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Egolessness
Jeffrey
Veteran
I put this in beginners forum because I wondered about ego when I came to buddhism. You hear it all over and here is the vibe of some dharma teachers talking about it:
(from a friend's facebook post)
Egolessness
* "Years back, many Buddhist teachers in the West began using the term 'egolessness' to explain the Buddha’s teaching on not‐self. Since then, egolessness has come to mean many things to many people.
"Sometimes egolessness is used to mean a lack of conceit or self‐importance; sometimes, a pure mode of acting without thought of personal reward. In its most extended form, though, the teaching on egolessness posits a fundamental error of perception: that despite our sense of a lasting, separate self, no such self really exists.
"By trying to provide for the happiness of this illusory self, we not only place our hopes on an impossible goal but also harm ourselves and everyone around us. If we could only see the fallacy of the ego and understand its harmful effects, we would let it go and find true happiness in the interconnectedness that is our true nature."
-- "The Problem of Egolessness," by Thanissaro Bikkhu
* "There are two stages in understanding egolessness. In the first stage we perceive that the ego does not exist as a solid entity, that it is impermanent, constantly changing, that it was our concepts that made it seem solid. So we conclude that ego does not exist. But we still have formulated a subtle concept of egolessness. There is still a watcher of the egolessness, a watcher to identify with it and maintain his existence.
"The second stage is seeing through this subtle concept and dropping the watcher.
"So true egolessness is the absence of the concept of egolessness. In the first stage there is a sense of someone perceiving egolessness. In the second, even the perceiver does not exist."
"Egolessness" from "The Myth of Freedom," by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
* So ego, then, is the absence of true knowledge of who we really are, together with its result: a doomed clutching on, at all costs, to a cobbled together and makeshift image of our selves, a inevitably chameleon charlatan self that keeps changing and has to, to keep alive the fiction of its existence."
"The Wisdom of Egolessness" from "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying," by Sogyal Rinpoche.
(from a friend's facebook post)
Egolessness
* "Years back, many Buddhist teachers in the West began using the term 'egolessness' to explain the Buddha’s teaching on not‐self. Since then, egolessness has come to mean many things to many people.
"Sometimes egolessness is used to mean a lack of conceit or self‐importance; sometimes, a pure mode of acting without thought of personal reward. In its most extended form, though, the teaching on egolessness posits a fundamental error of perception: that despite our sense of a lasting, separate self, no such self really exists.
"By trying to provide for the happiness of this illusory self, we not only place our hopes on an impossible goal but also harm ourselves and everyone around us. If we could only see the fallacy of the ego and understand its harmful effects, we would let it go and find true happiness in the interconnectedness that is our true nature."
-- "The Problem of Egolessness," by Thanissaro Bikkhu
* "There are two stages in understanding egolessness. In the first stage we perceive that the ego does not exist as a solid entity, that it is impermanent, constantly changing, that it was our concepts that made it seem solid. So we conclude that ego does not exist. But we still have formulated a subtle concept of egolessness. There is still a watcher of the egolessness, a watcher to identify with it and maintain his existence.
"The second stage is seeing through this subtle concept and dropping the watcher.
"So true egolessness is the absence of the concept of egolessness. In the first stage there is a sense of someone perceiving egolessness. In the second, even the perceiver does not exist."
"Egolessness" from "The Myth of Freedom," by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
* So ego, then, is the absence of true knowledge of who we really are, together with its result: a doomed clutching on, at all costs, to a cobbled together and makeshift image of our selves, a inevitably chameleon charlatan self that keeps changing and has to, to keep alive the fiction of its existence."
"The Wisdom of Egolessness" from "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying," by Sogyal Rinpoche.
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Comments
I have this by him, I don't remember where I got it, but @Jason may be able to shed some light on it....
It's quite long, so make yourself a nice drink, draw up the cat, put your feet on the radiator and read on.....
I think it might be the problem that I don't have open office installed yet. If I get OO installed I may be able to 'open' your document whereas previously I was 'saving' the document.
@Jeffrey, I clicked on the file i downloaded, and managed to open it, so I hate to say it, but I think the issue must be at your end.
I hope you can open the links in Jason's post.... As I mentioned, the second link is the direct document I downloaded onto my system....
(I'm going off memory here - cant remember where I read this) I am reminded of an exchange between a physics professor and a hindu (maybe not?) student on the nature of the universe - the student says that the world is on the back of an elephant who in turn stands on a turtle - the physics professor asks "so what is the turtle standing on?" and the student replies "Ah! you cant fool me! Its turtle all the way down!"
In a way, I was driving at this issue (but from a different angle on Buddhist teachings rather than ego) with my post on Buddhism - the ultimate half-way house... as all are interconnected then the illusion principle carries through... I have found this concept can alarm people unless they realise it themselves naturally...
These days I have to be mindful to speak in a 'normal' human manner - what is there to say when there is no-one to say it?
rather than thoughts of self and ego
presented for discussion on the board.
I like Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Thank you!