Chapter Three : Practice 49 The Founding Master said,
“People who are learning a skill must have their skills evaluated by their teachers; people who are engaged in the study of the Way must have the rightness or wrongness of their acts assessed by their teachers. If those who are learning a skill do not have that skill evaluated, their skill will not be a precise skill; if those who are engaged in the study of the Way do not have the rightness or wrongness of their acts assessed, their practice will not be a practice that focuses on what is essential. Thus, the reason I constantly evaluate the quality of your practice in both human affairs and universal principles is because I wish to help you avoid the convoluted path and walk the straight path. If you are uncomfortable about receiving evaluations from me or are discontented with being told about the quality of your practice, then what was your original intent in coming to me to learn and how do you expect to proceed with your practice? And not only from me－but appropriate advice and criticism from anyone are precious guidelines for the road ahead. If one harbors resentment toward a benefactor who has helped to open up the road ahead for you, then wouldn’t one be committing ingratitude? Thus, you must be thankful to me or to anyone in this world who evaluates you as doing either well or poorly, and simultaneously exert even more effort to attain the real essentials of practice.” http://www.wonbuddhism.org/
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