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Unravelling the Concept of "being" Buddhist
From a Public Talk in Lithuania by Yeshi Silvano Namkhai
http://www.tsegyalgar.org/ysn2010
Tibetan Buddhism or Buddhism is introduced through the Prajna Paramita for example, and this text of the heart sutra is one of the most famous. Emptiness is defined in this text. There is introduction to how this emptiness should be felt in terms of what emptiness is, what is its’ value, how we can enter into this knowledge, wisdom and so on. But still we are talking about something conceptual.
First of all we define what emptiness is. Then we say, “Ah, but I don’t have it”. It is written here, for example, that emptiness is beyond form because there are no eyes, no nose, no ears, etc. In the end it says there is nothing. Then it says this is the perfect condition and you should be in this state called shunyata, total emptiness. But we recognize that we are not like this. I define what is in emptiness, what the value of emptiness is, and I don’t have it. Since I do not have emptiness I have to do something to get it. So I should become Buddhist and meditate. And then I pretend to sit in lotus position with crossed legs and do something with my mind. But until now, this is a conceptual exercise. Because I have an idea of what emptiness is - I make a box called emptiness. Then I have a better, more beautiful box called ‘myself’.
Then at a certain point I decide to become Buddhist because I cannot relax. I have to do something because I don’t have and I have to get. Automatically that means I can no longer be Christian, I have to become Buddhist. Until now it is totally an invention of my mind. None of the books says you should do this. Then at this point I decide that from tomorrow I will become Buddhist and today I will go to the cinema. From tomorrow I start to be Buddhist.
What do I do? I find a group, a temple, and I go there. I have an idea that I don’t have something and I have to get it. From whom do I get it? From Buddha. Where does Buddha live? In the temple. So I go to the temple to follow Buddhism. When I read this book I understand that I should get this wisdom. So my idea is still conceptual. Slowly, slowly this conceptual idea starts to develop. Everything that is in my understanding starts to be Buddhist-like, first it was Christian-like and now it is Buddhist-like. It is still like concepts or boxes where I put ideas.
The first box that looked a certain way now looks Buddhist, but somehow I am developing these boxes. At a certain point in this text you discover that there is no dharma. Dharma means there is no teaching, because dharma is a set of phenomena, whatever we perceive. And that is also teaching. If there is not this, where do we put this box? And where do I put the box of myself, which is the biggest and nicest in my mind? So for this reason, we find in the words of Buddha that ego is the cause of all suffering.
The first time Buddha Shakyamuni taught he explained the Four Noble Truths. He explained that our condition is the condition of suffering. At the end we discover that we create this suffering ourselves. Because there is a general misunderstanding, we develop these boxes. We develop boxes because we have an idea that there is limited space, just like our life. In our mind we fill this space with all these boxes. Then at the end, there are all these boxes filled with everything that we perceive from ordinary life, everything that we understand from the teaching, and whatever. Usually when we develop these boxes, as I said, the ‘our’ box is more important.
That is why we remember our feeling, because our feeling is more important and it becomes memory and then fear. What we don’t have, what we want, all actions that we want to do, they all become our hopes. This is our future. In the end whatever we have in our mind we already know. This means we cannot see what we don’t know.
I repeat something I said at the beginning. If I close my eyes I don’t have sight. I don’t see anything. I am limited on this physical level, I am a human being, I am a man. But if I have sight, I see something once, and at least when I close my eyes I have an idea of what I saw. But what I see I already know. There is nothing new. This is the key point of Buddhism. This is also the problem. In Tibetan Buddhism we talk about ignorance. The misunderstanding is that I create boxes and I am work with concepts. All these ideas and emotions and concepts that I packed, they become just like eyeglasses. They are filtering my vision. I recognize only through these glasses.
http://www.tsegyalgar.org/ysn2010
http://www.tsegyalgar.org/ysn2010
Tibetan Buddhism or Buddhism is introduced through the Prajna Paramita for example, and this text of the heart sutra is one of the most famous. Emptiness is defined in this text. There is introduction to how this emptiness should be felt in terms of what emptiness is, what is its’ value, how we can enter into this knowledge, wisdom and so on. But still we are talking about something conceptual.
First of all we define what emptiness is. Then we say, “Ah, but I don’t have it”. It is written here, for example, that emptiness is beyond form because there are no eyes, no nose, no ears, etc. In the end it says there is nothing. Then it says this is the perfect condition and you should be in this state called shunyata, total emptiness. But we recognize that we are not like this. I define what is in emptiness, what the value of emptiness is, and I don’t have it. Since I do not have emptiness I have to do something to get it. So I should become Buddhist and meditate. And then I pretend to sit in lotus position with crossed legs and do something with my mind. But until now, this is a conceptual exercise. Because I have an idea of what emptiness is - I make a box called emptiness. Then I have a better, more beautiful box called ‘myself’.
Then at a certain point I decide to become Buddhist because I cannot relax. I have to do something because I don’t have and I have to get. Automatically that means I can no longer be Christian, I have to become Buddhist. Until now it is totally an invention of my mind. None of the books says you should do this. Then at this point I decide that from tomorrow I will become Buddhist and today I will go to the cinema. From tomorrow I start to be Buddhist.
What do I do? I find a group, a temple, and I go there. I have an idea that I don’t have something and I have to get it. From whom do I get it? From Buddha. Where does Buddha live? In the temple. So I go to the temple to follow Buddhism. When I read this book I understand that I should get this wisdom. So my idea is still conceptual. Slowly, slowly this conceptual idea starts to develop. Everything that is in my understanding starts to be Buddhist-like, first it was Christian-like and now it is Buddhist-like. It is still like concepts or boxes where I put ideas.
The first box that looked a certain way now looks Buddhist, but somehow I am developing these boxes. At a certain point in this text you discover that there is no dharma. Dharma means there is no teaching, because dharma is a set of phenomena, whatever we perceive. And that is also teaching. If there is not this, where do we put this box? And where do I put the box of myself, which is the biggest and nicest in my mind? So for this reason, we find in the words of Buddha that ego is the cause of all suffering.
The first time Buddha Shakyamuni taught he explained the Four Noble Truths. He explained that our condition is the condition of suffering. At the end we discover that we create this suffering ourselves. Because there is a general misunderstanding, we develop these boxes. We develop boxes because we have an idea that there is limited space, just like our life. In our mind we fill this space with all these boxes. Then at the end, there are all these boxes filled with everything that we perceive from ordinary life, everything that we understand from the teaching, and whatever. Usually when we develop these boxes, as I said, the ‘our’ box is more important.
That is why we remember our feeling, because our feeling is more important and it becomes memory and then fear. What we don’t have, what we want, all actions that we want to do, they all become our hopes. This is our future. In the end whatever we have in our mind we already know. This means we cannot see what we don’t know.
I repeat something I said at the beginning. If I close my eyes I don’t have sight. I don’t see anything. I am limited on this physical level, I am a human being, I am a man. But if I have sight, I see something once, and at least when I close my eyes I have an idea of what I saw. But what I see I already know. There is nothing new. This is the key point of Buddhism. This is also the problem. In Tibetan Buddhism we talk about ignorance. The misunderstanding is that I create boxes and I am work with concepts. All these ideas and emotions and concepts that I packed, they become just like eyeglasses. They are filtering my vision. I recognize only through these glasses.
http://www.tsegyalgar.org/ysn2010
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