The basic roles of the yoga teacher

Guiding the yoga students towards -

Develop correct understanding and clarity of thinking

Take responsibility towards one's thinking/belief/values/practice/desires/decisions/behavior/action/reaction, and the consequences of all that

Self-reliance

Self-discipline/control

Self-introspection

Mental and emotional independence

Simplicity and truthfulness

Question/investigate/inquire the truth of everything

Open the mind

Non-blind believing, non-blind following, non-blind agreeing/disagreeing, non-blind practicing, non-blind propagating

Quiet/purify/discipline the restless impure modification of the mind

Turn the outgoing tendency of the mind inward

Develop inner (mental) stamina (patience/perseverance/cheerfulness/contentment), strength (acceptance/will power/attentiveness/forbearance/determination/independence/the ability to let go/non-grasping), and flexibility (adjustment/adaptation/accommodation)

Develop non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment, and non-expectation

Let go the idea of 'I', self-esteem, sense of self-worth, sense of belonging, self/group-identification, self/group-image, pride, arrogance, selfishness, self-righteousness, pettiness, stinginess, possessiveness, ownership, greed, hoarding, bribery, prejudice, discrimination, untruthfulness, hypocrisy, story telling, fairy tales, lies, superstition, day dreaming, wishful thinking, boasting, justification, debate, argument, gossiping, slandering, back-biting, manipulation, exploitation, scheming, cheating, stealing, passion, lust, jealousy, admiration, bitterness, resentment, vengeance, anger, hatred, cruelty, violence, blame, self-blame, fear, worry, guilt, regret, clinging, longing, chasing after love/attention/sympathy/empathy/acknowledgement/recognition/agreement/approval/admiration/name/fame/glory/power/status/title/wealth/luxurious enjoyment/superior treatment, ...

Renounce/Let go worldly passionate egoistic ideas/affairs/activities/interactions/status/titles/castes/sects/associations/organizations/ties and connections/thinking/belief/values/practice/desires/aspiration/inspiration/ambition/indulgence of the senses

Transcend duality/dualism

Go beyond the worldly egoistic thinking/belief/values/practice about good and bad, right and wrong, should and shouldn't, positive and negative, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, happiness and unhappiness, joyfulness and joylessness, pleasant enjoyment and painful suffering, hardship and easiness, success and failure, achievement and non-achievement, gain and loss, superiority and inferiority, appropriateness and inappropriateness, respectfulness and disrespectfulness, attractiveness and non-attractiveness, usefulness and uselessness, purposefulness and purposelessness, deserving and non-deserving, ...

Middle path

Dispassion

Renunciation

Solitude

Seclusion

Respect the nature's law of cause and effect

Respect all and everything as they are

Observe/Witness the perceived reality as it is

Non-interference and non-association

Perform self-inquiry

Identify/Recognize what is the ego (the idea of 'I') and egoism

Thin-out/Eliminate the ego (the idea of 'I') and egoism

Focus/Be/Live in the present

Non-wavering to the past memories and the future imaginations

Meditation/Silence/Stillness/Quietness

Direct realization towards selflessness and impermanence

Self-realization

Know Thyself (the selfless impermanent modification of the mind/the mind perception of a selfless impermanent worldly life existence/what is 'I' that the thinking mind thinks and believes as its permanent independent self-existence/suffering and the root cause of suffering)

Liberation from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance

Realize unconditional peace

Stop hurting oneself and others

Be free

Be happy

Be peaceful

How to be happy?

It's not about how I feel, and what I want and don't want.

It's not about how others feel, and what others want and don't want.

It's not about how others think and feel about me or themselves, and how others act/react and don't act/react.

It's not about what I can do and cannot do, and how much I have done and didn't do for myself and others.

It's not about what others can do and cannot do, and how much they have done and didn't do for themselves and others.

It's not about positive thinking, optimism and hopefulness.

It's not about give others happiness and take away others' unhappiness.

It's not about pleasing others to make others happy.

It's not about ignoring, denying, and supporting others' ignorance, so that others won't be unhappy.

It's about the absence of the idea of 'I' and egoism, in this mind.

It's about the absence of attachment, identification, craving, aversion, comparison, judgment, and expectation towards this mind and others.

It's about the presence of non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-comparison, non-judgment, and non-expectation towards this mind and others.

 

Be kind to this body and mind, and let it go.

Be kind to others, and let it go.

May all be happy, including those who have been selfish, difficult, and unkind, and including this mind, that is imperfect, selfless, and impermanent.

It's okay that this body and mind doesn't know many things.

It's okay that this body and mind cannot do and achieve many things.

It's okay that this body and mind has certain limitation and weakness.

It's okay that if the mind still couldn't understand all these.

 

What others think and feel, and how others act and react, is others' freedom.

