Question: Can we learn anything from an imperfect Buddhist teacher? Isn’t it funny to be learning about compassion and peace from an impatient person? Or learn meditation from someone who cannot meditate very well?

During the Buddha’s time, an old lady learned Dharma from 2 young monks. She would faithfully offer them food and in return, they would teach her meditation. She attained Nirvana and decided to connect with their minds. To her surprise, she found that her teachers were not enlightened yet. After that, she tried her best and succeeded in helping them attain enlightenment.

The moral of the story is that we should rely on the Dharma and not on the instructor. Dharma refers to the method for attaining Nirvana. As long as the Dharma is genuine, it need not be taught by an enlightened person and we can still achieve Nirvana by following those instructions.

Dharma is the words of Buddha and they are meant to show us the way to Nirvana. From fundamental moral principles that help us cultivate a conducive mind for enlightenment; to detailed meditation instructions. All of the Buddha’s words had been recorded in the huge volume of Buddhist scriptures.

Therefore, it is more important for us to determine if our source of Dharma is genuine. This usually means we need to examine if our teachers are adequately trained by a recognized Buddhist school.

In addition to that, a teacher must respect the sacredness of Dharma. That means he or she should teach according to the Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. They should not spin tales and personal interpretations into their sermons and teachings.

That unbroken transmission of knowledge since the Buddha’s time is known as Dharma lineage.

Another issue that we have to be careful about, is personal biases.

In the eyes of devout Buddhists, Shakyamuni Buddha was perfect but do you know that Buddha also had his fair share of adversaries? To such people, Buddha was imperfect and his words meant nothing.

Similarly, if we nitpick about our teachers’ behavior, then we will see many faults with them. That will affect our ability to learn from them. I am not saying we shouldn’t be careful about the characters of our teachers. We need to make sure that they are not teaching us the wrong way. That is very critical.

For example, we cannot tolerate our teacher abusing other people sexually or financially.

Going back to the question. Although your teacher may be an impatient man but nevertheless, learning about compassion and peace is a good thing. Who knows, one day, you might be like that old lady in the story and will be the one helping your teacher to be more compassionate, peaceful, and patient.

In summary, we should maintain a critical mindset when learning from our teachers. It’s important to reflect on and evaluate the knowledge we receive to ensure it is sound before applying it. However, we must also avoid being excessively critical of others, including our teachers, as this can impede our ability to learn effectively. The key is about maintaining a healthy balance.

May all be well and happy.