Excursus : Within the Realm of Enlightenment

2.22.2008

Canned Goods

“Unless you realize substratum, one can't see oneself in everything and everything in oneself.”

To see oneself in everything is not the path of Buddha. To see everything in oneself is not the path of Buddha. To do such things might be an interesting adventure, but in Buddhism we practice the middle way; (not the integrate everything into one-grand-unity way).

This way is about seeing “that which is”, not as the self, but as “that which is”; about seeing all, not as self, but as all; about knowing self, not as a thing, no-thing, all, beyond all, other, personality great or small; nor about seeing self as none of those. And, instead about knowing self as just what it is itself, free from those measures and devices, ways and methods, extremes of this, that, or all-encompassment, or beyond.

Because if one sees self as other, they have lost it; if one sees self as no self, they have lost it, if one sees self as all, they have lost it; if one sees self as beyond, one has lost it.


“There is no self sustaining individual self, there is only the one immutable Self of all which is only apparently manifest as the inter-relations of causes and effects, and then again, there is no immutable essential Self of all, because there is no all. However, without a Self of the all, how can one see the union between I and other.”

This is not the Buddha path. Because Buddha does not teach that self is merely a manifestation of inter-relations of causes and effects. Nor does Buddha teach that self is “only the one immutable Self of all”. The Buddha path is not about seeing a union between I and other.


"The idea indeed is to refute oneself as a self at all. Then one truly knows the Self as the no-self."


This may be a common misunderstanding about Buddhism. But, to refute the self would be denial of self, not realization of self.

No comments: