Modern students behave very differently from ancient students of Dharma, if I judge from their histories. They are like children in a toy store who want to play with all the toys at once. Grasping, they go from one toy to another, capriciously throwing each one away when they have become tired of it or have difficulty making it work. Through changing intentions and strong divorce habit, they abandon their playthings with many different excuses. When they say, “my former teacher,” this means their abandoned teacher, and since all teachers are embodiments of the same Buddha essence, this means that they have abandoned the Triple Gems and the path of enlightenment. Their Dharma is like their television: they are momentarily entertained, but when they are bored with one program, they constantly channel-change until they once again become bored. Just as they leave their worldly teachers when they find out what they want to know from them, they may leave their Buddhist teachers, even though they vowed when they took refuge in the words of the Buddha that they would never abandon the Buddha, never abandon the Dharma, never abandon the Sangha, and never abandon their teacher until they reach enlightenment. According to Buddhist tradition, the teacher is the representative of the Buddha, yet they think they can divorce tradition.

-- Thinley Norbu Rinpoche