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 @VincentHorn
The West does have other conceptions available; the nearest one may be the doctoral advisor / PhD candidate relationship. But that’s as inconceivable for most people as a genuine guru/student relationship, and also does have many of the same failure modes.
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Replying to @Meaningness @VincentHorn
In your view, the teacher is trying to get the student to think "as a noble" or in the "complete stance", right?
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Well, different teachers are trying to do different things, of course. And, yes, “nobility” and “the complete stance” are ways I try to point to fruition in my eccentric and incomplete re-presentation of Vajrayana.
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