

_/I\_

[SDC]

dharmapasschakra, not that it should matter what one person thinks, but posting with everything spread out like you do makes it difficult to read. Just a thought.

[tiltbillings]

finding your real teacher is like the journey of a young kid finding his real mother.

you're a young kid, one day, your neighbor Michelle says that i'm your real mother and 3 years later, another neighbor Barbara says i'm your real mother, and again, 5 years later, your biological mother comes with a paper of proof, and 7 years later, it's found that the doc is forged, and one day.............................................

if these sorts of ordeal happen more than 10 times or infinitely.

you will doubt.

who is my real mother?

it's like,

who is my real teacher?

No, it is not.

[nobody12345]

I have only one teacher, living or dead, and he is the Buddha.
I don't have any other teachers.
It would be great if I live near the living teacher that is worthy of devotion (some of the 'Ariya' homeless ones. Not all the homeless ones are Ariya.).
Unfortunately, I have only read and studied the 3 out of 4 Nikayas (although for some of them, I have read twice) and waiting for the new complete translation of Anguttara Nikaya (will be out September, 2012) that I have not read yet.
So I need to study the teaching of the Buddha more thoroughly combined with actual practice which is the KEY to open the door to the Deathless.
Other than the Buddha's teachings, I use the biographies of Ajahn Mun, Ajahn Boowa, and Ajahn Chah (his was a broken record, but still good) as the comtemporary guiding light, the source of inspiration for my own practice.
Whenever I feel like go easy and soft because the practice is so hard to endure and so painful, then I remind myself of the brutal intensity of hardcore practice that those modern day Arahants had to endure day and night, years and years to penetrates the higher Dhamma.
I don't delude myself that I would reach their level.
Due to my low merit, I cannot go forth into the homelessness.
Living as a layman and wants to be an Arahant is a kind of greed.
Even if a layman is giving up sex and all the goodies of lay life, that is still not enough to reach the ultimate level of practice, the Arahantship, unless the one is either on the verge of death or on the verge of going forth into the homelessness.
(For those aspiring 'at-home' future Arahants, don't criticize me for telling you the bad news because that's what the Nikayas inform us)
However, even for the laymen, if one is willing to go all in, becoming an Anagami is an achievable goal and it was indeed achieved by the dedicated lay people for past 2,500 years.
Thanks for my auspicious fortune, I did not have children/wife when I found the Dhamma.
I had to break up the relationship with my girlfriend in order to go all in but never looked back or regret about my decision.
(That was 2 years and 5 months ago)
I only have 24 hours a day and I would be lucky if I live 60~70 more years and I just don't think it would be my benefit to get involved with throwing myself over and over in the middle of charcoal fit like a leper while there's a so much higher form of bliss and freedom out there.
Since I was extremely lucky to find the Dhamma despite of my previous pathetic morality/behaviors/sila/life style in general, I am intending to use this auspicious opportunity to the very best of my ability.
(I have an explanation of why I was able to find the Dhamma despite of my pathetic sila. I do have a very, very strong inclination of searching for knowledge that has been going on throughout many of my past lives. But since no one would believe me so that's not to be discussed.)
The Buddha is the only teacher that is worthy of stuyding and following intensely.
I still would pay respect or serve if I encounter my spiritual superiors without hesitation but in the end, I already have the best teacher/doctor/guiding light in the whole Samsara so it's all good.
The Buddha had achieved the mission impossible, that was the breaking out from the ultimate prison, Samsara.
And he was such a kind hearted person that he shared his knowledge/map with us out of compassion.
(Some of the Buddhas (Paccekabuddhas) didn't bother teach. They just kept silent about the Nibbana and the map they found. They just passed away without passing out the map to others)
Mara will confront me, test me, beat the crap out of me over and over and over again for many years to come.
But in the end I know whenever I see his ugly face, I will look him in the eyes and tell him that I am breaking out whether he approves or not. I do have the map now that I have been searching for the many life times/ eons thanks to my teacher and there's nothing he can do futher to stop me.

[equilibrium]

The real teacher is the one you look at every morning when you look at the mirror..........it is not the one you can see.....it is the other one.....the one you cannot see.