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General Buddhism => General Buddhism => Topic started by: Jessie Fong on October 16, 2012, 12:23:22 PM
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Chasing Two Rabbits
A martial arts student approached his teacher with a question. “I’d like to improve my knowledge of the martial arts. In addition to learning from you, I’d like to study with another teacher in order to learn another style. What do you think of this idea?”
“The hunter who chases two rabbits,” answered the master, “catches neither one.”
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I was reading some Zen stories and came across this one. It reminds me of my Guru's advice to always stick only to one Guru, rather than go round the world chasing teacher after teacher.
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Yes, the message in this story about having one Spiritual Guide resonates with me. Once we have checked and are certain of our Guru and lineage, we should immediately begin to develop a strong student -Guru relationship with him.Instead of running around looking for other Gurus, committing to one Guru and following his instructions and practicing Guru Devotion towards this Guru, will keep us steadily progressing on the Path of Dharma towards our goal of Enlightenment.
Each Guru has his own style and method for teaching the Dharma. Hence, unless we are advanced practitioners, having more than one Guru can become pretty confusing for us. Thus we should have only one Guru.
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It all boils down to being focused at what we want. People who are driven and focused often succeed in whatever they do. Just as it is applicable in everything secular in life, this is similar to our spiritual practice. Being unfocused in our spiritual practice is not wise at all.
It is not wrong to follow several Gurus, however, we should re-examine ourselves if we are already following all the advice that our current Guru is giving to us before seeking another Guru. If we are unable to follow instructions from one Guru, then wouldn't it be more difficult to follow extra instructions from several Gurus?
Every time we receive instructions and fail to carry it out, we are severing our Guru-Disciple relationship. This is a very scare breach of spiritual trust/relationship, which will eventually lead to severe karmic repercussions that eventually cause us to distant from our Guru, which means distant ourselves from Dharma.
So, if we are absolutely sure that we are able to carry out all instructions from several Gurus, then by all means go ahead... however, most of the time, it is difficult to even carry out instructions from a single Guru. The challenges is a lot, but very rewarding for our spiritual development. By having just one Guru, we are protecting ourselves from potentially not carrying out our Guru's instructions.
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How apt. Totally agree. I likened a spiritual guide to that of a sherpa. You want to reach the peak of the Himalayas and engage a sherpa to guide you. The sherpa will study your physical wellness and then guide you up the terrain according to your ability. The fitter climbers will take a shorter, steeper route while an unprepared climber will need to take a longer , less steep route. Imagine if along the way, you decide to change your sherpa, and keep changing when you do not like the route he takes you on? You will never reach the peak.
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Wouldn't it be confusing? Running here and there to learn instead of sticking to one. Apply very well to students who run from one center to the other. Thinking that they will learn more from different Gurus. Like what Rihanna says, I agree. I would rather stick to one Guru and go all the way. Trust me, we are no Tsongkhapa who learned until there was nothing else to learn from 1 Guru and then move on to another. I want to stick to one for the rest of my life and not run around chasing. Thank you for reminding us Jessie.
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Thanks for the story Jessie. It is very true what the master said. It applies both in the secular and non secular world. In the secular world, being the jack of all trades and master of none. Everything learned halfway achieving little or nothing. Learing from a Master one at a time will garner the wisdom of the Master. Learning halfway or learning with two Masters at the same time will only confuse the whole matter. In the end nothing is learned and keep on chasing and chasing until the end with no results.
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The point here is why run around when to another master when you have not even master any from a present master. As what was said the student will be master of none at the end of all this, if he chases around to learn different styles. Just like when we have taken refuge with a Guru (being the root Guru in our spiritual practice), we have to trust him for he will find ways to guide and teach the student. If student is to run to another centre (for example), there may have conflicting instructions for the student to follow thru. At the end of this, who will loose out?...the student himself.
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A beginner of golf seeks a coach yet needing another coach to learn other techniques. If one says one thing and the other coach says another, as a beginner, it would be very confusing because each teacher has their own ways and methods. Obviously the coach to seek for would be someone of professional status and has known much skills and knowledge. He would know much more than us already. If one seeks another shows the person is questioning the ability of the coach.
In any case, only if the teacher fails to give more than what the person can learn, then it's only fair to seek another more qualified teacher to teach something more advance.
On the spiritual side, if one is so fortunate to meet an esteemed lama to be your spiritual guide, there is really no need to seek another for one should think of the teacher as a Buddha. One should also be loyal to one's guru and shows respect even when one has gained Enlightenment as stated in the 50 Stanzas of Guru Devotion.
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As a disciple you must regard your Guru as an Enlightened Being. Even if from his own point of view he is not Enlightened and you, his disciple, have gained Buddhahood before him, you must still show him respect and pay homage. For instance, Maitreya, the fifth and next Buddha of the thousand of this world age, who now presides over Tusita Buddha-field, became Enlightened before his Guru, Sakyamuni Buddha. To demonstrate respect for his Guru, Maitreya has a stupa or reliquary monument on his forehead. Likewise Avalokitesvara, the incarnation of the compassion of all the Buddhas, is crowned in his eleven-headed aspect with the head of his Guru, Amitabha Buddha, the one who presides over Sukhavati Buddha-field.
