I had the idea that after 10 years or so I should be able to go out and teach. However, now I don't have any interest, nor do I think I can discuss from experience how to be in enlightenment 24/7, which seems to me to be the only real teaching. Right? Wrong? There are so may good teachers, I don't see the need. So - what is teaching? Is it systemization? Learned things? Knowledge? Wisdom? Experience? When on the path does teaching become imperative? And what does that then require? What are the true qualifications of teaching? Any and all please weigh in on this - what are your thoughts and questions?
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I'm not so sure...

If you have no interest in teaching, I wouldn't bother. And you can always teach informally/help out/be of guidance eg. without the teacher label, settings, activities etc.

Daniel about the Visuddhimagga:

hi
i have an aspiration to teach. and im so far from there. i do not even know when. if daniel says 2nd path is already enough... or if u need to be an arahat for 10 years to be ready, etc.

but there are so many good teachers.
this is not the case in my country. and i think there is a need for it. it is also not the case in teachers teaching outside of a tradition, right? wrong? i love the way u said it in ur previous post hansen. 'no lineage no robes, no transmission, etc'. i thought it made a good slogan, and i wanted to steal it and use it, it makes good marketing too. i think theres a gap in the way meditation is marketed.

perhaps the best thing is to 'fill a gap'. if teaching doesnt really solve any problems, then there are better things to do. if i am an artist, by job description, i do not see the use. there are so many good artists.

maybe marketing meditation then is also a need. right? wrong?
then, more teachers would be needed then.

maybe the qualifications depends on the need. if you're in a third world country or where there are really no teachers, then lower qualifications.

i think what makes a teacher is just having an interest in it. just like there are bad guitar players, they just so happen to be guitar players.

Second path makes sense to me - I'm sick of the horror stories - Buddhist gurus who have lineage and transmission but no maturity.

Oasis homepage takes this route: "the capacity to meet our own suffering and that of others with attention, resilience, transparency, and compassion. For most people, cultivating these qualities is both cumulative and non-linear" in otherwords it takes time and work necessary to get to these fruitions to be effective - just to teach meditation technique, much less than preaching the dharma. The capacity to preach the dharma would be ideal to teach meditation from however, IMHO.

http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/oasis/index.aspx

Also this site states that you can teach MSBR without certification - hey I didn't know that. I have used Kabat-Zinn's materials in helping several other people get started already.

About the only program I can join here is Bhavana Society - this is due to my night shift work schedule (printing USA Today and New York Times!) They let you schedule your own visits unless they are holding an event.

I am going to try to attend the Mind Life XIX here in October. Will take 2 days off from work if it is not sold out. The keynote speaker is the Dalal Lama...

Educating World Citizens for the 21st Century:
Educators, Scientists and Contemplatives Dialogue on Cultivating a Healthy Mind, Brain and Heart
October 8–9, 2009 • Washington, D.C., USA

http://www.educatingworldcitizens.org/

My situation is interesting because I draw from Theravada, Mahayana, and Tantric traditions as well as shamanism and yoga (hatha & advaita vedanta) and have church roots in Unitarianism, Universalism, American Transcendentalism (Emerson, Thoreau), PLUS: humanism, green movement, and peace activism. & pottery

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see my site: americanpotter.blogspot.com