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Touching the Teacher Within
The ultimate teacher we need is the teacher within. Non-teacher wisdom, or vô sư trí, is the inherent insight that allows us to understand everything and liberate ourselves from suffering. An external teacher cannot transmit wisdom; they can only help us touch our own root wisdom. To touch this inner wisdom, we must recognize and overcome two kinds of obstacles, or chướng ngại:
- Afflictions, or kleśāvaraṇa (phiền não chướng): basic afflictions such as craving, attachment, anger, confusion, and arrogance, which prevent us from transforming and reaching our true teacher within.
- Knowledge, or jñeyāvaraṇa (sở tri chướng): what we have learned, our notions, and our concepts, which can become the very obstacles that prevent us from making progress and learning the truth.
To overcome the obstacle of knowledge, we must practice non-attachment to views and learn to unlearn what we have accumulated, just as we must abandon a lower step on a ladder to climb higher. Our habit of making judgments is based on complexes of inferiority, superiority, or equality, which are all born from the notion of self. Zen language, such as the response of no to the question of whether a dog has Buddha nature, is designed to shatter these concepts and restore our freedom. True practice is the practice of freedom from both afflictions and knowledge, allowing our non-teacher wisdom to operate.
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Bói Kiều (Tết Oracle)