What if madness is when common sense calls to us but we forgot how to listen to ourselves because our fragile connection to reality is broken temporarily?
Then medical intervention comes to the moment of psychic healing when we either remain in fear, unable to rise above madness, or we boldly go on to heal, and to become whole, using humility to reconnect to reality.
Mere mortals would confuse the mad for those people who have risen above madness, due to their fear and ignorance about madness.
What if the State assumes that madness should be controlled by medication because of that same fear?
Then these same medications are administered not only to relieve the mad of their affliction but also to relieve the fear which "normal" people feel when faced with the mad.
How absurd that we subject the mad to medication to relieve our own fears about madness itself!
Is this not the height of madness itself, that we subject others to medication to control them so that we ourselves may feel less fear towards them?
Even so, we do not take medication to relieve our own fears about madness because of the delusion that we ourselves consider ourselves sane while assuming that the mad are insane.
In doing so, we prove how insane society truly is! Perhaps then the truly mad are kept safe from society in psychiatric wards so as to be protected from society.
Then the purpose of medication is to calm extremely nervous people so that they may function in a society that has yet to overcome the stigma of mental illness.
Sometimes I ask these questions with the insight that the majority of people with mental illness are mostly non-violent people. Anyone who is violent and legally insane are excluded from this definition of sanity as madness. This is because their behavior forms part of the etiology of the psychopath.
Rather this so-called argument is satire designed to de-stigmatize mental illness.
Originally posted: May 20, 2005 08:18 PM
Showing posts with label ego. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ego. Show all posts
20131225
Divine Wealth
Divine Wealth: "Fearlessness (Abhayam):Among the Divine qualities, Fearlessness stands foremost. Fear is an effect of ignorance. Identification with the body causes fear. Blind attachment to the body, wife, children, house, property etc. is the cause of fear.The sage who has realised the Self is absolutely fearless.
'He who knows the Bliss of Brahman (God) from which words as well as mind turn powerless, fears nothing.' -Taittiriya Upanishad
Fear can be removed by constant thinking of the immortal and all-blissful nature of the Self. If you lead a life of honesty and truthfulness, if you devoutly observe the precepts of the scriptures without doubting, if you lead a life of right conduct, and if you remember God always, you will become fearless."
It is through worship that the mind is focused on good that results from such devotion.
One becomes open-minded and one's heart is softened until a tiny raw edge of fearlessness appears to devour any fears you have. Fearlessness is ravenous in its pursuit of fear, because fear pollutes the stillness of the mind, and prevents the mind from hearing the voice of God.
Once fear is no more, fearlessness moderates bravery by leading one to be hypervigilant against even one thought of cowardice, which is the fear that wants you to retreat from a challenge because you feel unworthy of meeting it.
In having met your challenges, you uncover divine wealth which is worth more than gold itself. For the diamond mind which arises spontaneously due to meditation shines brilliantly and is the result of facing all challenges in life fearlessly.
Even if you are not a Buddhist or a Hindu, then the wealth uncovered by the diamond mind will never fade away as long as you practice meditation.
Such is divine wealth, lasting longer than all riches and material possession. She who realizes its true value early in life shall live a long life!
Originally written February 29, 2004 8:17 PM
'He who knows the Bliss of Brahman (God) from which words as well as mind turn powerless, fears nothing.' -Taittiriya Upanishad
Fear can be removed by constant thinking of the immortal and all-blissful nature of the Self. If you lead a life of honesty and truthfulness, if you devoutly observe the precepts of the scriptures without doubting, if you lead a life of right conduct, and if you remember God always, you will become fearless."
It is through worship that the mind is focused on good that results from such devotion.
One becomes open-minded and one's heart is softened until a tiny raw edge of fearlessness appears to devour any fears you have. Fearlessness is ravenous in its pursuit of fear, because fear pollutes the stillness of the mind, and prevents the mind from hearing the voice of God.
Once fear is no more, fearlessness moderates bravery by leading one to be hypervigilant against even one thought of cowardice, which is the fear that wants you to retreat from a challenge because you feel unworthy of meeting it.
In having met your challenges, you uncover divine wealth which is worth more than gold itself. For the diamond mind which arises spontaneously due to meditation shines brilliantly and is the result of facing all challenges in life fearlessly.
