Teacher - Student Karmic Impact

[Gerard]

23 hours ago, XianGong said:

It is very hard for a beginner to find a good teacher, the main reason they cannot tell a difference between high quality "food" and "McDonald's". It all looks the same to them.

 

Yes true it is to a certain degree but ONE MUST BE SMART ENOUGH TO WEED OUT THE BAD TEACHERS. Keep searching if you haven't found and they will appear when you are ready not earlier. 

 

Signs of a good teacher:

 

1. Wants the students to excel in the art hence he's not there to promote himself or his art.
2. He has deep knowledge of the art hence he isn't a peacock showing off his wonderful plumage.

3. He is not teaching openly to the whole world. The little to not known type is better; however this is not always the case as good teacher can also be very well known and promote their arts openly to a wider audience. It is rare though but it happens.

4. They charge fairly not exorbitant amounts of money.

5. They live their arts 24/7 or close to that since they are also working on themselves.

6. Are linked or have learnt from a teacher that comes from a very well established and known lineage. 

7. Understand the needs of the students first and foremost. 

 

 

[Maddie]

The discussion about thoughts, feelings, and karma I feel leads to a discussion of the five Skandas, form, feelings, perceptions, volitions, and consciousness. 

 

1. Form or the body. 

 

2. Feelings. Feelings are one aspect of the mind. Feelings in this context are the input that comes through the senses and a distinction of if it's pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.

 

3. Perceptions. A recognition based on past association and experience.

 

4. Volitions or thoughts. This is where the will and judgments as well as thoughts are made. This is also where karma is both made and operates.

 

5. Consciousness. The awareness that the rest of the Skandas are functioning.

 

Thoughts, and feelings, and karma are all parts of the mind.

 

[Gerard]

I was going to edit my poet because I thought that providing a real life example would help practitioners searching for a good teacher. Then dmattwads posted first so let me list again:

 

1. My teacher. When I first arrived at the class he spoke to me and gave me a good idea about what the art is all about. He didn't show me an entire form to impress or even overwhelm me with more information as if we already plenty of it in our modern world; overwhelming in fact (poor suffering Stomach, always processing too much). Well he showed me little bit demanded from me a lot and indeed a lot of work I had to do from day 1. 
 

Let me say that a good teacher also demands a good and hardworking student; so it's a reciprocal relationship.

 

2. Another teacher I went to several years later because I wanted to learn another internal martial art to supplement my main practice.

 

Day 1: He asks me to follow and entire routine. A simplified version of the art but still long and complex. Obviously it was a mess and I had no idea of what was really going on. Tedious, boring only focused on form. 

 

He didn't charge much but he demanded little too and was only showing off how good he was at the art like a pretty swan. Maybe he charged little because he wasn't a famous teacher or because he wasn't really that good after all. Anyway I didn't want to find out and never returned to his classes. 

 

Today I haven't learned anything else except from my art. No need for more just focus on your practice and 'master' it (keep going till the end) rather than doing multiple things (jack of all trades). 

 

I also learned Vipassana meditation according to the Mahasi Sayadaw method. Seated and walking meditation practice. Very good stuff and available to anyone without having to spend a fortune or going through the perils of finding a legitimate teacher from the Taoist/IMA traditions. Just go to any Thai or Burmese monasteries and you'll learn how to meditate properly and correctly without encountering the pitfalls of self-learning or from books and online resources. Teaching is free in most instances or donation based in some.