This learning from a Guru should not be like killing a deer to extract its musk and then discarding its corpse. Even after attaining Enlightenment you must still continue to honor your Guru who made all your achievements possible.
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What is more to say if one is to run from one master to another?
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For a beginner in the Dharma practice, the student is advised to study with a guru whom he has affinity with and stick with the guru till the end. Unless the guru permits him to learn from another guru, the student should not be studying under another guru. This is not to restrict the student the freedom to study but more to protect the wellbeing of the student. Dharma has two meanings – definitive and interpretative. We will get into trouble when we have two different interpretations given by two different gurus! In this case, which guru should the student follow? The moral of this teaching is to train under one guru otherwise we end up confused and not learned anything!
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It is always sensible to have only one Guru for a student. Once you have already confirmed with whom you will follow for guidance in your Dharma practice, you should always stick to the Guru for you will/might get confused if you have quite a few Gurus. It is important that you should know the person well enough before requesting the person to be your Guru so as to not harming your spiritual path.
For example if a tennis player is looking for a coach then he should look for the one he knows who can help him progress into a better player and not having to change to another coach (or worse still having to hire another coach). Every coach have their own style of play and it is imperative that you should only follow to one coach so as it will not serve to confuse you should you have too many coaches around with you.
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Chasing two rabbits and ended up with nothing is a bad choice. It is advisable to check out the centre and spiritual guide, find one that is suitable and commit all the way. If we cannot follow the advice of one Guru, what is the point of moving from one center to another? It will be more confusing and more difficult to follow the advice of so many Gurus. If we stick to one Guru, he will be able to access our progress and guide us according to our level until we fulfill our goals.
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One of the keys for success (for anything and everything) is FOCUS. This little story had illustrated this point very well. Aas much as we would like to multitask to effectively utilize our limited time, we must focus on our aim. once this is determined, we then multitask on minor details in pursuing this objective.
Just like traveling. We first need to decide when do we want to go, set our destination. After that, we could then decide on what mode of transport to use, which hotel to stay, what do we do when we have arrived...
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If one is too greedy when chasing after stuff one doesn't get anything in the end? If one focus on one thing one may obtain it in the end.
I think in this century there is too much happening, entertainments (or distractions) in life. When we live our life chasing from one entertainment to another entertainment to entertain and occupy ourselves, our mind, we can lose sight of what matters most and precious in our lives. An example is traveling around the world. More people especially the younger working adults are traveling now compare to previous generations because the affordability of flight. We become excited and happy to be able to enjoy oversea sight seeing places. It becomes a form of stress reduction mechanism. After returning back home we go back to our own work to earn and plan for another trip. Are we even chasing the correct thing in life?
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Yes, I agree with what the teacher says. I believe we should focus and listen to the instructions and teachings from one teacher. After all, if we are so wise to decide what one teacher is teaching us is not enough, we should not even go to him at all. We might get confused if we have to carry out instructions from more than one teacher. It is not that one is better than the other, it is just that if we do not follow thoroughly the instruction from one teacher, we are not going to get anywhere near our goal of going to the teacher in the first place.
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Chasing Two Rabbits
A martial arts student approached his teacher with a question. “I’d like to improve my knowledge of the martial arts. In addition to learning from you, I’d like to study with another teacher in order to learn another style. What do you think of this idea?”
“The hunter who chases two rabbits,” answered the master, “catches neither one.”
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I was reading some Zen stories and came across this one. It reminds me of my Guru's advice to always stick only to one Guru, rather than go round the world chasing teacher after teacher.
[I have heard a learned QiGong master telling his young students this too: 'never hop around like a rabbit. Because if you keep hopping, one day you will fall into a hole.' I relate this to people who centre hop/guru hop. In their quest in finding a centre that suits all their expectations, they may end up in a wrong centre that is not propagating The Truth. The results would be detrimental. ]
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In this era and time we all are too busy and society is telling us to be competitive in whatever we are doing. We seems have to be the best not only in our expertise but with everything else. With advance technology updating every day, we can't help but have to follow, if not we will be left out. Chasing more than a dream is not wrong, but if we find it very hard to focus even with one task, then i don't see the point. I'd rather take one step at a time to complete one task and do it well.
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For ordinary people absolutely to follow one guru all the way is the best especially for spiritual path as per reasons mentioned earlier by everyone.
I just wondering that people who looking and searching for the 2nd, 3rd teacher, is it because they are full with ignorant and have wrong view thought that to have more is better, like to have more houses, cars, properties etc?? poor thing, some of them even do not want to listen other advise and still hopping and searching for new guru all the time.