Great Interview with Surya Das

Excerpted from the interview:

"When I look at my own gurus, like the Karmapa or Khyentse Rinpoche, I don't feel that my spiritual realization matches theirs. I'm more of a player-coach or wise friend than a master-guru or absolute authority. My way of teaching is to gently bring people along, by practicing together with them. I see myself as what Buddha called kalyana-mitra in referring to teachers, which means "spiritual friend-benefactor.'"

"Students make a teacher. I get together with people, I practice with them, and I teach them how to practice the way I've learned to practice. Whether or not they consider me as a guru in the traditional sense or as a spiritual friend'”that is sort of up to them."

"I have all kinds of different students; some are students, some are dharma teachers themselves. Like my own teachers, I teach according to the different needs, places, and times that I find myself in. There are a handful of students who consider me their main teacher, their guru. I don't teach them to see me as the Buddha, as Tibetan masters do, but I do help them understand that the practice of devotion helps you to see the Buddha in everyone. And if you can see the Buddha in one person it will help you to see the Buddha in everyone and in yourself."

www.tricycle.com/interview/old-wine-new-bottles

Kenneth's comment: I like what Surya Das says here. This resonates with my own feelings. I am not the most enlightened person in town. I am not a guru or an absolute authority, but rather a "player-coach" or "wise friend" as Surya Das puts it. We are all learning and growing together.

All of you are my teachers

This is also a nice explanation of the devotional aspect. Perhaps everyone is awake in this moment. When I assume this, there is even less energy for self contraction and certainly no desire to add fuel to another's self contraction.

Let's say you've got somebody who can barely draw stick figures. He wants to become a better artist and hears about a photorealist painter who teaches people how to become phenomenal artists. The trick is--the stick figure guy is not allowed to actually view any of the photorealist's paintings. He can only learn the techniques the artist teaches, practice them and see if they work.

From time to time, the photorealist encourages his students and even talks of his own path. "I learned how to paint and you can, too. I wish you could see the paintings. They actually are wonderful, but I'm not allowed to show 'em to you. Still, just keep practicing. You'll see. It works."

The student will have a natural inclination to waste his energies in a samsaric fashion by (1) projecting all kinds of wonderful things onto the photorealist and (2) doubting himself, the photorealist, his other students' testimonials and the entire enterprise. What makes the most sense, of course, is for the stick figure guy to learn the techniques, follow the instructions and see for himself whether any of it works. Devotion or appreciation isn't a prerequisite at all for this. However, it might start to develop as--aha!--the stick figures start to turn into semi-realistic, maybe somewhat goofy, portraits.
"Hey, this stuff seems to be working!"
But as you can see, faith absolutely is a prerequisite. You have to have enough faith to give it a shot. Another way the stick figure guy can waste time is by constantly measuring his ideas about the photorealist's paintings--which he hasn't even seen--or his instructions against, say, traditionalists' paintings and instructions.
"The Dutch masters talk about this stuff totally differently!"
He goes back and forth within himself: "Are the Dutch right? Is the photorealist right?" He oughta just practice!