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Also See: Teachers who Realised Anatta
In their journey towards a deeper understanding of nonduality and anatta, individuals frequently face the decision of whether to seek a teacher, guide, engage in one-on-one personal mentorship, participate in coaching programs, or explore other forms of spiritual guidance. This complex and nuanced topic has been extensively discussed in various online platforms, shedding light on the experiences and insights of different practitioners and teachers.
I, Soh, an admin of the Awakening to Reality Facebook group and co-author of AtR, addressed this topic by highlighting the practical challenges of offering mentorship while holding a full-time job. I emphasized that it's difficult to mentor a large community and maintain a separate career unless one decides to dedicate full-time to coaching, which would necessitate charging a fee for survival. This is a path I have chosen not to pursue, preferring to maintain my current career over giving up for full-time spiritual coaching.
The conversation extends to different paths within spiritual practice. Some practitioners, like Yin Ling, are inclined towards the Vipassana path, which leads more to nondual and anatta insights. Yin Ling's journey, detailed on the AtR website in the article "6) Nice Advice and Expression of Anatta from Yin Ling and Albert Hong + What is Experiential Insight?", provides valuable insights for those interested in this particular path.
Regarding Dzogchen teachings, Dzogchen teacher Acarya Malcolm Smith stands out as a key figure. He offers teachings and practice instructions through his website, www.zangthal.com, with a structured fee. You can watch this YouTube video (highly recommended) for an introduction to Acarya Malcolm’s Dzogchen teachings that was recommended by Sim Pern Chong on the AtR group: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/09/talk-on-buddhahood-in-this-life.html . Also, some of Malcolm’s writings can be found here https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2014/02/clarifications-on-dharmakaya-and-basis_16.html . His approach includes regular Zoom sessions and encourages students to email their queries, albeit concisely due to his large student base and other professional responsibilities.
Similarly, Zen teacher Venerable Jinmyo Renge Sensei offers a long-distance training program in Zen, accessible via www.wwzc.org, which is akin to Dzogchen teacher Acarya Malcolm Smith's approach in terms of structure and fees. You can read some of her articles here https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2010/04/tada.html and https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/12/zen-master-ven-jinmyo-renge-senseis.html
On Reddit, a user inquired about finding a good nondual coach and guide. In response, I, Soh, referred to teachers like Dzogchen teacher Acarya Malcolm Smith and Zen teacher Venerable Jinmyo Renge Sensei, emphasizing that while these teachers do charge for their services, the fees are reasonable considering the support they provide to their communities and temples. I pointed out the importance of finding a practice, community, and teaching that resonates with the individual, rather than seeking quick solutions through one-time sessions. There are of course, many awakened teachers apart from these two that I have mentioned.
The teachings of Dzogchen teacher Acarya Malcolm Smith are particularly recommended for those interested in a deeper understanding of Dzogchen. His approach is structured and includes Dzogchen texts he personally translated, regular teachings and recordings which are also made available through his online platform, and the possibility of personal guidance through email correspondence. This method ensures a comprehensive and structured approach to Dzogchen, accommodating both beginners and advanced practitioners.
For those seeking mentorship or guidance in spiritual practices, the path is not always straightforward. The availability of mentors and the structure of their teachings vary, and fees may be involved. It's crucial to find a path and a teacher that resonate personally, ensuring a sustained and meaningful engagement with the practice. Whether through online platforms, formal teachings, or personal mentorship, the journey towards understanding nonduality and anatta is a deeply personal one, shaped by individual circumstances and commitments.
In addition to the various paths and teachers discussed in the context of spiritual mentorship and guidance, the significance of finding an awakened teacher cannot be overstated. As I, Soh, shared with someone recently, the teachings of the first Zen Patriarch Bodhidharma offer profound insights into this matter.
Bodhidharma, esteemed as the first patriarch of Chan/Zen, marking him as a foundational and transformative figure in the lineage and teachings of this tradition, emphasizes the crucial role of a teacher in the journey towards enlightenment. In his teachings, he states, "If you wish to seek the Buddha, you must see your nature; seeing your nature is Buddha. If you do not see your nature, then mindfulness of Buddha, reciting scriptures, keeping fasts, and upholding precepts are of no benefit. Mindfulness of Buddha brings karmic results; reciting scriptures brings cleverness; upholding precepts brings rebirth in the heavens; giving brings blessings—yet in seeking the Buddha, you ultimately do not obtain him.
