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Every now and then, when you get together with friends or Buddhist devotees, you often hear talks about some having spiritual master or learning from certain sifu. And for the most part, many people continue to question how to choose a good spiritual teacher or master, since it is one of the most profound decisions to make on your journey of self-discovery and spiritual growth.

The trouble is, while we try to see the good side of every spiritual mentor, spiritual guru or sifu, there are also many self-proclaimed masters whose motive is to take advantage of those overly keen to gain knowledge or those who are impatient in their learning journey and want to see fast results.

But how do you discern who is truly wise and who is merely charismatic? In this post, we will explore what defines a good spiritual master and what to look for when finding for a teacher who resonates with your soul and supports your unique spiritual journey.

What Defines A Good Spiritual Master or Spiritual Teacher?

The word, “master” is so ubiquitous that it seems almost everyone is finding spiritual teachers and masters to protect and guide the disciple without understanding the fundamental criteria of choosing a master or teacher.

So what does it mean to be a spiritual master? How to become a spiritual teacher? In order to understand more vividly, anyone who is addressed as a master or teacher must have at least a minimum training or cultivation for 20 to 30 years and successfully attained and emancipated into Nibbanaship or Pure Land realm status.

Unfortunately, this is not reflected in today’s society; simply anyone be it monks or nuns or even laypeople will accord themselves as master or teacher without any successful training or cultivation just because they possess some relevant spiritual teaching knowledge.

This is largely why we have so many half-baked spiritual masters or spiritual teachers in this era. Yet, everyone is blindly flocking to find a master or teacher as their mentor without truly knowing if the individual is qualified.

Also read: What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Do

What Are The Traits of Good, Highly Qualified Spiritual Masters?

While it is essential to search for a good master or teacher to guide us to achieve proper spiritual training and cultivation, we must first know and understand the prerequisites to attain the status of a good master or teacher.

We should never simply choose anyone to be our spiritual guru just because he could show us some magical power, or purely relying on hearsay that he is a renowned master having thousands of followers. This is not the proper identification of a good master or teacher.

A true spiritual master or metaphysical teacher must have some golden features of virtuous character such as:

• living in simple accommodation
• taking simple meals
• wear simple clothes
• walking the talk of his golden teachings

Having known all these basic requirements, we will find it difficult to randomly find any person to be a good teacher or master; it takes time and correct effort to trace the presence of a good teacher or master.

Cons of Master-Disciple Relationship Compared to Teacher-Student Relationship

A good teacher or master will never force anyone to obey his instruction selfishly but to impart his wise knowledge and the proper method of practicing his successful cultivation and training. In fact, it is more appropriate to treat any followers as students instead of as disciples, for the relationship between a master and disciple would be more restricted in terms of freedom of training and cultivation.

This is because the psychological effect would be that the disciples will always stay behind his master level as no master will ever allow any disciple to excel over him.

This master-disciple status will become more of a hindrance for the followers to have the freedom of successful cultivation and training. Not only that but a master will never teach everything to his disciples lest one day the disciples may supersede the master’s ability.

On the other hand, the dynamics of the relationship between a teacher and a student is better, whereby the student could one day excel over the teacher’s status upon graduation. There is no obstruction of any freedom of development, be it in spiritual learning or spiritual cultivation.

On top of that, spiritual knowledge is freely shared without fear of the students surpassing the teacher, because it is the teacher’s duty to ensure his students can grasp whatever knowledge passed down and apply to their daily lives to become a much better person than before.

How to Find A Spiritual Teacher That is Ideal for You?

It is best to find a good spiritual teacher who does not regard himself as a master. This is not only a reflection of his humble character but also to provide an avenue for any student to learn better and even excel over the teacher’s attainment.

There is no limitation in learning as the teacher does not feel superior over the student nor will the student feel inferior to the teacher. In this way, there is freedom for the student advancement in training and cultivation.

But the more the student addresses a spiritual educator as master, the more it gives rise to differentiate the condition of achievements between the master and the disciple thereby restraining the level of attainment for the disciple. We should never create a prerequisite situation of lowering the capability of a disciple under the master as this will impede the natural development of a disciple.

Apart from humility in character, every good master must also possess good habits, be polite and good mannered and have strong discipline. They must also have gone through excruciating tough, bitter experiences in life. These are all the criteria of achieving a good and successful cultivation to accord the true status of a good master or teacher.

The only way to detect a good master or teacher is to observe very carefully on the conduct of all these so-called spiritual teachers or spiritual masters. Observe how they dress and present themselves, the manner of consuming their food, how they decorate their room of accommodation, and lastly their speech of presentation.

These will give you better insights on the credibility and true character of the spiritual educator, before you decide to follow one.

Also read: Self-Realization

Common Myths and Fallacies When Finding A Spiritual Guru

In today’s world of innovative technology and scientific advancement, people no longer look into detail on choosing a good master or teacher. There is very little patience and forbearance in searching for a good spiritual master and spiritual guru.

Everyone is looking up at a yardstick of getting a famed and renowned master and be his disciple or someone who could show off some mystical powers after following that master. There is a common belief that whoever is a popular master must be a good master, because if they aren’t good, they wouldn’t have become popular. However, this is just a myth and only sets a precedence to entangle one’s cultivation.

Also read: The Myth of Theravada Buddhism as The Highest Attainment

In this white stage period, it is not surprising a lot of so-called masters and spiritual teachers are practicing sect and occult powers to imitate the successful cultivation of a master. What drives them to use this way to quickly gain followers or disciples is that, it is very difficult and extremely challenging to practice a good and successful cultivation which takes at least 20 to 30 years of training in seclusion. With the use of unnatural powers, these self-proclaimed masters are able to achieve their personal goals or motives in a much shorter span of time.

Another common fallacy seen in the society is that , many monks and nuns are brought up in “soft landing” environment, whereby one does not get enough exposure and wide experiences in life to achieve wisdom of knowledge. It is imperative to understand that despite being part of Sanghahood, this does not automatically qualify them as good or true spiritual masters or teachers worth following. One still needs to observe their conduct first.

Final Thoughts

Choosing a spiritual teacher or master is an active decision that requires patience, discernment, and deep introspection. That said, it is important to understand the essential traits of a qualified spiritual educator, recognizing the potential pitfalls in the master-disciple relationship, and being aware of common myths and fallacies so you can navigate the spiritual landscape more confidently.

Remember, the true measure of a spiritual teacher lies not in their popularity or charisma, but in their humility, discipline, and genuine commitment to their own spiritual practice and to the growth of their students.