?When the student is ready, the teacher will appear?

[Isolda Sage]

This is a Buddist proverb.
I am wondering how many people on here beleive this. Do you have any real life experiences where this seems to have happened for you? Is this just a bunch of hippy dippy nonsense?

 

[Lyx]

Well, buddhists love to treat proverbs partially as riddles - that is, to allow a lot of interpretation. That certainly is useful to motivate own thinking, but since so many interpretations are possible, one can no longer really say if the proverb is valid - it just becomes a tool to stimulate own thinking.

Why i'm mentioning this? Well, i don't follow any existing school of thought, and developed without any "teachers". If however i'd take the proverb less literal, then it would match my experiences: At any time, i tended to experience those events and situations, which i'd need to evolve from my current state of understanding.

Of course, there is a reason for why this happens

 

[Motti]

I think it's true, but it doesn't necessarily exclude the teacher appearing without the student wanting them to. We've all go to school after all, whether we want to or not (although I realise that's a fairly literal interpretation of the proverb).

 

[Lust]

I think it holds some truth in it.

If I want to learn something, then, I'll have to teach myself how to do it. Or learn how to do it from someone knowledgeable.

Yeah..............

 

[SimuLord]

I think there's a lot of truth to it. It's how I find the people to whom I impart my experiences.

 

[Jimson]

To me this seems a lot like when you learn a new word, and all of a sudden you notice that word everywhere, in places you should have noticed it but just didn't because there was no relevance. So I guess when you set out to learn something you suddenly notice all the places, and people who are knowledgeable that you just ignored because you had no reason to take notice.

 

[Jimson]

I think there's a lot of truth to it. It's how I find the people to whom I impart my experiences.

I am ready to learn how to love.... >.>

 

[SimuLord]

I think there's a lot of truth to it. It's how I find the people to whom I impart my experiences.

I am ready to learn how to love.... >.>

Sadly those lessons are given hands-on, and you're the wrong gender. You'll have to find that teacher somewhere else.

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

This is a Buddist proverb.
I am wondering how many people on here beleive this. Do you have any real life experiences where this seems to have happened for you? Is this just a bunch of hippy dippy nonsense?

I do actually. Its happened to me twice, both times regarding my art. First it was my Dad, who tuaght me the basics after a teacher brought it up to my parents and then my cousins ex-husband who taught me even more stuff by the time I was ten.

 

[Lyx]

To me this seems a lot like when you learn a new word, and all of a sudden you notice that word everywhere, in places you should have noticed it but just didn't because there was no relevance. So I guess when you set out to learn something you suddenly notice all the places, and people who are knowledgeable that you just ignored because you had no reason to take notice.

Precisely

This - if we take "teacher" more literarily - is also amplified by the following: To any halfway competent teacher, you're not interesting (at least not as a student) unless you're in a state where you can understand that teacher. Thus, once you reach that state, it's not just that you notice people that match you - they also notice you.

 

[KindOfnElf]

Came true for me literally. Twice. And no, it's not meant for you to be your own teacher (you can't teach yourself what you obviously don't know), but a real Master to show up.
It fits into the Buddhist teachings that say: "There are no accidents". That said, things in life happen for reason and the appearance of a teacher in whatever field in life happens only when one is ready and open for the next level of things. By ready I mean that one have all the pre-knowledge (meaning enough experience) needed to understand the wisdom of what is to be told. So the direct reason of the masters appearance is the students readiness. It won't happen earlier, nor later, but right on time.
It's applicable on all fields in life.