Do You Need a Teacher for Awakening?

[Jim Ellsworth]

Do you need a teacher for awakening? Why or why not?

Ken answers that we do. We're so mired in the world of our habitual patterns and our limited perceptions that we need someone who stands outside of our projected world to point toward a path of awakening.

But I've also heard Ken speak of the important need of a student to begin to seek answers to the questions that burn within them, rather than simply accepting a set answer from a teacher or religious institution. Consider these words from an "Arrow to the Heart:"

"Five conditions for a teaching to take place:

A time--right now.
A place--right here.
A teacher--hmm, that's a bit trickier. What about your own mind?
A teaching--what you are holding in your hand.
And a student--you, if you are up for it."

So, what about your own mind? Isn't that enough? I'd like to hear any experiences people have had about trying to seek awakening on their own or through a teacher. What have you learned? Do you need a teacher? Why? Why not?

There are no right answers. Only imperfect words about experience. But I'll attach an outline of Ken's section on the same topic from the WUTYL book. Open it if you need a review!

[Chris McCarthy]

I can't answer the question, definitively, because I have had several teachers in my life, therefore, I am already tainted!

My guess is that it would be extremely hard to have the insights, or awakenings, that I have had in my life without the benefit of a teacher. Like you said above, I have needed someone who is outside my projected world in order to help point me toward a different way of seeing. It's possible I could do this without a guide, but I think the time to get to where I am would have taken much longer.

This begs the question: What is a teacher? I have had several teachers in my life that have helped me move toward realizations but were not official "teachers."

Next question: What is awakening? Or, as Stephen Batchelor asks "Awakened about wot?"

Personally, I have had a number of awakenings, enlightenments, realizations, insights and Wows.....

Chris McCarthy

[Andi]

Depends with what Teacher meant to that person. So he/she may or may not need a teacher based on that.

[Dan]

For myself, yes. I am not the person best suited to see myself at times. In many aspects of my life, a teacher/student (or mentor or sponsor) has been instrumental in my growth.

[Jim Ellsworth]

Hi Chris,

Batchelor's line about "Awakening to what?" really impacted me the first time I heard it too. In so many dharma circles people speak about awakening in such glowing terms. But what is it really? McLeod says it's about awakening to the mystery of being. But when you spend time sitting and questioning what that might be, a neat and tidy definition always seems somehow out of reach.

Today I walked out of the gym and felt struck by the sun's warmth and simultaneously refreshed by a strong breeze. For a flash, everything seemed so incredible with a sense of presence that was palpable. That's a pretty powerful awakening for me, even if it's lost the minute I start driving and the car radio comes on. The more mundane awareness of existence comes back quickly but moments of "awakening" seem to arrive spontaneously now. But to what? :) Does it even matter?

As for, what is a teacher? Do you remember Ken's NEJ 2 slide where he spoke of the different roles a teacher might play? Mentor, Guru, Priest, Therapist, Consultant, Coach? An effective teacher seems to have the ability to respond to the differing needs of what the student presents.

I've delayed replying to these posts because my own understanding of practice has been turned upside down over the past few months. And that's the direct result of interaction with both Ken and George. The retreat with Ken was the first where I wasn't so distracted that I actually felt completely open to hear what was said and to absorb the teachings more deeply than I ever have. Perhaps it was because Mt. Baldy is beginning to feel like home to me and perhaps I felt more comfortable in the smaller group. Insights and questions were popping like fireflies on a hot summer night. Even my return, when reactive patterns kicked back in, was highly insightful for me.

And, George! He's "ruined" my sitting practice by helping me to move more deeply into a felt experience of my body. He asked (or perhaps, I heard) are you sitting to become more awake or to simply repress what's happening for a while so that you can get a break from the reactive patterns that will kick back in after the bell rings? His words hit home quickly. I've sat for many years with little change in the choices I made after I've gotten off the cushion. What am I holding on to? That's become a central question.

(And how do I "let go?" Just as you said earlier today (quoting Batchelor?), we begin to create the conditions to make it possible to let go.)

After ruining my sitting practice, George has helped me to come to a better understanding of shamatha practice. His description of shamatha has turned my practice upside down. Why? Mainly because I've come to see that a sense of "calm abiding" can be cultivated to experience everything that arises in my present experience. Shamatha is not a simple practice done solely on the cushion but a way of responding to all of the comings and goings of life. I'm going to take the liberty to post a recent exchange that we've had below...

Do I need a teacher? Yes! I'm finding the answer is definitely yes. But why? Because the teacher has some extraordinary powers that are beyond me? Nope. It's because the teacher has wrestled with the teachings in their own life and come to understand them in a way that can be passed to me. Am I willing and able to listen? Am I willing to apply the teachings to my life? That's my responsibility. And it's not a small one....

[Jim Ellsworth]

Andi, your post brings to mind Ken's description of the various roles that that a teacher can play. "Mentor, Guru, Priest, Therapist, Consultant, Coach" were among those mentioned.

People probably come to teachers for different reasons at different times. Personally, I've always felt that I could figure things out on my own. Just give me a library card and I'll go research what's needed. This has brought some success in my life but it's been much less useful in my "awakening." If I've had any degree of awakening, it's been because I've had the good fortune to encounter teachings that were so far outside of my own frame of reference that I had to listen.

