Dharmakirti, Kagyu, and Aura discuss the concept of having a teacher in Buddhism, with a special focus on a few teachers in particular: the disgraced Sogyal Rinpoche; the wild and influential Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche; and the austere-yet-mirthful Thai forest Masters, Ajaan Mun and Ajaan Lee. Also discussed: long summer days, taking refuge, "Lama-ism", past vs present karma, "The King and I", dirty feet, healing wounds, making amulets, Theosophy, and Silicon Valley "Buddhism". Note: Aura misspoke about Ajaan Mun. He did not study with Prince Mungkut. He studied with a Master of the school founded by the Prince, named Ajaan Sao.

 

The Buddha explains how there are two kinds of karma: past karma and present karma. "Karma" means "action" (NOT "retribution/reward"). In any given moment you have past karma and present karma.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu https://www.dhammatalks.org/ 

Taking refuge https://www.samyeling.org/buddhism-and-meditation/teaching-archive-2/choje-akong-tulku-rinpoche/the-meaning-of-taking-refuge/ …

Sogyal Rinpoche http://sogyalrinpoche.org/ 

The Dhammapada https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.budd.html …

List of qualities of a dharma teacher https://samyeinstitute.org/philosophy/qualities-dharma-teacher/ …

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche https://shambhala.org/teachers/chogyam-trungpa/ …

Naropa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naropa 

Milarepa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milarepa 

"Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism" https://www.amazon.ca/Cutting-Through-Spiritual-Materialism-Chogyam/dp/1570629579 …

Ajaan Mun and the founding of the Thai Forest Tradition https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/customs.html …

King Rama IV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongkut 

Ajaan Lee https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/index.html …

Madame Blavatsky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Blavatsky …