Day 1, 4:30 p.m. Here we explore what it means to have a teacher, and what the difference is between learning meditation as a technique and learning from a master. Segyu Rinpoche started by reading an excerpt from Coffee With Yoda posted on this Web site.

A teacher is person with the wisdom and skill to guide you on a journey, into your own mind. He or she cannot give power to you, nor can he take it from you. It is about enhancing your own potential so you can flourish. Rinpoche said he doesn’t like much calling himself a teacher and others his students because sometimes people are confused by what this means. He sees himself as just a person, someone who appreciates the potential of human beings and how we can become lost in our heads. The goal is to share his experience so that you can grow, as occurred between him and his teachers. A healthy relationship is one that finds the middle between being too dependent (following blindly, without thinking) and too independent (not being open to listen at all).

A teacher is not a miracle maker but more like a friend, one that is not too relaxed, on the one side, nor too rigid and tight on the other. Rinpoche had a wonderful relationship with his teachers and followed what they said, but not blindly and not without questioning and adjusting. It is about developing a healthy relationship.

Rinpoche said he was fortunate to have unbelievable teachers, as well as long term students. But above and beyond all this, he has long relationships with his friends, individuals of great quality who pursue this path. To find a path is to find a friendship, and to go on a journey and learn together, the teacher holding the student to continue that journey so that his or her positive energy and potential comes out. Over history we see how these relationships can become corrupted, by ego, power, politics, and so on. This is not the vision of Juniper. Juniper is to find that middle way, to find your own inner growth and quality. Rinpoche’s wish is that all of you turn your inner light into a very high wattage!

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