you remind me of a 'story' which I have shared here before, I believe Ajahn Chah was inspecting his monks (sort of like a military line up) and a young Novice pointed out he looked a mess, Ajahn agreed and called him Ajahn from that day onward (although no other monk was expected too).
how true and if it was Ajahn Chah I don't know but it is a story I have heard at least two forest monks share in talks or in writing and this is the sort of think I think Retro is on about, it isn't so much the student teaching the Teacher a lesson but rather the student is on an equal footing to help the teacher at different times.
WM
Manapa
mikenz66 wrote:I'm big on student-teacher contact...Dan74 wrote: Our Theravada friends don't seem to be big on student-teacher contact though, so this may be a conversation for a very small audience...
However, as others indicate, there's not a guru relationship. I have learned from several teachers, partly for practical reasons (living in different places, monks coming and going...). I would disagree a little with Retro about the relationship, however. It's clear to me who the student is. I'm not going to be teaching much to someone who's been a monk for ten, twenty, thirty years... [Of course, I can sometimes be somewhat helpful to my fellow students, but that's a different issue.]
Metta
Mike