In Shodo Harada Roshi’s Rinzai Zen, the teacher stands as an embodied expression of the Dharma, not merely a lecturer on doctrine. The teacher’s daily conduct, presence, and way of engaging others serve as a living demonstration of how awakened understanding appears in ordinary life. This embodiment gives weight to formal teachings and allows students to see the teachings in action rather than as abstract ideas. In this way, the teacher becomes both a model and a mirror, revealing what it means to live the path moment by moment.

At the heart of this tradition, the teacher functions as a guide in practice, especially in zazen and koan work. Through instruction in posture, breathing, and mental attitude, the teacher directs the student’s meditation so that it does not become mere quietism or daydreaming. In the Rinzai style, koans are given and then examined in private interviews, where the teacher tests the student’s response and challenges any trace of conceptual clinging. These encounters can be sharp or paradoxical, designed to unsettle ego-centered thinking and provoke genuine insight rather than clever understanding.

The teacher also serves as a guardian of lineage and form, holding the authority of an authentic transmission of the Buddha-dharma. This authority is not only institutional but experiential, grounded in mind-to-mind transmission that preserves the integrity of the tradition. By maintaining established forms such as intensive retreats, ritual, chanting, and work practice, the teacher ensures that the conditions for deep practice are stable and trustworthy. Within this framework, the teacher’s role includes both compassionate support and firm discipline, creating an environment that is at once nurturing and uncompromising.

Finally, the relationship with the teacher is understood as indispensable for authentic realization, yet its ultimate purpose is to free the student from dependence. Through formal talks, private interviews, and informal encounters, the teacher continually reflects the student’s delusions and blind spots, while also encouraging the maturation of insight into ethical conduct and compassion. Over time, the guidance aims to bring the student to a point where clear seeing stands on its own, so that the Dharma is no longer experienced as something received from another, but as the very nature of one’s own mind.