Originally Posted by
disastermouse
Taigu comes from a very screwed up background, and the after effects of that show up in his sometimes snarkiness, blunt put downs, and expressions of frustration. However, I suspect that his practice has vastly improved his struggle with such things. So I don't care if sometimes he's not exactly kind. This is a bad example since he's hardly an example of a Zen teacher 'behaving badly'. But his rough edges are there and will likely remain. Yet, especially for me, his teaching is often helpful because I share some of those rough edges.
Hmm... I don't feel it's appropriate to discuss someone's personality in negative terms on an open internetforum, unless they have asked for it. I know there have been discussions about your own personality in the past Chet, but in most cases I believe you were the one who intiated those discussions?
Rev Taigu's teacher, Mike Chudo Cross, believes strongly in the mirror principle. Do you?
According to the mirror principle, your life is a perfect mirror image of what's in your consciousness. Or so I have understood it. When you see something you don't like in someone else, it is reflecting something in yourself that you don't like, sometimes without you being aware of it. When you can see those negative aspects in yourself and accept them for what they are, maybe you can free yourself from them and no longer see them as strongly in others. Maybe you need a teacher like Taigu to see and and polish away those rough edges in yourself?
/Pontus