teacher

[preface, 2. Blog today i'm not practicing enough, tz,tz,tz]

A theme with different aspects.
Not only here in the blog i was asked to come home and teach.
first question that arises is: where is home? some mean germany, others are talking of spain.
When i left the village here, where i use to go on almsround, i was asked after two weeks: "when will you come home?"
And the abbot where i stayed for two weeks told me: "now you have two homes". [with the next breath he said that his monastery has no place for nuns, so no need to learn to bi-locate]
An answer to this - home is where i actually am. As there is no i, there is no home.

But back to the topic. Teacher.
Teaching the dhamma is a serious thing. I might already serve as meditation instructor. But i'm far away from being the dhammatheacher i would accept. One has to be picky in this term.
The buddha explained that one can harm the dhamma and create a lot of bad karma if one teaches as the dhamma what is not.
The goal has to be not to create any karma anymore. So, let's go for it.
Here in thailand teachers are highly respected. important teachers always are surrounded by statues of their teachers and their teachers teacher, and of the buddha, of course.

If one goes to do a course or even more intense when one ordains, one entrusts body and mind to the teacher. A first step of let go the "self". The buddhist monastic code explains the relation between teacher and student as of father [mother?] and child. One should stay at least 2 / 5 years with ones teacher, and is suppose to attend and care for him/her as he/she for the student. The relation is lifelong, even if one is far from ones teacher/student after 2 / 5 years.
I met my first teacher 28 years ago, only for one week, and never again, but still ... there is something.
To attend ones teacher - next step of letting go self. Very hard for me to chew. I used to be the one that is attendet. Haaard lesson to learn. But the present not present teacher doesn't like it anyway.
It's an art - to attend but not bother, to be bound but not cling, to observe the self but let go of it.
in another occasion buddha described the teacher/student relation as being friends, of which one knows more than the other. This suits. And i hope that i may always be the "true friend" for a teacher as well as for eventual students.

Few month ago i started the teachers course but here is much left to learn.
I'm ready to teach but I know I have to take care that I'm not carried away by pride, not blow up my ego, when I do. Be mindful, Phalanyani.

What if those asking me to come home come to thailand instead? :o)