Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for December 30, 2013

….I studied briefly under a Capoeira “master” who turned out to be racist bully. He painfully injured me, in practice, to the degree where I had to take time off work. So my problem with such a simplistic proverb (as the one you have quoted,) Gavin, is how do we define “Master” ? There are many extremely talented teachers out there – who are all too human – and possibly mentally ill, inside. An example might be a very charismatic & inspiring coach, or priest, who (it is later discovered) is a pederast (pedophilia) and has done much damage to his faithful followers. Those who have tenaciously followed such “masters” have ended up seriously damaged (physically and/or mentally). So, today I find your quote well meaning’ed, but overly simplistic.