[Anypeny]

Hi Heartbeat, its good to hear from you and a warm welcome to the group.

I'm sorry but I'm not clear which tradition it was that you did your month's retreat with. You spoke of a Zen teacher - is he the one who was angry with you, or was it the Burmese teacher ?

Could you be a little more specific about 'the number of things' you think might have displeased him, please? It sounds a little strange that a teacher would openly express anger with a student without any cause, especially if he said you were ''a long way from dhamma''.

Not knowing the details I can't really comment other than to say don't take it all too seriously, you can walk away at any time!

Try to remain gently relaxed with the freshness of the present moment, rather than dwelling on feelings of unworthiness and the past and so on - and just let it all go.

We can often be told "the teacher gives the lesson the student needs at the time"... but that isn't necessarily always the case, nor are all teachers ''rare jewels.''

We must be careful to still always use some wisdom and common sense when we surrender ourselves to others.


Kind regards,

Aloka-D