Even if you are not a Buddhist or a Hindu, then the wealth uncovered by the diamond mind will never fade away as long as you practice meditation.
Such is divine wealth, lasting longer than all riches and material possession. She who realizes its true value early in life shall live a long life!
Originally written February 29, 2004 8:17 PM
20130512
Mental Negativity is the Dark Side of Ego
Sometimes I'd rather be a Westernized Asian rather than fall for propaganda designed to create hatred against another nation, be it Japan, Germany or America.
Hatred causes and arises from mental negativity. It is but an ally of anger which is the root of all negativity.
Indeed, negativity is the dark side of the ego left in control of the mind, sometimes with tragic yet preventable results (war, famine, and other human problems).
Only patience and love will stand up to anger. As for hatred, it is transformed by love into compassion. For love has opened the eyes of people who once hated and they repented.
Within context of Buddhism repentance is mandatory after admitting your faults in front of fellow Buddhists.
This brings out humility, which helps the Buddhist vow to "think good thoughts" as Zen Master Hui-Neng suggests.
Hatred causes and arises from mental negativity. It is but an ally of anger which is the root of all negativity.
Indeed, negativity is the dark side of the ego left in control of the mind, sometimes with tragic yet preventable results (war, famine, and other human problems).
Only patience and love will stand up to anger. As for hatred, it is transformed by love into compassion. For love has opened the eyes of people who once hated and they repented.
Within context of Buddhism repentance is mandatory after admitting your faults in front of fellow Buddhists.
This brings out humility, which helps the Buddhist vow to "think good thoughts" as Zen Master Hui-Neng suggests.
20130419
Ego
Ego is about me, myself and I,
as well as what's mine and my possessions.
Ego lacks compassion and wisdom,
but thinks it is more intelligent
than anyone else — filled with vanity
and so puffed up with pride!
All it takes is two egocentric people,
and their egos will soon butt heads,
leading to trivial arguments
that make the observer shake his head.
Ego is why a woman demands attention
from her lover, and why a man's worth
is measured by his conquests.
It takes meditation to control the ego,
for we all need do so in society,
lest our ego lead us astray,
and our very lives in ruin.
as well as what's mine and my possessions.
Ego lacks compassion and wisdom,
but thinks it is more intelligent
than anyone else — filled with vanity
and so puffed up with pride!
All it takes is two egocentric people,
and their egos will soon butt heads,
leading to trivial arguments
that make the observer shake his head.
Ego is why a woman demands attention
from her lover, and why a man's worth
is measured by his conquests.
It takes meditation to control the ego,
for we all need do so in society,
lest our ego lead us astray,
and our very lives in ruin.
20130319
The Root of All Evil
Those people who question basic goodness of people, yet are willing to assume all people are essential bad, see the cup as half empty i.e. wallow in their ignorant delusion called Ego.
It is egocentricity that blinds each of us to the goodness of other people. At the same time, the Ego arises due the lie that essentially all people are bad.
How then do we "cure" ourselves of seeing the cup as half-empty?
It cannot be done through intellectualizing a solution as that is merely the Ego's doing.
Instead the Ego must be pacified through love and patience, lest it wield anger to confuse each of us.
For anger is the root of chaos and confusion, and also death and destruction. Indeed, nothing can be accomplished while the mind is beclouded by anger. Any action done in anger will simply be forgotten, and each of us would have to search for the cause, which is merely the Ego vainly grasping, forming attachment to worldliness, rather than rising above it.
Though this be loathe to the religious, the Ego holds itself as God, not the person. When a person sees only evil in other people, that is a reflection of its own inherent evil. For no good thing comes from the action of the Ego.
Am I suggesting the Ego is "satanic"? No, not in the sense of Christian, Muslim or Jewish moralities.
For the Ego is free of "good and evil" yet each of us has the potential for great good or great evil.
Indeed, what we create may be deemed good if we benefit from such action, and evil, if we are consumed by the Five Poisons.
As well, the Ego is neutral throughout such actions, due to the subtle effects of the Seventh Consciousness. Thus it is innocent of evil karma, even though some of the actions of egocentric people may lead to worldliness rather than the Middle Way.
