Sometimes it manifests in the form of a double standard, where masters teach one way but practice and live another. This is a sign that a master is not very good. It's not serious if masters sometimes demonstrate some bad habits, as long as they are aware of their actions. After all, they are still ordinary sentient beings. But if a master were to say, "This is the way of a Ch'an master, " or, "I'm a bodhisattva, so I can act this way in order to help others, but you as ordinary people should not imitate me, " then that's a different story. That's a sign of a bad master. It is also not good if a master shows preference for certain practitioners. Ideally, a master should treat everyone equally, although not identically.

Remember, though, it works both ways. If practitioners travel from center to center looking for weaknesses in masters just so they can say, "This one's no good, that one's no good, " then they also are behaving wrongly. Preoccupying oneself with a master's virtues and weaknesses is not a good attitude. It's also a waste of time and energy.