The main sticking point for the future of Vajrayana Buddhism, imo. Good discussion, especially from Pema Khandro Rinpoche (a white woman lama who teaches in Berkeley, CA). 
@VincentHornhttps://www.lionsroar.com/guru-model/
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Pema Khandro Rinpoche points out that there *is no* The Guru Model. (That’s a caricature born of late-70s hysteria.) Teacher-student interactions in Vajrayana are highly varied, and often quite individualized. It’s rarely if ever a “model” in the sense of a formalized system.
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Replying to @Meaningness
In general, I think what people have in mind with “the guru model” is some sort of centralized hub and spoke schema, where students connect to the guru in a vertical relationship supported by a centralizing hierarchy.pic.twitter.com/FLcBiP5y4y
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Replying to @VincentHorn
Ah… then “it’s not the shape, it’s the specific power dynamics” seems the right diagnosis (or a significant part of one).
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Replying to @Meaningness @VincentHorn
OTOH it seems that the rejection of “The Guru Model” is often a blanket rejection of any asymmetrical relationship. It’s usually contrasted with “The Spiritual Friend Model,” which sounds nice because friendship is a symmetrical relationship. But that model doesn’t exist either…
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Replying to @Meaningness @VincentHorn
This is where I personally get stuck when trying to imagine a future Vajrayana. As long as those simplistic alternatives are the only available conceptions of teachers, it’s impossible.
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Replying to @Meaningness
You know, I partially wonder if it’s not already happening IRL, and we’re just behind the curve in our theorizing a bit.
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This would make a lot of sense to me. It seems like something that’s natural and inherent in human being. It’s only obscured by the cultural shift from informal, individual mentoring by elders to systematized schooling.
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