If you yourself do not understand, you must consult a good spiritual friend to bring an end to the very root of birth and death. If he does not see his nature, he is not to be called a good spiritual friend. Failing this, even if one can expound the twelve divisions of the scriptures, one still cannot avoid the wheel of birth and death and suffers within the three realms with no time of release. Long ago there was the monk Good Star, who could recite the twelve divisions of the scriptures, yet he himself still did not avoid the wheel, because he did not see his nature. Since Good Star was like this, people today who lecture on three or five sūtras and treatises and suppose that this is the Dharma are fools. If you do not recognize your own mind, reciting idle literary texts is entirely useless.
If you wish to seek the Buddha, you must directly see your nature. Nature is precisely the Buddha; the Buddha is one who is free, a person without affairs and without contrivance. If you do not see your nature, you spend the whole day in a haze, rushing outward in pursuit; in seeking the Buddha you have never obtained him. Although there is not a single thing to be obtained, if you seek to understand, you also must consult a good spiritual friend; you must earnestly and strenuously seek so that your mind comes to comprehension. Birth and death are a great matter; do not let them pass by in vain—self-deception is of no benefit. Even if you had rare delicacies piled like mountains and kin as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, you see them when you open your eyes; when you close your eyes, do you still see them? Therefore know that conditioned dharmas are like a dream and an illusion.
If you do not urgently seek a teacher, you will let a whole life pass in vain. Indeed, the buddha-nature is naturally present, but without relying on a teacher you will never come to clarity. Those who awaken without a teacher are rare—one among ten thousand. If, however, by the conjunction of conditions you yourself obtain the intent of the sages, then you need not consult a good spiritual friend; this is to be born knowing—it surpasses learning. If one has not yet awakened to understanding, one must diligently and laboriously investigate and study; by means of instruction one then attains awakening. Once awakened, even without further study it is also attained.
Do not be like the deluded, unable to distinguish black from white, recklessly proclaiming imperial edicts of the Buddha, slandering the Buddha and maligning the Dharma. Such types, who preach as if the Dharma were pouring like rain, are entirely voicing demonic teachings and not the Buddha’s teaching. Their teacher is the demon king; their disciples are the demon’s people. Deluded folk let themselves be commanded by them, unwittingly plunging into the sea of birth and death. Anyone who does not see his nature and falsely claims to be a Buddha—such beings are great offenders, deceiving all beings and leading them into the demon’s realm. If one does not see one’s nature, then however much one expounds the twelve divisions of the scriptural teaching, it is entirely demonic discourse. They are the demon’s household and retinue, not disciples of the Buddha’s household. Since they do not distinguish black from white, by what reliance could they escape birth and death?
If one sees one’s nature, that is the Buddha; if one does not see one’s nature, that is an ordinary sentient being. If, apart from the nature of sentient beings, there were some other buddha-nature to be obtained, where would the Buddha be now? Precisely the nature of sentient beings is the buddha-nature. Outside of nature there is no Buddha; the Buddha is precisely nature. Apart from this nature, no Buddha can be obtained; apart from the Buddha, no nature can be obtained."
Also, Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche said:
"If you wish to eradicate your afflictions, you must follow your teacher and study for a long time. Otherwise, studying for only a few days will not have any significant effect ... Some people today are not willing to study or reflect on the Dharma, but they are enthusiastic about meditation. They believe meditating all day with their eyes shut is the ultimate practice. I do not think much of this. Although there are people of the highest caliber who attain enlightenment without study or reflection, are you of such caliber? Therefore, you cannot live in a cave or another completely isolated place when you first start to practice. Instead, you should be with a qualified Dharma teacher and earnestly receive the Buddhadharma; it is best if you are always engaged in study, reflection, and practice. Of course, I am not asking you to study and reflect for a lifetime without ever practicing. But to spend an entire life in blind meditation without any study or reflection is also the wrong path!"
The master of the intimate instructions that possesses the vajra meaning has a positive attitude, is skillful in teaching, has obtained the empowerments, applies the meaning of Secret Mantra, understands all the inner and outer activities, is inseparable from the meditation deity, remains undistracted in samadhi, is knowledgable in the secret tantras of Secret Mantra, possesses the meaning of the intimate instructions of the Great Perfection, engages in all outer and inner sadhanas, [18b] never leaves the meaning of the view, gives up outer, inner, and secret activities, is endowed with qualities like a precious jewel, and enjoys an inexhaustible treasury. With the cord of compassion unsevered and the stream of affection uninterrupted, the master and disciple are thus connected.