What this mind thinks and feels, and how this mind acts and reacts, is its own freedom.

Regardless of how much hardship, pain, and difficulty in this present moment, choose forbearance, adjustment, adaptation, accommodation, openness, kindness, cheerfulness, contentment, and peace.

Let go selfishness, bitterness, resentment, vengeance, jealousy, pride, arrogance, anger, and hatred.

If others are being ignorant, selfish, bitter, hard, difficult, unkind, wrongful, discontent, greedy, evil, cruel, violent, jealous, prideful, arrogant, angry, and hateful, let them be what they are, and let them go.

More importantly, this mind is not being determined or disturbed by them, being what they are, as they are.

This mind doesn't need to be like them.

This mind can choose not to become one of them.

 

If this mind can truly understand "May all be happy", and wish all and everyone "Be happy", unconditionally, this mind will be happy as it is, regardless of whether others are happy, or not.

Be happy as it is, unconditionally, it doesn't mean that there are no negative thinking, disagreement, or unpleasant feelings and emotions arising and passing away in the mind, but the mind understands that all these are impermanent, and it's not 'I', while not being determined, disturbed, influenced, or over-powered by all these selfless impermanent modifications of the mind, standing as a witness towards all these names and forms, without association, attachment, identification, craving, aversion, comparison, judgment, or expectation.

Regardless of what is happening in the body and mind, in life, in all kinds of relationship/ties and connection, and in the surrounding environment/the world, and whether it's something pleasant/unpleasant, agreeable/disagreeable, desirable/undesirable, or soothing/painful, the mind can still be happy as it is, if the mind knows and understands towards selflessness and impermanence.

Be open. Be wise. Be compassionate.

Be free. Be happy. Be peaceful.

None can remove the ignorance in others but one can refrain from empowering the ignorance in oneself and others

It's normal and nothing wrong that when the mind is functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism (the presence of the idea of 'I', attachment, desire of craving and aversion, and expectation), the mind will be disturbed by and would feel depressed/hopeless/meaningless towards the truth about "None can remove the ignorance in others," and hence, either it chooses to perform actions that would bring destruction to all and everyone and everything (if I am in unhappiness/painful suffering, I want all and everyone also to be in unhappiness/painful suffering), or it is reluctant to be performing actions that are beneficial for all and everyone, that might or might not bring constructive improvements in all and everyone and everything (why bother if all and everyone will die sooner or later anyway, no matter what).

That is what ignorance is about. Ignorance feeds/empowers ignorance.

None can change or escape the truth of selflessness and impermanence (decay and death/disintegration), but all and everyone can make good use of the existing ability, possibility, and opportunity in this present moment of the limited selfless impermanent existence, to be kind to oneself and all and everyone.

None, not even enlightened beings/minds/buddhas/gurus, can remove the ignorance in all the other minds.

But one can remove the ignorance in oneself.

One can refrain from empowering the ignorance in oneself.

And, more importantly,

One can also refrain from empowering the ignorance in all the others.

Meanwhile, upon the presence of ability, possibility, and opportunity, one can also perform actions under the presence of correct understanding (wisdom) and kindness (compassion) that are beneficial for all and everyone, that might or might not bring constructive improvements in all and everyone and everything, that might or might not uplift some other minds that are struggling/drowning in ignorance and suffering, unconditionally without egoism of attachment, desire of craving and aversion, or expectation.

Allow the fruit of actions being what it is.

Allow all and everyone being what they are.

Allow all and everyone to remove ignorance in themselves, or not.

Allow all and everyone be free from ignorance, or not.

Be free.

The mind that knows and understands towards selflessness and impermanence

There is needless of engaging in any form of expression or communication, not to say, to be engaging in passionate egoistic interaction, or justification, or debate, or argument, if the mind knows and understands towards selflessness and impermanence, knowing Thyself, being free from ignorance and egoism, and resting in unconditional peace, while respecting all the other minds being what and how they are, and allowing the world being what it is, selfless, and impermanent, governed by the nature's law of cause and effect, where all kinds of names and forms arising, changing, and passing away, at their own respective cause and pace.

There is neither good nor bad.

There is neither right nor wrong.

There is neither positive nor negative.

There is neither meaningful nor meaningless.

All and everything are just what they are.

Who and what, it doesn't matter.

Short-lived or long-lived, it doesn't matter.

Healthy or unhealthy, it doesn't matter.

What is the cause of death, it doesn't matter.

It's whether there is peace, or not, regardless of what is manifesting/happening/changing in this present moment, under the presence or absence of knowing and understanding towards all these.

If the mind still doesn't know and doesn't understand (yet) towards selflessness and impermanence, and it is in doubt and disturbance, and has no peace, while it has intense yearning towards liberation from ignorance by knowing and understanding all these, then it just needs to keep practicing, keep purifying, and keep inquiring.