Anger/fear is the worst of the Five Poisons, and from it are derived the other four (attachment/desire, ignorance/delusion, pride, jealousy).
Anger is the root of anxiety with fear its companion. For what is done in anger is due to fear of non-existence of the Ego. Thus anger and fear are what drives a person to commit crimes and even murder.
Attachment/desire is the root of clinging to this world of birth-life-death, because it is based on the illusion of permanence i.e. the reified form of Ego known as the "soul", which is a hallucination about eternal life and immortality, both of which are superstitions.
Both attachment and desire leads to the carnal life of worldliness. It also motivates decadent hedonism, and thus promotes sloth and torpor when the Ego is not driving a person to live a hectic, fast-paced life which is unnatural.
In society today, productivity is deemed good or bad, based on the quickness to produce a marketable commodity. This commodity must be free of religion, and imbued with the essence of secularism. As well, it must have a short shelf-life. Otherwise, profits are lost when a product is long-lasting.
Ignorance and delusion are the root of the Ego's existence. As long as we remain ignorant of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path of the Fourth Noble Truth, we are "free" to become worldly yet become fearful of loss of wealth to the point of risking our lives just to accumulate consumer goods.
Pride is cause of the Ego's downfall. When everything is "me, mine, and I", that's due to pride. For a person filled with pride becomes a braggart, and in vain tries to make himself look good at the expense of others. A wise person would cure himself of pride by developing humility not only because it serves the greater good, but because by serving the good all sentient being by being humble, we generate compassion.
As for jealousy, that is the doing of the Ego, which leads one to fear sharing the limelight with other sentient beings For those of us who has not learn to control jealousy, everyone else is her rival. As well, jealousy unchecked may lead to much evil, including the willingness to harm a rival.
It is as though all the Five Poisons dance around the Ego, as though in worship of it. In actual fact, the Ego never existed in the first place!
For the Ego does not really exist. All that exists is the conception of the Ego. In its most evil incarnation, it is called the soul, and the Buddhist principle of non-self helps the disciple to see the soul as a figment of the imagination and as a reified mirror image of the Ego.
Since the Ego does not exist, so too the soul does not exist. To believe in the soul, one would have to call Buddhism a fiction. Yet all of the Buddhist sutras confirm that Sakyamuni Buddha lived over 2500 years ago.
For it is the Buddha who declared that belief in a permanent soul that reincarnates is tantamount to the root of evil.
Why? Because it leads to suffering.
If the disciple wishes to be free of suffering, then the Eightfold Noble path is the cure.
For the Eightfold Path is the way out of suffering, and relieves the disciple of mental unrest for good.
All it begins is with taking one breath...
It is egocentricity that blinds each of us to the goodness of other people. At the same time, the Ego arises due the lie that essentially all people are bad.
How then do we "cure" ourselves of seeing the cup as half-empty?
It cannot be done through intellectualizing a solution as that is merely the Ego's doing.
Instead the Ego must be pacified through love and patience, lest it wield anger to confuse each of us.
For anger is the root of chaos and confusion, and also death and destruction. Indeed, nothing can be accomplished while the mind is beclouded by anger. Any action done in anger will simply be forgotten, and each of us would have to search for the cause, which is merely the Ego vainly grasping, forming attachment to worldliness, rather than rising above it.
Though this be loathe to the religious, the Ego holds itself as God, not the person. When a person sees only evil in other people, that is a reflection of its own inherent evil. For no good thing comes from the action of the Ego.
Am I suggesting the Ego is "satanic"? No, not in the sense of Christian, Muslim or Jewish moralities.
For the Ego is free of "good and evil" yet each of us has the potential for great good or great evil.
Indeed, what we create may be deemed good if we benefit from such action, and evil, if we are consumed by the Five Poisons.
As well, the Ego is neutral throughout such actions, due to the subtle effects of the Seventh Consciousness. Thus it is innocent of evil karma, even though some of the actions of egocentric people may lead to worldliness rather than the Middle Way.
Anger/fear is the worst of the Five Poisons, and from it are derived the other four (attachment/desire, ignorance/delusion, pride, jealousy).
Anger is the root of anxiety with fear its companion. For what is done in anger is due to fear of non-existence of the Ego. Thus anger and fear are what drives a person to commit crimes and even murder.
