Too eager to become Teachers

Mencius (a well-known Chinese philosopher and sage, and one of the principal interpreters of Confucianism at ancient times) said, “The trouble with people is that they are too eager to become teachers.” It means that the biggest drawback of mankind is to be fond of being others’ teacher, that is, they enjoy thinking of themselves as ‘the teacher’ very much. Those who are ‘too eager to become teachers’ share the following characters in common: not humble enough, always be selfish and jealous, being haughty, arrogant in attitude, headstrong and stubborn. They look upon themselves as superior than the others. Moreover, they cling to their ‘egocentricity’ and do not like to accept others’ criticism as well as guidance. Furthermore, being complacent to rest on their laurels, they are reluctant to learn from others (experts) in a demeaning manner. Though they are incapable to grasp the fundamental and key principles thoroughly, they are too eager to manifest themselves. Having only a smattering of the knowledge and being exaggerated, these teachers finally make the knowledge learnt beyond recognition and consequently bite their own heads off (harms set, harm get).

Why are people always ‘too eager to become teachers’?  Is it that they can show off their knowledge by being teachers?  Or there are some other reasons behind?  In fact, it is one of the features in a society. No matter whether the place concerned is as big as a country, a society or just a smaller one like an organization, a small crowd, ‘unity’ is an important factor for the people there to exist successfully. The cognition of an individual is based on ‘oneself’ as the centre. When one’s cognition is widely accepted and identified by the public, ‘harmony’ will then emerge. As a result, the people there can get along in harmony and thus a unified ‘peaceful society’ will be built.

‘To show off’ that arises from ‘competitions’ is a way ‘to deter the others’. To avoid making use of violence in competitions, one has to depend on ‘showing-off’ (to win). For instance, gorillas strike their chests; green frogs make clamorous noise etc. These actions in animals are regarded as a kind of ‘communication behaviour’ to inform their contenders about themselves including sex, courtship, strength, territory domain, a cut above and amazement. Human learn this instinct but employ it with more complicated motivations and objectives. According to psychologists, people who are ‘too eager to become teachers’ is a quirk, they get offended more readily and are also addicted to take revenge.

There is a metaphor in 【The Vajra Sutra金剛經】. Buddha told Subhuti (one of his disciples) :
for a Buddhist practitioner who is learning Bodhisattva-carya (The Bodhisattva Path), once he admits himself being lofty and thinks that he is extraordinary, he has already clung to ‘the appearance of self, the appearance of mankind, the appearance of sentient beings and the appearance of a jiva (long life)’. This kind of person, as Buddha says, “is regarded as ‘non-Bodhisattva’”, that is, that person is not really practising Bodhisattva-carya.

Some Buddhist practitioners who think themselves have read a lot of sutras and have ever experienced certain sensations in their meditation like seeing some lights, seeing some shadows or having some auspicious dreams etc., they then misinterpret that they are terrific or even overweening. They become insufferably arrogant and consider themselves the most excellent in the world. They think that they have already qualified to be a Guru to expound Buddha dharma, to accept offerings and worshipping from sentient beings without realizing that they have actually planted the seeds of the Three Evil Paths! Based on the rule of Cause and Effect, one who has not yet attained real achievement in one’s cultivation but starts dharma-teaching, in case one makes mistakes in one’s teaching causing someone else to have wrong concepts in Buddhism or even makes them go astray, this dharma-teaching ‘teacher’ will certainly suffer from karmic retribution! There was once a great master who had ever made a mistake of one word in his dharma-teaching; he was impelled to suffer the karma of having a fox spirit for five hundred lifecycles after deaths. If the mistake made is in the aspects of theories and thinking, experience in cultivation or verbal-knack of lineage in Buddhism etc., the consequences are even more severe and critical. Hence, one has to be very prudent and cautious when conducting dharma-teaching!

