What is a Dharma Teacher For? Exploring the Teacher-Student Relationship

Instructor(s): nico hase, devon hase

Course Description:

Most Buddhist traditions consider the teacher-student relationship central to the path of awakening. Yet different traditions understand the teacher-student relationship in radically disparate ways. In this program, we will examine the similarities and differences of teacher-student relationships in the Mahasi tradition, Soto Zen, and Kagyu Vajrayana as a context for exploring our own thoughts, emotions, and experiences as students walking the Buddhist path.

Topics will include:

The teacher-student relationship in the Mahasi tradition as an opportunity for precise instruction

The teacher-student relationship in Soto Zen as an expression of commitment

The teacher-student relationship in Kagyu Vajrayana as a path of devotion

Contemporary trends in the teacher-student relationship 

Help and harm in the teacher-student relationship 

Through a weave of lecture, reflection, dialogue, and storytelling, participants will explore their own histories, feelings, beliefs, and biases in relation to being a student, studying with teachers, and walking the path of awakening.

Watch an invitation by nico on YouTube.

Online Schedule:

This program is hosted on Zoom and closed captions are available. You can check the time of the group sessions in your timezone here: https://www.worldtimebuddy.com. The schedule of Zoom meetings for this program (shown in US Eastern Time) is as follows:

Meeting Time: Tuesdays, 7:00-8:30 pm ET

Meeting Dates: May 2, 9, 16, 23

Please note that sessions will be recorded and will be available within 48 hours of each session for courses and 48 hours of the final session for retreats and events. These recordings are not downloadable. Retreat recordings will be available for 2 weeks and event recordings will be available indefinitely.

Cancellation Policy:

Registration fees for online programs are nonrefundable after the program start date. Cancellations prior to the program start date will incur a $25 cancellation fee. For intensive, application-based programs, the cancellation fee is $50.

DEI:

As we work to become a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community, we invite feedback/suggestions you may have regarding ways that we can make participation in the program more accessible and welcoming. Please email us at contact@buddhistinquiry.org.

About the Instructor(s):
• 

  nico hase

  nico hase lived in a monastery for six years before earning a PhD in counseling psychology and becoming an Insight Meditation teacher full time. He currently mentors mindfulness teachers, teaches online and in-person retreats, and speaks with students in one-on-one sessions. He and his beloved life partner devon are the authors of How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Survival Guide for Modern Life. Find out more at www.devonandnicohase.com

• 

  devon hase

  devon hase loves long retreats. Cumulatively, she’s spent four years in silent practice in the Insight and Vajrayana traditions. Since discovering meditation in 2000, she has put dharma and community at the center of her life: she spent a decade bringing mindfulness to high school and college classrooms and now teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, and other centers around the world. She enjoys supporting practitioners with personal mentoring, and her friendly, conversational approach centers on relational practice and the natural world. Along with her life partner nico, devon co-authored How Not to Be a Hot Mess: A Buddhist Survival Guide for Modern Life. She continues to spend a good part of the time in wilderness retreat in Oregon, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. For more, visit devonandnicohase.com.