Cameron Posted October 14, 2007 So..this has been a reoccuring question for me this year. It has come up and up an up so many times feel the pull to make a thread about it. Â How many spiritual teachers do you think it is balanced to study with at a time? Â What I aked one of my teachers at the moment and she said 2 is enough .I sort of agree with her but unfortunatly it's like if that is really the case I sort of need to eliminate quite a few people on the teacher list..including her! Â My sense is the 2 teachers it is feeling I should just drop everything else and study with exclusively for the next years(or however long) are Sifu Max and Aikido Master Shibata Shihan. Â But if that is really the case it means it is time to put an end to this endless checking out other teachers and basically saying goodbye to some people..atleast for now. Â But then you hear about some students who can study with many teachers at once. Â Ok..let's hear it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sunshine Posted October 14, 2007 How many teachings can yous safely absorb - without messing your mind up - without confusing the teachings & mixing them - mixing practices safely etc. etc. etc.? Â at each level of which one is at the rules change... Â Â Harry Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gendao Posted October 14, 2007 (edited) Max has had many...but he's also studied for 40 years. So, I'd wager then that he probably didn't have too many at the same time, either. Edited October 14, 2007 by vortex Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cameron Posted October 14, 2007 Yeah..good point Vortex..maybe it's like 2 a t atime(or whatever). Â Probably these 2 can keep me busy for a good lifetime though..will see. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mYTHmAKER Posted October 14, 2007 One good one is all you need. I noticed in another post re Ayp that it was discontinued because nothing seemed to be happening like it used to. That's just the nature of practice - it gets subtler as one progresses. Light one candle in a dark cave - WOW as you add candles you don't notice the additional light as much as you did the first candle. Lots of holes no water. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mantis Posted October 14, 2007 i think you're spoiled if you have to ask how many is enough. think about back when these practices where made. it wasn't a question of who, it was a question of when. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc benway Posted October 14, 2007 (edited) This is an excellent question! How many teachers is it "balanced" to study with at one time? I think one can learn a lot from that question. What is it to be balanced in one's cultivation? Does one teaching offset the other? Are they saying different things? If so, which is correct? How do we know when our teachers are correct? Do we know anything about who it is that they are teaching??? The teaching part is very simple, it's the doing that's difficult and the teacher can "do" nothing for you. You can have as many teachers as feels right, it's all the same. One, two, twenty. They will each show you their way. They will each tell you that their way will take you somewhere where you want to go. You will follow their way for a while and then look for another, most likely. That's what we tend to do. The mind tells us that what we have and who we are is not enough. We need to make it better. We need to become something else. It will never stop. You will never become what you are looking for because whatever you or I become will still need to become something else. That's the nature of our minds, never to be satisfied. How many teachers are balanced to study with at one time? As many as it takes until you recognize that the teachers can no longer help and you've got to open the door and go through (and let go of) yourself. I'm still struggling with the door but I don't think more teachers or methods can really help me much at this point... it feels to me that what needs to happen is more of a letting go and less of a learning... As I read this post over it sounds very arrogant - I apologize for that but that's where my current (attempts at not) thinking is... Edited October 14, 2007 by xuesheng Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cameron Posted October 14, 2007 (edited) i think you're spoiled if you have to ask how many is enough. think about back when these practices where made. it wasn't a question of who, it was a question of when. Â Â Probably right. Still 2 feels fair and balanced. Â Though I am debating 3. Edited October 14, 2007 by Cameron Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mYTHmAKER Posted October 14, 2007 How many teachers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Light up a student? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
