Identity
In the West we often talk about discovering one's "identity," or "the crisis of identity", especially with teenagers, and the pain of discovering one's identity or who one is. The discourse of identity allows for the possibility that I can rediscover and re-describe who I am. The exploration of the nature of the self is still going on. (pp.17-18)
The Self and Humanism
There are two different connotations of the term humanism: 1. the very positive sense of humanism as ennobling the self, and endowing it with certain initiative or power; and 2. the negative emphasis on the self and its view of the environment as something to be exploited or manipulated. (p. 18 the Dalai Lama)
These are two sides of the same coin in Western culture. Originally Descartes and others thought of the self as separate from the cosmos. Later there was another mode of humanism that explains human beings in terms of natural elements. Hence, the term humanism includes both human beings and the whole cosmos, with a denial of the existence of a deity atheists. (p. 19 the Dalai Lama)
What distinguishes a wholesome sense of self from an unwholesome one?
This is important for somebody who wants to be liberated from sufferings. Being able to distinguish the two is a crucial factor in determining our experiences. However, there is no absolute criterion for distinguishing the wholesome sense of self from the unwholesome one.
What matters is not the quality nature of the sense of self, but rather the relational quality result the sense of self brings about. If a certain sense of self arises together with other mental factors and motivations, and with it one experiences suffering, then that sense of self is unwholesome. (p. 116 the Dalai Lama)
The Buddha's View
The Buddha remained silent when Vasta asked Him about "self" and "no self." Later
He explained His silence to Ananda, and advised the latter to take the Middle Way stance, instead of falling into the traps of essentialism or substantialism (the view that there exists a permanent soul which never changes nor perishes)and nihilism (the view that life is meaningless since everything is void).
A practitioner needs to examine or observe the body movements, the feelings and perceptions that arise in the mind, and all surrounding phenomena (or the universal and the twelve cause-and-effect/causality laws in action)in order to gain insights into no-self. With time and diligence of meditation practice, one will gradually learn that there is no autonomous entity called "self" in every object, being or existence whatsoever. Once attaining this stage, one gets liberated from sufferings caused by the habits of perceiving "This is I," "This is My Self," and "This is Mine." One then is able to see things as they really are. However, the Right View is just the beginning, and one must keep on practicing.
The Buddhists refuted the existence of a permanent, unchanging self. All four philosophical schools within Buddhism deny the existence of a self that has a separate nature from the aggregates. However, these schools have different views as to how the self exists. One school asserts that the self is the collection of the five psycho-physical aggregates (skandhas). Another school identifies the self with the mind. Another school views the self essentially as mental consciousness. The Prasangika of the Madhyamaka School, the most profound school, regards the self as a name or an imputation, something imputed or designated on the basis of the collection of the aggregates, the mind and the body. (p. 112. The Dalai Lama)
Nagarjuna, the founder of the Prasangika of the Madhyamaka School, says in his Precious Garland (Ratnavali) that the person is none of the six elements that constitute the person; nor is the collection of these elements the person; the person cannot be found independently from these elements, either. Since the person does not exist as a self-subsistent entity that possesses a self-nature or a self-identity, the person exists nominally only. (pp. 112-113 The Dalai Lama)
The Svatantrika Madhyamaka School and all the lower Buddhist schools regard the statement that all phenomena exist merely as imputations, not by their own nature, as an expression of nihilism. (p. 117. The Dalai Lama)
Sources:
Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying: An Explanation of Consciousness with the Dalai Lama. Edited and narrated by Francisco J. Valera. (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1997).
http://www.thuvienhoasen.org/D_1-2_2-75_4-12093_5-50_6-2_17-237_14-1_15-1/ Anattalakkhana-sutta. Vietnamese version by Hoang Phong. French version by Mohan Wijayaratna translated from Pali. Sermons du Bouddha, Cerf, 1988, pp.123-126). Tương Ưng Bộ Kinh - Samyutta-nikaya, ed. PTS, 1888-1902, III, 66-67 ; Vinayapitaka, ed. PTS, 1879-1883, I, 13-14
Samyuktagamasutra. Vietnamese version by Hoang Phong. French version by
Jean Eracle translated from Chinese (Paroles du Bouddha, tirées de la tradition primitive, Ed. du Seuil, coll. Sagesse, 1991, pp. 142-144).
No comments:
Post a Comment