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Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone would like to comment on the Ajahn Buddhadasa extract below. Do you agree or disagree?




Teachers Are Prison

Now we come to the prison called "ajahn" (teacher, master, guru), the famous teachers whose names reverberate afar. In Burma there's "Sayadaw This," in Sri Lanka there's "Bhante That," in Tibet there's "Lama So- and -so," in China there's "Master Whoever."

Every place has its famous teacher whose name is bouncing around. Whether national, regional, provincial, or local, every place has got its Big Guru. Then people cling and attach to their teachers as being the only teacher who is correct; their teacher is right and all other teachers are completely wrong. They refuse to listen to other people's teachers. And they don't think about or examine the teachings of their own Ajahns.

They get caught in the "Teacher Prison." They turn the teacher into a prison, then get caught in it. It's an attachment which is truly ridiculous. Whether a big teacher or a small teacher, it's upadana (clinging, attachment) just the same. They keep building prisons out of their teachers and gurus. Please don't get caught in even this prison.

(from 'The Prison of Life' by Ajahn Buddhadasa)

http://www.suanmokkh.org/archive/arts/ret/prison1.htm