American Buddhist

There is no fixed “I” or “me”. Look at your baby picture.  Is that “you”? Why? Because you have the same genetic code? Think of all of the memories and experiences you’ve had since that picture was taken. Think of all of the ideas, beliefs, knowledge, and feelings you’ve had since Day 1 of your life. How about your body, skin, and brain at the atomic level? Your physical being changes as much as your mental states.  Are your tastes, habits, likes and dislikes the same? How could you be the same “person”?

If you could go back into time and talk to your teenage self, how disgusted would you be with “yourself”?

Society seems to pound in the idea that we have an eternal “self” or a “soul”- an unchanging spirit or fixed personality that will eventually get sent to heaven, hell, or have some “karma log”. In fact our language forces us to use these conventions. All the Buddha meant when he said “anatta” was that there is not a fixed and permanent self, and that we get stressed out when we get attached to something that really temporary. Everything changes, and nothing is eternal; so to get attached to such a notion will lead your astray, and cause frustration.

If you really examine “yourself”, you can see that feelings come and go. We have the freedom to change. We can break our bad habits and conditioning. Our mental state totally changes after we die. Energy becomes transferred, not destoyed. But going deeper than that is outside the scope.

Many later Buddhist traditions, and some writers, like to say that Buddhism is about not having a “self”. But the early Buddhist writings say show that the Buddha doesn’t actually answer the question on the existence of a self with a “yes” or “no” answer.

The point he was trying to make was:

1) To say that “there is a self” or “there is no-self”  falls into an extreme view that makes the path to Enlightenment impossible.

2) When you are under stress, frustration, pain, or mental anguish, the Buddha wants us to think, “This negative feeling that I am holding on to and ruining my day-it really mine? If my perception and mind create my own reality, why should I make an illusionary personal hell? If this feeling or view is stressful, but not really mine, why hold on to these emotions or views and torture myself?”

3) Too many philosophical questions about things that cannot be proven (is there an eternal soul or not?) just leads to more frustration and stress and a lack of faith in the world. We may not be investing our time or energies well to get hung up over something that can never be proven. Debating things like this is like an infinite message board forum where the members just keep going back and forth, and the last post still doesn’t answer anything.

4) It all gets back to the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. Directly experience and practice those duties, and the anxiety, worrying, fear, contradictions, or mind-numbing discussion about if we have a “self” quickly disappears. It’s about keeping things simple.

Related posts:

1. Why is Buddhism called a polytheistic religion?
2. What are the Four Noble Truths?
3. Buddhism- A Glance
4. Buddhism and Healthy Longevity
5. Buddhas’ First Nobel Truth
6. Buddha Pendants: Symbols Of Exceptional Divine Grace
7. Snowboard Jedi Mental Snowboard Training System.
8. Buddhist Quotes
9. Metta Meditation (Universal Love Kindness)
10. Wesak – a Celebration of Buddha and Christ?