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
Jeff Kripal, my doctoral advisor, once asked me if I was projecting my feelings (mostly negative) about gurus onto him. There is a lot of transference and projection that goes on though in both models.
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Replying to @agleig @Meaningness
Yes indeed, much like being a parent. I don’t think this is a problem when the teachers are skilled at recognizing and working with transference, and when students are committed to looking at their shit. It’s actually fuel for psychological maturation!
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Replying to @VincentHorn @Meaningness
It rarely happens in the PhD relationship. I got lucky because Jeff K is schooled in psychoanalysis but Ive heard so many awful stories about advisors who were clueless about relational dynamics. For spiritual teachers, I think it should be part of training!
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And also for doctoral supervisors! It’s shocking how little training (usually zero?) professors get for this role. Somehow you are expected to have absorbed what you need by osmosis or something.
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Replying to @Meaningness @VincentHorn
Yes-i think you either reproduce or react against what you got from your doctoral supervisor! An advisor can make or break an academic career -it is shocking how little formal training there is, really when you think of the consequences..
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Would framing the problem as a dissonance at the developmental level work? The hagiographies of teacher working at a premodern developmental plateau has not only become institutionalized but enacted.
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