A friend gave me a simple recipe to make Thai shortbread cookies. I asked her a couple follow-up questions and made my first batch. It was an easy success.
Then, I attempted to bake the notoriously complicated coconut cookies called “kanom ping.” With each tweak of the recipe, I got closer and closer to understanding why each ingredient and technique was necessary. However, each batch would lack some essential quality. So I watched more YouTube videos and flipped through more cookbooks. Yet, I still couldn’t decipher where I went wrong. If only someone who knew how to make these cookies could demonstrate the recipe and point out my mistake.
I believe that even if we are steeped in natural talent, or possess the secret recipe, we still need a teacher’s guidance. Nowadays, dhamma practitioners tend to think that reading the Scriptures or watching sermons is sufficient, that they can go it alone, without a teacher. If even Olympic athletes have coaches, who are we to think we don’t need help understanding the Dhamma? The more we believe we have it all or know it all, the more we have prematurely stunted our growth. And there’s always room to grow.
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