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Maybe there is something that you know that I don't know
Hello, I'm new to all this, but I've looked around your forums and there seems to be some pretty knowledgeable people on here so I thought I might pose some questions.
I don't really consider myself a buddhist, but for a while I've been exploring different 'philosophies' (for lack of a better word) and some of them seem to relate to buddhism, so I thought I might get a buddhist's perspective on things.
From what I understand, ego is a sense of "self", an observer, something separate from it's environment. Personally, I think this is a compensating illusion due to persistence of vision as well as other similar phenomena. From my observation, this seperation usually manifests in thought processes "I am typing" or "MY hands are feeling these keys on the keyboard".
If thought is ended, does the separation of ego and environment end?
I'm also very curious about the concept of samsara. Is samsara a process? Am I 'samsara-ing' right now? Creating worlds, thoughts, experiences? Was the Buddha's goal to end a process that appears natural to people because they don't know any better?
I can think back on an experience I had a couple years ago where something kind of 'clicked'. I just went on autopilot and felt carefree because I believed that I was always exactly where I needed to be. It was like seeing the world's biggest joke. I felt completely powerless, like I wasn't in control anymore, but at the same time I felt liberated, because I had given up that control. Self-surrender? Jhana? Just a feeling of overwhelming relaxation and peace? I'm not sure what it was.
Is the experience that I described something that buddhists do often? I've read a little about people who meditate and lose their sense of self, a kind of ego death. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Thanks for any/all help. I feel like I've learned a lot through my explorations, but I still know very, very little...
I don't really consider myself a buddhist, but for a while I've been exploring different 'philosophies' (for lack of a better word) and some of them seem to relate to buddhism, so I thought I might get a buddhist's perspective on things.
From what I understand, ego is a sense of "self", an observer, something separate from it's environment. Personally, I think this is a compensating illusion due to persistence of vision as well as other similar phenomena. From my observation, this seperation usually manifests in thought processes "I am typing" or "MY hands are feeling these keys on the keyboard".
If thought is ended, does the separation of ego and environment end?
I'm also very curious about the concept of samsara. Is samsara a process? Am I 'samsara-ing' right now? Creating worlds, thoughts, experiences? Was the Buddha's goal to end a process that appears natural to people because they don't know any better?
I can think back on an experience I had a couple years ago where something kind of 'clicked'. I just went on autopilot and felt carefree because I believed that I was always exactly where I needed to be. It was like seeing the world's biggest joke. I felt completely powerless, like I wasn't in control anymore, but at the same time I felt liberated, because I had given up that control. Self-surrender? Jhana? Just a feeling of overwhelming relaxation and peace? I'm not sure what it was.
Is the experience that I described something that buddhists do often? I've read a little about people who meditate and lose their sense of self, a kind of ego death. Has anyone had a similar experience?
Thanks for any/all help. I feel like I've learned a lot through my explorations, but I still know very, very little...
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Comments
Ego runs a lot deeper than the discursive thoughts you gave as examples before asking this question. It arises before the capacity for verbalization, almost certainly even before the capacity for episodic memories. The answer to your question depends on what you're prepared to consider a "thought."
It's more like putting the sense of self away. It's not lost, but it's not part of the current moment's experience. And it seems that gradually, relating to experience in terms of a sense of self becomes less and less attractive.
There is nothing to know, really. Just do the meditation practices and you will experience it directly in due course.
Namaste
Just potter around this forum & you're sure 2 read some wise thoughts
Here's a quote I found recently:
Wisdom is, and starts with, the humility to accept the fact that you don't have all the right answers, and the courage to learn to ask the right questions.
Namaste
Which brings me to my next questions.
You've put into words a concept that I've struggled to define for quite some time! I find that in life, people sometimes experience the sense of self and sometimes put the sense of self away. Only you aren't exactly aware when putting it away, like you are when you're 'experiencing the self'.
Confusing, I know, I'm terrible with words. Stick with me...
So is life simply a series of 'sometimes experiencing self' and 'sometimes putting it away'?. I feel like I float back and forth between these two things.
Is that just life? Something I have to accept? Will there be a time when I no longer come back?
For me it's like the weather, it comes and goes and is beyond control. Somedays I just say "Oh hey, today I get it, and then I watch myself (hahah then I watch myself watching myself, know what I mean?;)) Other days I say "Aww, crappy egotistical existance we're having today, hope it clears up soon".
The problem with this is that it almost becomes a desire to always put the self away, almost like a desire to not-exist. It's just becomes another distraction... Anyone else experience this?
P.S- I always tell myself I'm going to just write a short reply and I end up with these horrendous essays. Go figure.
Ego comes from the deluded belief in "self" and "other". This is, you might say, the original sin of Buddhism. It's the source of all our suffering because if you believe that you exist separately from all other things/beings, then desire is born because by definition you don't have everything because you're separate from everything that isn't "self". Thus you desire what you don't have. Desire leads to suffering because you can never, as long as you suffer from the base delusion of self and other, have everything that you desire. You're always struggling to get what you think you don't have. It's only when you can give up the basic deluded belief in self and other that you can experience true happiness.
Of course, that doesn't happen just by saying it's so. It takes lots and lots of practice, but along the way you will experience moments of selflessness. You don't have to be a Buddhist to experience such moments. I've experienced them when playing sports, for example, times when I forget about self and just became one with the game, you might say. So the important point, I think, is to just relax and take it one step at a time. If you experience some results from practice, fine, if you don't, also fine. If you screw up, also fine. Just keep going. Eventually you'll get there (even though there's no place to get to).
One of the reasons why we give rise to compassion is to help break down this false duality of self and other. By realizing others as no different than yourself, we can begin to move beyond self-cherishing. By serving others, we are, in actuality, destroying our clinging to our egos. That's the method.
Palzang
That is what happens in life. The practice seems stabilize putting it away and extending the range of circumstances when it can be put away. Whether we ever reach a time when we no longer come back, I don't know. I'm getting the impression that doctrinally, it depends who you ask, but it doesn't really matter, to me. The practice has immediate benefits.