A “master” to avoid is described as follows:
A master lacking a connection with a lineage of scholars, who is self-important, stupid, literal-minded, who does not understand the meaning of Secret Mantra, has harsh words for others, is boastful, has entered false paths, has not seen the mandala of the empowerment, disregards samaya, [18/a] is unable to answer questions, has little learning, and great pride — such an unexamined master is a māra for the disciple. He is not a master who can teach Secret Mantra and is unable to teach the Great Perfection, Ati. Do not associate with such a person.
Jigme Lingpa comments on the above excerpt regarding the unqualified teacher:
As it says, do not get involved with such a demonic master.
Longchenpa, in his own response to the above excerpt from the rig pa rang shar (regarding the unqualified teacher), states:
Accordingly, I advise you to avoid them.
The kun byed rgyal po tantra states:
The inauthentic master teaches scripture like a monkey, his false path beset with concepts.
And regarding the qualified teacher it goes on to say:
The master who displays the truth is a precious treasury worth an inestimable price.
Jigme Lingpa continues:
This tantra [rig pa rang shar] also speaks of six characteristics:
[i] having put all samsaric phenomena behind him, [ii] having few desires and being content, [iii] being skilled in practice and having had experiences, [iv] being learned in the meanings of the tantras and having striven to accomplish them, [v] being learned in the meaning of the view and being completely capable with it, and [vi] having great compassion and being happy in renunciation.
One with the complete set of these qualities is said to be necessary. If, on the other hand, he is merely an effigy of whom it is said This one is a wonderful source of miracles, This one holds an unsurpassable rank, and This one is a sacred object of worship and harmony with worldly people, then he is not [a genuine teacher].
More from Jamgon Köngtrul:
Avoid a master whose traits are discordant with those of a true teacher; But since a fully qualified master is rare, follow the one who is replete with good qualities.
A teacher whose traits are discordant with the characteristics of the [true] master stands outside of the Buddhist doctrine and connot be taken as a spiritual teacher. Consequently, even though the teacher may be very famous, active, etc., the discriminating student should be aware [of these shortcomings] and detach him or herself [from the teacher]. This should be done even if a teacher-student relationship has already been formed. If one has not yet formed such a relationship, one should avoid doing so, right from the beginning. Sakya Pandita states:
Detach yourself from the spiritual teacher
Who does not conform to the Buddha's teaching.
We should learn how to recognize [bad teachers] from the many descriptions given in the scriptures and then shun them. For example, the Condensed Tantra [of the wheel of Time] states:
Proud, subject to uncontrollable anger, defiant of pledges, guilty of misappropriation, ignorant [of the doctrine], willfully deceptive of students, having failed to enter the state of supreme bliss, uninitiated, a slave to wealth and enjoyments, careless, rude in speech, and obsessed with sexual desire: wise students who wish full awakening should shun such a teacher as they would hell.
Because we are living in a [degenerate] age, we very rarely meet a teacher endowed with all of the necessary qualifications. Since we may never meet such a teacher, we should accept a master who has many good qualities and very few weaknesses. [Pundarika's] Ultimate Familiarization states:
In this age of conflict, spiritual masters will exhibit both faults and virtues; not one is absolutely irreproachable. Therefore, examine well even those who excel in virtue before beginning to study with them."
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Zen teacher Ven Jinmyo Renge Sensei: "Sometimes students really can't
understand why they can't just sit at home, by themselves, without
instruction. After all, the Buddha did that. Bodhidharma did that. May I
point out that you are not the Buddha and you are not Bodhidharma.
You're also not Einstein and you're not going to come up with anything
like the theory of relativity – not without countless years of
instruction and study and probably not even then. You're not Bach and so
it is highly unlikely that you will write music like his, not without
countless years of instruction and study. Sorry if this is the first
time anyone's pointed this out, but things are not all equal, they're
not all fair, we do not all have the same starting point and you are as
you are, not as someone else is. Or was. Start from where you are and be
willing to learn from others.
You might not like what I just said, but do you understand why I said it?
I
once asked the Roshi about Teachers – if two people who had nothing in
common Woke Up and became Teachers, would they somehow come to agree
with each other about everything? He said "No, but they would understand
why the other was saying or doing what he or she was saying or doing.""
- https://wwzc.org/book/export/html/1017
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Question: "Teacher X and Y claimed to have attained Arahantship/Buddhahood. Are they good teachers to follow?"
Soh: "These teachers are 99.9% of the time deluded and misleading others. They most likely haven't even attained stream entry, let alone the higher stages of awakening. See: A bunch of spiritual narcissists, Buddhist vs. Non-Buddhist Views and Insights of Anātman/Anattā, Meaning of Stream-Entry and Genuine Realisation is Rare, Most Claimants are Delusional"
Also See: Teachers who Realised Anatta
