Becoming a Student

I offer seated meditation coaching on a per-session basis. This is transactional: clients pay money and I offer the benefit of years of experience.

For some people, though, a different kind of relationship is more appropriate -- an ongoing relationship of knowing and being known.

There is still an exchange involved in becoming a student. The student offers the teacher presence and total honesty; the teacher offers the student unconditional acceptance.

The two participants, as I often like to say, are like the two poles of a battery. Both are necessary to the flow of energy, and it is this flow that defines the relationship.

Through this relationship, teachers encounter real live buddhas. No one has ever met a buddha, except teachers encountering their students in authentic intimacy.

And through this relationship, students get access to experiences of insight. These insights are not created by the teacher, but catalyzed by the relationship; and they are not under the teacher’s control. If the teacher is doing their job, the student’s insights are surprising to both parties.

If you are interested in becoming my student, just ask. Traditionally, you have to ask three times. It involves a commitment to meeting regularly, online or in person, between once per week and once per quarter — and a vow to be as honest as possible and strive to remain fully present during meetings. Studenthood is by donation only.

In my personal experience, once you become someone’s student, you never cease. Some of my teachers have died, others have stopped teaching; I disagree with them and see now how foolish they were; but I am still and will forever be their student.