Attachment/desire is the root of clinging to this world of birth-life-death, because it is based on the illusion of permanence i.e. the reified form of Ego known as the "soul", which is a hallucination about eternal life and immortality, both of which are superstitions.
Both attachment and desire leads to the carnal life of worldliness. It also motivates decadent hedonism, and thus promotes sloth and torpor when the Ego is not driving a person to live a hectic, fast-paced life which is unnatural.
In society today, productivity is deemed good or bad, based on the quickness to produce a marketable commodity. This commodity must be free of religion, and imbued with the essence of secularism. As well, it must have a short shelf-life. Otherwise, profits are lost when a product is long-lasting.
Ignorance and delusion are the root of the Ego's existence. As long as we remain ignorant of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path of the Fourth Noble Truth, we are "free" to become worldly yet become fearful of loss of wealth to the point of risking our lives just to accumulate consumer goods.
Pride is cause of the Ego's downfall. When everything is "me, mine, and I", that's due to pride. For a person filled with pride becomes a braggart, and in vain tries to make himself look good at the expense of others. A wise person would cure himself of pride by developing humility not only because it serves the greater good, but because by serving the good all sentient being by being humble, we generate compassion.
As for jealousy, that is the doing of the Ego, which leads one to fear sharing the limelight with other sentient beings For those of us who has not learn to control jealousy, everyone else is her rival. As well, jealousy unchecked may lead to much evil, including the willingness to harm a rival.
It is as though all the Five Poisons dance around the Ego, as though in worship of it. In actual fact, the Ego never existed in the first place!
For the Ego does not really exist. All that exists is the conception of the Ego. In its most evil incarnation, it is called the soul, and the Buddhist principle of non-self helps the disciple to see the soul as a figment of the imagination and as a reified mirror image of the Ego.
Since the Ego does not exist, so too the soul does not exist. To believe in the soul, one would have to call Buddhism a fiction. Yet all of the Buddhist sutras confirm that Sakyamuni Buddha lived over 2500 years ago.
For it is the Buddha who declared that belief in a permanent soul that reincarnates is tantamount to the root of evil.
Why? Because it leads to suffering.
If the disciple wishes to be free of suffering, then the Eightfold Noble path is the cure.
For the Eightfold Path is the way out of suffering, and relieves the disciple of mental unrest for good.
All it begins is with taking one breath...
20130313
The Truth According to Buddha
The ego is devious because it tells you about the lie called the "self", which is actually alaya conscioousness.
What is alaya consciousness but the place where karmic action is stored with each action done in this life?
He who denies the truth about ego is indeed deluded!
Mistaking alaya for the soul, only a fool would deny the truth, so that his reality alone prevails.
Yet such a reality is nonexistent, but only exists as a hallucination that the courageous would dare escape. Yet few of us try.
If I were lying to you about Truth, I'd call it a lie, for 'self' is empty of all existence, due to ego-delusion.
Delusion itself arises out of ignorance.
Can you see where this is going?
Ego lies to you, and claims the "self" is the immortal soul. What poppycock!
When will all sentient beings awaken to Truth? Only the seeds of karma transmigrate, due to Buddha Nature.
If I were to say anymore, then I'd only be repeating myself and contribute to rebirth in Samsara.
What is alaya consciousness but the place where karmic action is stored with each action done in this life?
He who denies the truth about ego is indeed deluded!
Mistaking alaya for the soul, only a fool would deny the truth, so that his reality alone prevails.
Yet such a reality is nonexistent, but only exists as a hallucination that the courageous would dare escape. Yet few of us try.
If I were lying to you about Truth, I'd call it a lie, for 'self' is empty of all existence, due to ego-delusion.
Delusion itself arises out of ignorance.
Can you see where this is going?
Ego lies to you, and claims the "self" is the immortal soul. What poppycock!
When will all sentient beings awaken to Truth? Only the seeds of karma transmigrate, due to Buddha Nature.
If I were to say anymore, then I'd only be repeating myself and contribute to rebirth in Samsara.
Notes on the Ego as Seventh Consciousness
The state of transposed substance that has the obscuring indeterminate nature is the connection between the sentience and the basis.
