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Direction Needed
Dear All,
This is my first post here although I have been observing for some time.
I am fairly new to Buddhism and I do not have access to a Sangha due to my rural location (Wales, UK). I have recently felt that I have hit a brick wall and I think I have either misunderstood something or I am taking the wrong perspective.
The doctrine of 'no-self' suggests that there is nothing enduring within 'us', as we tend to define ourselves. There is no single aspect which defines us; our personality, belief and value system is nothing more than a snap-shot of the culmination of our current exposure to cause and effect; we are empty vessels at the mercy of our mind senses. I accept this completely, I sometimes feel that if I were to meet myself at the age of 20 (I am now 30), I would be able to find almost nothing in common with that person. It almost feels that that period in time belonged to someone else; somebody else's thoughts and beliefs. However, we do have a fundamental nature, an absolute mind which is completely free from our personality and all of the prejudice and filtering which personality entails. This is our Buddha nature and it is our absolute mind which we should aim to nurture through meditation so that we can free ourselves of ego. Everybody has inherent Buddha nature and everybody's Buddha nature is the same. An understanding of this causes an end to dualistic thinking and the flourishing of compassion. It is this absolute mind which is affected by karma and which is reborn in various realms for so long as conscioussness remains in samsara.
If that is correct, I always tend to sway towards an annilhilation basis of understanding. The idea of rebirth is essentially a misnomer as there is nothing to be reborn as there is no such thing as 'me', in terms of how I define myself by personality etc. If there is no 'me' then I cannot be reborn and niether am I somebody else reborn. Conscioussness will prevail and will inhabit another sentient being but it will not be 'me' and there will not be any recollection of the exepriences that conscioussness has experienced in my lifetime. As it is not 'me' being reborn, why would I care whether I am reborn into more or worse suffering? It stands to reason that if we have faith in this premise, we could live as we wish, as badly or corrupted as society will allow us.
I accept entirely that we have some subtle, fundamental nature which thrives in compassion and kindness. Every human being I have ever met has responded to kindness and I am able to experience myself the effect that kindness has on me, whether I am distributing it or receiving it. I am also wholeheartedly convinced that materialism cannot bring happiness to any human being. So, I will live this way regardless of the fact that by reason, I could live as badly as I wanted. But....it is not because of the karmic conseqeunce that I will do so and I do not know if this perspective is strong enough to survive?
I would be really grateful if someone could tell me if I have gone wrong somewhere??? My knowledge stems from a mix-match of literature and I know that this is a dangerous approach!!
Many thanks in advance.
This is my first post here although I have been observing for some time.
I am fairly new to Buddhism and I do not have access to a Sangha due to my rural location (Wales, UK). I have recently felt that I have hit a brick wall and I think I have either misunderstood something or I am taking the wrong perspective.
The doctrine of 'no-self' suggests that there is nothing enduring within 'us', as we tend to define ourselves. There is no single aspect which defines us; our personality, belief and value system is nothing more than a snap-shot of the culmination of our current exposure to cause and effect; we are empty vessels at the mercy of our mind senses. I accept this completely, I sometimes feel that if I were to meet myself at the age of 20 (I am now 30), I would be able to find almost nothing in common with that person. It almost feels that that period in time belonged to someone else; somebody else's thoughts and beliefs. However, we do have a fundamental nature, an absolute mind which is completely free from our personality and all of the prejudice and filtering which personality entails. This is our Buddha nature and it is our absolute mind which we should aim to nurture through meditation so that we can free ourselves of ego. Everybody has inherent Buddha nature and everybody's Buddha nature is the same. An understanding of this causes an end to dualistic thinking and the flourishing of compassion. It is this absolute mind which is affected by karma and which is reborn in various realms for so long as conscioussness remains in samsara.
If that is correct, I always tend to sway towards an annilhilation basis of understanding. The idea of rebirth is essentially a misnomer as there is nothing to be reborn as there is no such thing as 'me', in terms of how I define myself by personality etc. If there is no 'me' then I cannot be reborn and niether am I somebody else reborn. Conscioussness will prevail and will inhabit another sentient being but it will not be 'me' and there will not be any recollection of the exepriences that conscioussness has experienced in my lifetime. As it is not 'me' being reborn, why would I care whether I am reborn into more or worse suffering? It stands to reason that if we have faith in this premise, we could live as we wish, as badly or corrupted as society will allow us.
I accept entirely that we have some subtle, fundamental nature which thrives in compassion and kindness. Every human being I have ever met has responded to kindness and I am able to experience myself the effect that kindness has on me, whether I am distributing it or receiving it. I am also wholeheartedly convinced that materialism cannot bring happiness to any human being. So, I will live this way regardless of the fact that by reason, I could live as badly as I wanted. But....it is not because of the karmic conseqeunce that I will do so and I do not know if this perspective is strong enough to survive?
