When the teacher is ready
A first for me yesterday on the practice tee: a young guy next to me was watching me have a good day and when I was wrapping up, starting asking advice on his game. I didn’t hesistate, living from the principle that we honor our teachers best when we pass along what they’re given us. With a few minutes of zen coaching, he was flying his shots with a measure of more ease and distance.
I’ve had a shift in my whole feeling about being a teacher since my recent visit with my oldest zen teacher. There is some lesson here apropos to the whole idea of fostering mentoring in communities of work and life. The zen saying is, when the student is ready the teacher appears. Maybe the reverse is also true: when the teacher is ready, the student appears.
February 8th, 2007 10:01
When the student is “awake” the Universe is the teacher. So, when the student is awake and notices that the Universe is too, the Universe will start to play with them, thereby, the teacher “appears” to appear. He he~