The Greatness of Teaching

Teaching unfolds in many modes because beings understand in many ways.
Some awaken through concise statements—clear, distilled lines of truth that strike like lightning.
Others require full elaboration—patient, detailed unfolding that traces each step of the path.
For both, the spiritual genius repeats what must be repeated, clarifies what must be clarified,
and uses speech that is reasonable, articulate, and capable of laying bare the subject.
He expounds to reveal, analyzes to penetrate, and resolves doubts so certainty can emerge.
Repetition is not redundancy; it is the shaping of conviction.
Summary for the concise, expansion for the methodical—each receives what allows understanding to ripen.

Such teaching is beneficial because it is pure in all dimensions of the act.
It is pure in its means—speech and words carry no distortion.
It is pure in its actuality—whether concise or elaborate, its mode does not deviate from truth.
It is pure in relation to those taught—whether their capacity is swift or slow,
the guidance adjusts without division, preference, or judgment.
Because of this purity, awakened teaching is further known to be free of eight faults.

Six of these faults concern the teacher’s failure to meet the moment:
Laziness—when one avoids teaching though beings need help.
Lack of understanding—when one expounds what one has not realized.
Importunity—when one teaches at the wrong time, disturbing rather than aiding.
Non-definitiveness—when meaning is left vague and unclear.
Indecisiveness—when doubts are left unresolved.
Inconclusiveness—when the listener is abandoned still wavering.

Two further faults undermine the act from within:
Weariness—the inability to teach often, the exhaustion that signals compassion has not yet matured.
Stinginess—the refusal to give a full explanation, holding back what would free another.

Because the teaching of a buddha contains none of these faults,
it is unmatched in its purity and unexcelled in its benefit.
Every sound, every clarification, every repetition is an act of compassion shaped into language—
a bridge built precisely for the one who stands before it.