I would be really grateful if someone could tell me if I have gone wrong somewhere??? My knowledge stems from a mix-match of literature and I know that this is a dangerous approach!!
Many thanks in advance.
0
Comments
Indeed, there is a miss-match of literature.
If we take the time to study the Buddha words, we will not find rebirth & not-self taught together.
Rebirth is a mundane (moral) teaching. Not-self is a supramundane (transcendent) teaching.
The Buddha never included rebirth when defining his core teachings.
Answer is found at the link, about two sorts of right view, which are essentially unrelated.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.117.than.html
Also here, about the conditionality of consciousness.
http://www.buddhistelibrary.org/cpg1420/albums/asst/ebook/03_mahatanhasankhaya.pdf
(Ignore the commentary of the translator)
All the best.
Anyway, I'm probably not making much sense because I do believe in rebirth even though nothing is reborn...
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/notself2.html
As kamma follows us from life to life, although in a future life it may not be "me" as such that inherits the results of the actions that I created in this life, "I" will most certainly experience those results. In other words if I create the conditions for suffering now then I will experience the results in the future, whether that future exists is in this current body and mind or another.
But for me, most importantly, it all comes back to the practice of applying the four noble truths to experience in the present moment, and being aware of how the mind reacts to experience. Then you know for yourself directly what brings happiness to oneself and others, and also knowing which questions are really worth asking; are they conducive towards liberation or not? Not that I'm saying your question wasn't worth asking!
I can't say that I've really answered your question...but I hope this helps.
Cheers
Pete
Meditation practice is a good tool for addressing limitations.
Thanks
Pete, your comments are interesting, thanks. I think I am prone to conceptualising. The main draw to Buddhism for me is to alleviate my fear of death and fear of illness which has been a bit of problem for me (for no apparent reason). The concept of Annata helps me in this respect, much more than a romanticised notion of rebirth (which I used to hold). However, I now fear that I am clinging to my intuitive feel of Annata and it has also left me feeling pretty empty. Empty, in a sort of 'why the hell bother?' sort of way - I am well aware that I slip into something other than Buddhism at these times but it just seems natural. Genkaku, you are correct, it is consoling but the effect quickly wears off and my fear of death remains.
Am I setting myself up to fail by coming at Buddhism with a specifc objective? Can I ever be in a position where I just accept things rather than being in a position where I WANT to accept things?
When I get an attack of what you describe, I find it helps to go into my garden. I notice that each plant is a unique mix of characteristics common to its species. And I am just the same: a unique mix, possibly even (as Virginia Satir used to put it) a unique manifestation of life itself.
No one sutta deals with this question, but this idea is found throughout the canon. If you're interested, you can find more of thought on kamma, rebirth and not-self here, here and here.
Oh, Jason, I've just clicked on your links and realised that these are your personal blogs. They are so well written and so interesting! I was reading one of them and became very emotional - always a good sign that you hit the spot! Now I have to go back and do some more reading. Thanks for sharing...
And so "you" as a specific conditioned phenomena only exist for now, but the emptiness from which you were born exists forever. The place of birth is the place of death; no one goes anywhere but right here, nothing is lost.
It is like you were at the crossroads but took the wrong path.
But then, it is probably the right path for you.
Many hear the Buddha's teachings about emptiness (not-self) but their craving for rebirth is too strong.
All the best for your searching.
Would 'Buddhanature' be more palatable if instead of thinking of it as "a little Buddha inside all of us" we thought of it as "the {set} of all qualities shared by those on the path to Buddhahood"? In this way, we can avoid thinking of Buddhanature as akin to an atman. It really is more like the paramitas sown by the enlightening-activity of all those on the path.
See also, http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/about/glossary/glossary.html#xbuddha-nature
After reading other posts on this site, I have come to the conclusion that I have overwhelmed myself. Dhamma Dhatu, you were right, I did come to a cross-road, and decided that I need to step back a little bit. I realised that not being able to put all of Buddhist philosophy into some sort of discernible mental order was causing me frustration and I have now been able to see that the need for order and understanding is a pretty obvious display of craving.
I thought back to the first couple of months after discovering Buddhism, where the basic message of Buddhism really hit home. Those few months were incredibly happy and marked a turning point in my life in respect of my attitude towards work, recreation and family etc. For the time being, I am therefore going to rekindle those feelings and just live in the moment and be happy. I would suggest that all other beginners on this forum should pay attention to how much of the 'hard' stuff they are taking on. If we have chosen to follow this path then there will be a time and place to understand everything but don't ruin the essence of Buddhism by getting carried away with a quest for understanding, it isn't necessary. We are entitled to take some things on faith for the time being, we can't explore everything at once.
I would really like to hear from more experienced practitioners, who also didn't have access to a teacher or Sangha. How did you scructure your practice? When did you decide that it was time to take another step or to tackle a certain aspect of the teachings?
Thanking you all
Happy New Year.
I would love to be in beautiful Wales right now. I miss it so.