We cannot attain genuine enlightenment unless we practice under an authentic teacher; we will be led to a spurious experience if we practice under a false teacher. ― Kōun Yamada, Zen: The Authentic Gate
When I started my practice I received a very specific imprint, a very specific instruction on working with a teacher.
At that time there was no internet, no Buddhist magazines (at least that I knew of), very few books, and even fewer books that a true Zen teacher would want you to read. There were no discussion groups. There was no clinical or workplace practice called mindfulness. There was not nearly as much psychology as there is now and I wasn’t yet aware of what came to be called Buddhist or Zen psychotherapy.
So all there was to go on was . . . my teacher.
His laugh, his sigh, his bare feet walking on the wooden floor.
And it was enough. I didn’t understand what I was doing or much of anything my teacher was saying, but it didn’t diminish the power of his presence. Later on I would come to realize that what I experienced was simply the manifestation of dharma. A true Zen teacher is the manifestation of the teaching.
So what constitutes a true teacher? A teacher is one who practices with a student, and practice is what constitutes a teacher.
Later on when I was a student of Nyogen Roshi, he would explain the student-teacher relationship like this: We all start out in a pitch black room. We’re blind and we’re lost. To find the Way, you want to practice with a teacher who has been in that room with a teacher, who has been in the room with a teacher, who has been in the room with a teacher, because that’s who will lead you out.
Zen is a living practice. Person-to-person. You won’t find the living teaching in a book or in a lecture, although books and lectures can lead you to it, the way your thirst can lead you to water, the sun can lead you to shade, and the wind can lead you to shore.
This post is based on a recent dharma talk about working with a teacher. Listen to it in full right here:
Photo by Takeshi Yu on Unsplash