Devadatta was the Buddha’s cousin who tonsured and joined the Sangha at the time when the Buddha was back at his hometown to preach Buddhism. He was thus one of the Buddha’s disciples. Devadatta was clever and smart; he devoted himself earnestly in cultivation in his first twelve years as a monk. However, he was so ambitious that he would like to take the place of the Buddha as the leader of the Sangha. He became even more arrogant and conceited later. Despite of his failure, he had tried making different plans to murder the Buddha for a number of times. As he was unable to kill the Buddha, he started to create separations among the Sangha under the drive of the desire of ‘too eager to become teachers’. Finally, he set up a new Sangha and introduced new teaching methods. Though he had successfully attracted about five hundred apprentices to follow him, he was sent to Hell and suffered when he died due to the accumulation of karma including hankering after wealth and fame, having resentment against the Buddha and doing harm on Him, shedding the Buddha’s blood, disrupting the harmony of the community of monks and establishing new Sangha etc. In the Hell, he was locked in a big mountain which was burning fiercely and suffered from many different kinds of pain for one great kalpa.

Here is another example: In Zen, starting from the first patriarch, Bodhidharma to the sixth and last patriarch, Huineng, the inheritance of new patriarchs was identified by the passing of both the host’s robe and the dharma simultaneously. As mentioned in the saying, ‘The robe acts as the token of the inheritance and it is going to be handed from generation to generation. The dharma is transmitted from heart to heart while its meaning is grasped through direct insight.’ As the sixth patriarch knew very well that sentient beings were filled with ignorance and karma, he flatly changed the tradition of passing both the host’s robe and the dharma simultaneously to the successor before he manifested the stillness. He specifically instructed his accomplished disciples that, ‘The host’s robe is not going to be passed onto the coming generations anymore.’ His purpose was to eradicate the descendants completely from the scramble of the mantle as well as varnish their desire for being the dharma-heir. Unfortunately, with the presence of those that had only a superficial knowledge but ‘too eager to be teachers’, they pretended to understand and comprehend Huineng’s intentions but in fact, they had misinterpreted them and consequently misled the apprentices. This finally resulted in mud and sand flow together (a mess) in the originally peace and quiet Zen Forest (Buddhist monastery). At the age of Nanyang Huizhong, the National Teacher during the Tang Dynasty (died in 775), there appeared to have people from the south trying to misinterpret the Buddha-nature of the sixth patriarch！

The main objective of learning Buddhism is to attain Buddha-realm so as to reach enlightenment ultimately. After that, one can engage in Bodhisattva-path to rescue all sentient beings. To liberate sentient beings is the responsibility of all Buddhists. But if the Buddhist has not yet attained any achievements oneself, what can one rely on to liberate sentient beings?  Similarly, when a student tries to teach another student who is only one grade below one, the teaching will probably be inefficient as this senior has not yet fully understood or comprehended the knowledge, one merely knows a bit more on the subject than one’s junior classmate. To be a qualified teacher, one does not only have to possess enough academic knowledge, but also needs to be good in personality and character so that one can be able to teach one’s students properly. The demand of a teacher at school (on Earth) is already so strict and rigorous, how about the requirements of a Guru who teaches Buddha-dharma which is something spiritual?  A Buddhist practitioner should be earnest and stand on solid ground, diligent in cultivation as well as uninterested in quick success and instant benefit. Even when there is certain corresponding response appeared in one’s cultivation, one cannot afford to become complacent about it. One ought to remain humble and continues to learn modestly. Learning Buddhism is equivalent to attaining a pure mind free from doubt or defilement. One should also have a board and tolerant mind. Seeing that someone else can obtain better achievements, one should rejoice accordingly to praise for their attainments. Moreover, one should consult frequently from kalyana-mitra (good spiritual teachers) so that one can enjoy continuous progress in cultivation and thus make improvements in heart and soul spiritually. Just as the proverb goes, ‘Pride hurts, modesty benefits.’ Please be alert that we may easily fall into the trap of being ‘too eager to become teachers’ without recognizing it!