You may wish to compare your prospective teacher against the following checklist of characteristics that the best teachers should embody.
Not all teachers will have every one of these ideal characteristics, but the more, the better:
- They encourage independent thinking and open inquiry in their students, rather than blind obedience to a particular dogma or ideology
- They are mainly concerned with the spiritual development of their students, not with fame, power, influence, or the size of their organization
- They practice what they preach, rather than considering themselves exempt from the moral and ethical guidelines that others must follow.
- They are humble, ordinary, down-to-earth, not arrogant or inflated. In Zen monasteries, the head monk cleans the toilets.
- They are honest, straightforward, and clear without being evasive or defensive. As people gain spiritual maturity, they become increasingly free of psychological baggage
- They embody the highest spiritual qualities, such as kindness, patience, equanimity, joy, peace, love, and compassion.