I "discovered" Buddhism by happening on an audio book from Pema Chodron. When she spoke of the importance of moving into suffering rather than trying to fix it or cure it somehow, it began a series of events that would turn my life in a whole new direction. Even after hearing those words, I embarked on a course where I emphasized intellectual understanding over actually putting the teachings into practice. I read and read. And I sat with a critical mind through lots of teachings that weren't as well stated as what I'd read in the books.

Ken's book was the book that ended my need to look for answers in books. Something in me clicked after reading it. And even to this day new levels of understanding are revealed as I sit. I've moved from confusion to insight back to confusion all over again. And everything has changed. Practice before was something that made me feel good but it was always optional, something I did when the conditions seemed right, and always in competition with so many other choices.

[Jim Ellsworth]

Hey Dan.

It seems we have two yes votes and one maybe! Well, my vote would make three yes votes.

What's remarkable to me is that once you start open to the teachings, 'teachers" start to present themselves in many, many forms. Pay attention to what's arising in experience. Investigate. Explore. And people and events will begin to offer unexpected lessons.

I'm looking forward to learning from you in the future. I've enjoyed the Wednesday meetings and really gained some valuable perspective by sitting in the participants seat as you've facilitated the meetings. It's been a real treat for me!

[Jim Ellsworth]

Here's a recent e-mail exchange between George Draffan and me that is illustrative of just how working with a skilled teacher can change one's understanding of practice. Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, emphasizes the importance of working with a teacher. But at the same time, it emphasized the importance of working out one's own path. These notions might seem contradictory. But I'm finding that they have a synergistic effect.

Hi George,

I wanted to thank you for our last phone call. It really helped a lot.

Your explanation of shamatha has really led to a major shift in how I practice and really in how I've been experiencing life. The way I understood your explanation is that shamatha is maintaining a level of attention so that "I" stay present with whatever arises. Staying present gives a degree of flexibility (choice) in how I respond to whatever arises.

Why do I view it as practice-changing (life-changing)? Because I instantly knew that there are many areas in my life where I've allowed reactive patterns, cravings, and emotional reactions to overcome me. In the way I'm understanding it, I can begin to develop a continual practice (24/7) that allows me to have some degree of attention to each moment..

Here are some of the things that come to mind when I sense what can overtake me:

(List deleted for privacy!!!!!)

This is just a quick list. There's perhaps so much more. But I understood our conversation to mean that shamatha can be developed to the point that part of me can stay present with whatever arises in my experience, even my own death, the worst imaginable physical and emotional pain.

Of course, there are limits. And they need to be recognized. But they aren't all. There is the equanimity that can be accessed through awakening mind. It is always available and can be increasingly accessed through practice.

Jim

Jim,

Shamatha is often translated as "calm abiding". It's the capacity in attention to abide with, hang out with, be in the experience of, whatever arises. Returning and resting in sensations and feelings again and again as attraction and aversion arises, we learn not to repress or act out. Eventually we see, we really know, that every experience is just an experience and we don't need to react. That seeing/knowing is insight.

Some practices and teachers emphasize the resting in experience; resting is good when you're habitually busy trying to understand or manipulate things.

Other practices or teachers emphasize the looking into specific experiences, for example the ones that cause us particular trouble; looking deeply is good when you're habitually passive.

Whether you emphasize resting in attention (shamatha) or looking deeply (insight), the two come together and happen simultaneously. That's mahamudra: resting without distraction in experience and knowing its nature.

Everyone's got their own unique cluster of conditioning, but the flavors and particulars of one's emotions and behaviors don't really matter -- the practice is always about returning and resting in experience, so that you don't repress or act out so much, so that one can see/know the nature of experience, so that more choices are possible.

Buddhism is often thought or taught to be a problem-solving practice, but the practice is to rest in the problem, not try to make it go away. Things relax and become clear over time as you stop approaching experience as a problem. That's a paradox, but the profound things in life are. Easy problems are fixed with easy solutions, but Experience-And-How-to-Respond isn't easy. It gets easier as you cultivate a capacity in abiding.

People often give shamatha the once-over and try to jump into insight, but that's a mistake. Trying to analyze and problem-solve without the capacity to rest in experience is useless at best. At worst it's just a new version of the same old futile strategies that create the suffering we're trying to avoid.

I'm not sure what you're doing in your daily practice, but you may benefit by devoting every other day's whole session to shamatha, so that insight doesn't turn into analysis, and digging into death, karma, or reactive emotions doesn't stir things up beyond usefulness. Deep capacity to return and rest in whatever's arising is what gives insight practice its power.

On the alternate days, spend 15-20 minutes on returning and resting.
Then for 5-10 minutes look into one particular emotion or behavior. Hold, without believing any "answers" that arise, the question:
What is this [craving, or procrastination, or whatever] experience? What are its sensations, feelings, and stories? Whenever you come up with insights or answers, return to asking/looking into the experience itself.
After a few minutes, give up all effort and just rest again in attention in the body for 5-10 minutes.

I'm leaving for Mt Baldy in the morning. Perhaps we can talk next week.

George