The True Teacher

“You cannot transmit wisdom or insight to someone else – the seed is already there. A good teacher is someone who touches that seed so it can wake up, sprout and grow.” Thich Nhat Hanh

When you meet The True Teacher it is a rare and exquisite gift.  You will know in your meeting of this person that you have been touched by wisdom.  Like the dandelion in this picture this teacher gives of her/his wisdom like the seeds of the dandelion's flower so they might be scattered were ever the wind blows.  This teacher has no desire to hold on to wisdom nor to claim the teachings for him/herself.  This teacher touches the beginnings of wisdom in each of us, and encourages us to wake up, sprout, and grow.

These teachers' lives are their classrooms.  Each day and moment they share wisdom that enlightens all of our lives.  A very few of these special teachers who touch and enhance my life are The Dali Lama, Pema Chodron, and Thich Nhat Hanh. But so many others have served as these true teachers who are unknown and not recognized.

For me there was Sara, my great grandmother; John, my professor in New Orleans, Dharmakeerti, my friend and teacher from India, and a host of others who pass through my life sharing their wisdom and then move on.  Whether they realize their wisdom impacts me or they don't that wisdom has changed me.  For this I am grateful.

These teachers blow through my life like the wind.  They move, change, and rearrange what I think are the boundaries and perimeters of me.  They blow in on the winds of change, embody this change, and then leave on the wind that brought them in.  I am left to sort out the edges and perimeters of my being.

Life has provided me with many opportunities to re-exam who I am.  It comes through major life changes, loss, death, and physical illness.  Though the events are different the response is to allow me to embrace change.

Sometimes these events hide in them the seeds of change of growth that are found within.  I went to New Orleans expecting to engage in a work related seminar (see post "The Teacher Appears When The Student Is Ready"), and encountered a life changing experience.  This was not my expectation but it became a reality that changed the direction of my life.  The teacher was life moving through the words and actions of the teacher; not the other way round.

My stroke and the time in the hospital was, again, life teaching me through the encounters with people who would shape and mold the direction of my life.  It was, as Dharmakeerti said, an ashram experience for me.  People go to an ashram to have meaningful inner experiences that are enhanced by those they encounter there.  Eight weeks in the hospital was that for me. Life is not particular about where its lessons are taught and it will work through any channel to teach.  So ashram, college campus in New Orleans, or a hospital, all are equal for life's lessons.  I only need open myself to the experience.  The experience, the wisdom, always seeks me; when I set out to capture it I am disappointed because the reality of the lesson exceeds the limits of my expectations.

My lesson for now is to ride the wind; wherever it may go.  I cast my fate to this wind:
"A month of nights, a year of days
Octobers drifting into Mays
I set my sail when the tide comes in
I just cast my fate to the wind"