Tannishblog

…and on a Friday the thirteenth, too. Go figure…

On these posts I like to quote Westerners. While the sages of the East have much to teach us, I feel a phrase has more poignancy when uttered by someone from a different philosophical tradition. This shows us the universality of Dharma. It is a human pursuit, and so it is open to all people, regardless of upbringing. The Dharma does not contradict religious traditions, nor does it negate philosophical perspectives. It reinforces and often unites the two.

One precept of Zen is often confusingly termed, due in part to the vagaries of translations, "No Self." This is quite the foreign concept to most Western thought. Essentially, the sages are saying that to get rid of our sense of "self as a central viewpoint." (my term) We can then open our minds to the inter-connectivity of all things, which leads to the peace of mind and wisdom thought to be the end result of Dharma practice. To put it bluntly: We are not the center of the universe. Understanding this leads to happiness.

What is troubling us is the tendency to believe that the mind is like a little man within.
– Ludwig Wittgenstein

The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.
– Albert Einstein

The sages would have us ask: Who is this that is thinking? Much thinking goes into this question. If we examine our concept of self, break it down to its constituent parts, we begin to see that most of what we call "Me" is fabrication, a conceptual framework that has no substance. The is no single "thing" we can point at and say "that is me."

Search back into your won vision — think back to the mind that thinks, Who is it?
– Wu-men

If I am not my body nor its parts, and I am not my mind - what am I?