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Can Ego Become Another "Person/Personality/Devil?"

DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
edited November 2010 in Buddhism Basics
Can Ego Become Another "Person/Personality."
What I mean by this is, overtake you as a human being?
Like a "devil."
Can an ego be another being? An antity?

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited November 2010
    No.
    It's all in the Mind.
    How many Minds do you have?
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    edited November 2010
    federica wrote: »
    No.
    It's all in the Mind.
    How many Minds do you have?

    Interesting!
    Infinity?
    Or just one?
    I think both answers will suffice?
  • Floating_AbuFloating_Abu Veteran
    edited November 2010
    LeonBasin wrote: »
    Can Ego Become Another "Person/Personality."

    Meditate.
  • ravkesravkes Veteran
    edited November 2010
    It's just thoughts.
    You see this through your meditation practice, I agree with Abu.
    You learn to associate with the truth.
    For example, a thought is a thought, a sensation is a sensation.. etc.
    Things are just as they are, it's pretty simple.
  • Ficus_religiosaFicus_religiosa Veteran
    edited November 2010
    I think it's an unhealthy habit to divide yourself into "me" and "bad me/ego".. You're just you, good and bad mixed up.. When you do something stupid don't blame the "bad you", blame yourself and learn from it.. The internal dualism is nothing different from religious or spiritual dualism where an impersonal enemy (devil or what not) is blamed for all bad things, whereas the "good guy" gets all the credit for good things - it will take your focus away from the way you really are. It's a distortion hindering healthy growth of mind.
    There are no excuses. You, the whole imperfect you, are responsible for everything you do..
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    edited November 2010
    ravkes wrote: »
    It's just thoughts.
    You see this through your meditation practice, I agree with Abu.
    You learn to associate with the truth.
    For example, a thought is a thought, a sensation is a sensation.. etc.
    Things are just as they are, it's pretty simple.


    Thank You!
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Ficus_religiosa wrote: »
    I think it's an unhealthy habit to divide yourself into "me" and "bad me/ego".. You're just you, good and bad mixed up.. When you do something stupid don't blame the "bad you", blame yourself and learn from it.. The internal dualism is nothing different from religious or spiritual dualism where an impersonal enemy (devil or what not) is blamed for all bad things, whereas the "good guy" gets all the credit for good things - it will take your focus away from the way you really are. It's a distortion hindering healthy growth of mind.
    There are no excuses. You, the whole imperfect you, are responsible for everything you do..

    That makes perfect sense!
    Thanks!
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited November 2010
    It's your ego that asks these questions and thinks it needs answers to them. Just sit...
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Mountains wrote: »
    It's your ego that asks these questions and thinks it needs answers to them. Just sit...

    Right!:)
    Thanks!
  • megahumanmegahuman
    edited November 2010
    To be honest, I read that the ego was habitual.
    Learning from success and failure and taking pride in praise; it's an environmental thing.
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited November 2010
    OP: Well there is multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, and the like...

    But rather than literally, can we take it metaphorically instead? Mara the deceiver is the complex of ignorance that veils our minds, blinding us from the truth. That's close enough to a devil, I think.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Cloud wrote: »
    OP: Well there is multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, and the like...

    But rather than literally, can we take it metaphorically instead? Mara the deceiver is the complex of ignorance that veils our minds, blinding us from the truth. That's close enough to a devil, I think.

    I thought the devil was thoughts?
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    edited November 2010
    No no, he's in the details somewhere. I have a hell of a time finding him.
  • Ficus_religiosaFicus_religiosa Veteran
    edited November 2010
    @ Cloud

    :D

    @ LeonBasin

    There's no such thing as a devil - even less in Buddhism
  • seeker242seeker242 Zen Florida, USA Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Kyol Che opening talk by Zen Master Seung Sahn at Shin Won Sah in December 1995.
    Nowadays our world is very complicated. Also, there are many problems; many people are killing each other. The more complicated our consciousness becomes, the more problems we have. If your consciousness is a little complicated you will have a little problem; if it's very complicated then you will have a big problem. People want something but they cannot get anything. Then their minds become narrower and narrower. Narrow mind means "only me" mind. This "I, my, me" mind is animal mind. Animal mind only goes one way. Dog, only dog way. Cat, only cat way. Snake, snake way--only my way. They don't understand other beings so they don't get anything; they don't understand this world.

    These days human beings are the same as animals--only my way, only my situation, my condition. Then they fight each other. Just like in Russia. The Soviet Union disappeared, then many small countries appeared and are all fighting each other. Now the whole world is becoming like this. Big countries are not fighting each other so much, but inside countries, small groups are fighting each other. So, the whole world has a problem.

    In this world cause and effect are very clear. What was the primary cause of this? What condition led to it? What was the result? So many of our faces look like human beings', but inside our minds are animal. First this appeared in America and Russia, then it appeared in smaller countries. Russia controlled many countries for a long time. If you correctly control, it's not a problem. But this was not correct, so there was a revolution in Russia. Then the smaller countries separated and started yelling, "My country! My country! My country!" Then there were many problems. Now all over Europe, there are many small countries fighting each other. Where does that come from? Dog doesn't like cat; cat doesn't like dog. Dog doesn't understand cat mind, and cat doesn't understand dog mind. No animal understands the other beings' minds. Only human beings can understand other beings' minds. Human beings originally have a love and compassion mind. But when "only me" mind appears, then this bodhisattva mind disappears, and we become the same as a dog or a cat. So practicing is very important. Finding your true self is very important. Then love, compassion, and a bodhisattva mind appear.
    Do you have a dog mind or a human mind? :)
  • TheFoundTheFound
    edited November 2010
    Sometimes I'm the devil. When my self centered desires take control of my actions...when I give into greed, anger and ignorance


    Sometimes I'm a saint.. full of compassion and understanding..

    Sometimes I'm one, sometimes i'm many..

    We're not the same person from 2 minutes ago... neh?

    I believe there is conflict always inside our unenlightened mind.

    An old native shaman was quoted saying something like this.
    "I have two dogs battling each other inside me..one is good .the other evil"
    to which a visitor asked "Which one wins?"
    "The one I feed more"     he replied

    Feed the buddha mind, hold fast to the uncarved block.
    but don't treat that ego as an outsider...because then he might become sad and hurt you,
    Work together with ego ....it's a strong ally and is there for a reason...you are in this together..



    ?????????????
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Bumpin'
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    no kidding.
    Seriously, what's with all the bumping?
    And all your threads, too... kind of a bit of an ego-trip, isn't it?
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Just this one time...:)
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    he said, with 9 - read that again - 9 threads of his all going simultaneously....!:lol:
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