When the Student is Ready….
I admit that I had mixed feelings about taking part in the CDL (Community Dharma Leader) program….partly because I really, really like sitting silent retreats and I knew that the five CDL retreats (to be held over the next two years) would definitely NOT be silent. I also didn’t (and still don’t) have a clear idea of what I want to “do” in terms of being a “dharma leader,” but now that I’ve attended the first retreat, I know this program is right for me.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but the one that stands out the most is something one of the teachers, Gina Sharpe, said in her opening remarks. It was a play on the cliche that “when the student is ready, the teacher appears.”
Her twist was: When the student is ready, the teacher emerges…..meaning that the CDL program is not a training in the mechanics of teaching/leading/organizing (although all of that will also be included). Instead it’s an environment that fosters growth and support for the wisdom of the dharma to find expression in meeting the needs of the community. It’s not a traditional teacher training program. It’s a program that allows teaching to emerge from within.
And I am totally up for that.