The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at adioderma.org.

Okay. It's good to sit with you.

Um...

So, uh, no... um so uh no um no class next week i'll be away but um back on the 23rd so uh So several years ago following a kind of episode of some harm, you know, kind of like unethical leadership. Some insight teachers were asked to say something about CELA, ethical conduct,

and to write a short thing.

And Kittisarorrow was also known as Tenisor's husband.

It's not all he is.

He's a meditation teacher, Rhodes Scholar, whatnot.

Anyway, but also Tenisor's husband wrote this. And I condensed it slightly, but also to Nisra's husband, wrote this, and I condensed it slightly, but has stayed with me over these years.

So, wrote, after a meal on the, it was, this is in the, you know, 70s, late 70s or early 80s, I believe.

And as a monk in the Thai forest tradition.

So he says, after a meal offering in rural northeast Thailand,

I was sitting with Ajan Shah in a group of young Western monks from several different countries.

He told us that one day we'd all be teachers bringing the Dharma back to our own countries.

He warned us, quote, don't be the kind of teacher that got so puffed up.

He can't get through the door. Don't go around thinking, I'm a teacher.

Always remember you're a practitioner.

If a situation arises that calls for teaching,

that teaching happen, it comes and goes.

In your heart, you are a practitioner, mindful, and empty.

Ajancha was warning us about the dangers of being inflated and intoxicated by the power and prestige of the leadership position.

...