Master or No-Master?

I remember once GM said that staying in the cultivation path, one needs to have "a great master", "finanical support", " spiritual partners" (maybe more...)

A great Master--Grand Master

Finanical Support-- if you dont have food to eat and a place to stay, let along cultivation

spiritual partners: we all need friends. There are something we can ask spiritual teachers for advice, there are something that we just need someone to talk to and to listen to.
I personally found it very important in that regard.

Lyciss, I do think there is a purpose of a Master. At the same time,  I think it is very important to have spiritual friends. You are being a wonder friend to the padmakumara community :-)

Mimosa

Mimosa,
   thank you, being a wonder friend is a nice compliment... ill cherish that title and keep it as my guide in the future... and i agree with you about the three "needs"... i look at padma as being part of the Sangha... the buddha also says in the Dhammapada,
       "If you cannot find a companion equal to or better than yourself, journey alone-do not travel with a fool."
 and it also says,
      "If you meet someone with wisdom who can tell you what to avoid and what to practice, attend upon this person as upon a revealer of treasure. For good and never evil comes from such associations."  
  and further it says,
       "Do not take up with low-minded friends, or associates with worthless people. Depend instead on virtuous friends, and attend on noble things."

       i know they sound pretty negative when it comes to viewing others... but when you dont see a clear path for yourself it is better to not have to deal with distractions that can come from those who dont wish to find the path... i think this is what the buddha means when he uses the word "fools"

       so since all of you out there who are reading this are probably treading the path or seeking the path... those are friends worth having around since if i ever loose site of it, youll be around to guide me back... how could someone who isnt looking be a guide?

      om mani padme hum

         

ONE IN THREE WILL BE MY TEACHER
(page 180-181 Achievement of Rainbow Light Body volume six)

Buddhists are taught to treat all sentient beings equally. Although I have learned Buddhism for a long time now, there is still some inequality in me.

How can we treat others equally ? This is a question that has always on my mind. Confucius once said : "San Ren Xing Zhe Bi You Wo Shi." Most people will interpret it as : "One in three will be my teacher ." To me, the explanation is incorrect, the sentence means : "I can emulate at least one aspect of behavior from each and every one of the three persons that I meet." If we are able to follow Confucius's teaching and treat everyone as our teacher, we will be able to treat everyone equally.

Someone has said it quite well. "Those who are better than us can be our teachers , we should emulate their good behavior." "Those who are equal to us in terms of virtue, knowledge and spiritual cultivation, we should treat them as our peers, and we can encourage one another in our spiritual endeavors." The most difficult part is to treat those who are not as good as us equally. If we ask someone some easy questions, and he can't give us a satisfactory answer all the time, we tend to look down on him. Hence inequality will arise. How can we learn from this person ? We can use him as a benchmark for our self-examination, and warn ourselves not to follow his foot-steps.

In short, everybody can be our teacher, whether he is better than us , equal to us or worse than us. This was what Confucius had in mind when he mentioned the three persons that he met. Since everyone will have strength and weakness in his behavior, we can surely learn something from him. If we treat everyone as our teacher, eventually equality will be an integral part of us. Although it is easier said than done, if we firmly believe in "equality to all" , we can never be too far from it.

Om Mani Padme Hum