The state of transposed substance has two modes: the real and the seeming. Real transposed substance refers to the seventh consciousness relating to the eighth consciousness by falsely transposing the latter's perceiver division into a 'self'. That 'self' has no reality of its own, but is based upon the substance of the perceiver division of the eighth consciousness. [The seeming transposed substance refers to the sixth consciousness's relations with external states.]
The seventh consciousness is referred to as the "Ego", "Ego-self", and for cases of mental disturbance, "Ego-delusion" e.g. paranoia, phobia, anxiety to the point of confusion and hallucination (mental mirages).
The "self" is a delusion arising from the experience of the eighth consciousness' perceiver division. Having no independent reality, it appears in the mind (manas, or Sixth Consciousness) as the hallucination of the "self".
The obscuring indeterminate nature is one of two modes of the indeterminate nature, the third of the Three Natures. The other mode is the non-obscuring indeterminate nature. Obscuring refers to those states of consciousness that have the function of, literally, 'covering' one's true nature. That is what the seventh consciousness does. As will be explained, it 'covers'--it distorts the true nature of--the perceiver division of the eighth consciousness. The non-obscuring nature refers to the perceived division of the eighth consciousness. It is said to be non-obscuring because it does not distort or obscure the true nature of the mind.
"Obscuring" refers to the ability to hide (occultation). Its opposite is "non-obscuring."
The seventh consciousness obscures the mind (manas) regarding the eight consciousness. By hiding the true nature of the mind, the ego mistakes the eighth consciousness for the "self".
In the mind arises the thought "I have a self", and close examination of the ego leads to obscuring the eighth consciousness.
Sometimes, the more you confront yourself with the truth, the more the "self" establishes itself as "real".
With meditation though, it is possible to remain calm and perceive the seventh and eighth consciousness as they truly are.
The eighth consciousness is non-obscuring since it does not distort or obscure the true nature of the mind.
In between the seventh consciousness--'sentience' in the verse--and the perceiver division of the eighth consciousness--'basis' in the verse--there arises a state of transposed substance, which is the object of the seventh consciousness and which is identified by the seventh consciousness as being the 'self'. This is the process that obscures one's true nature.
Through one's sentience, one misperceives the basis of eighth consciousness as the "self". Hence "sentient being" is synonymous with "one who mistakes the basis of consciousness for the self", and also implies that sentience is not empty of ego-delusion nor empty of ego-self.
However, only the seventh consciousness is full of "ego-delusion" arising as the "self" or "ego-self".
Reference:
VERSES DELINEATING THE EIGHT CONSCIOUSNESSES by Tripitaka Master Hsuan-Tsang of the Tang Dynasty, Translation and Explanation by Ronald Epstein: http://online.sfsu.edu/rone/Buddhism/Yogacara/BasicVersesseventhcons.htm
The state of transposed substance has two modes: the real and the seeming. Real transposed substance refers to the seventh consciousness relating to the eighth consciousness by falsely transposing the latter's perceiver division into a 'self'. That 'self' has no reality of its own, but is based upon the substance of the perceiver division of the eighth consciousness. [The seeming transposed substance refers to the sixth consciousness's relations with external states.]
The seventh consciousness is referred to as the "Ego", "Ego-self", and for cases of mental disturbance, "Ego-delusion" e.g. paranoia, phobia, anxiety to the point of confusion and hallucination (mental mirages).
The "self" is a delusion arising from the experience of the eighth consciousness' perceiver division. Having no independent reality, it appears in the mind (manas, or Sixth Consciousness) as the hallucination of the "self".
The obscuring indeterminate nature is one of two modes of the indeterminate nature, the third of the Three Natures. The other mode is the non-obscuring indeterminate nature. Obscuring refers to those states of consciousness that have the function of, literally, 'covering' one's true nature. That is what the seventh consciousness does. As will be explained, it 'covers'--it distorts the true nature of--the perceiver division of the eighth consciousness. The non-obscuring nature refers to the perceived division of the eighth consciousness. It is said to be non-obscuring because it does not distort or obscure the true nature of the mind.
"Obscuring" refers to the ability to hide (occultation). Its opposite is "non-obscuring."
The seventh consciousness obscures the mind (manas) regarding the eight consciousness. By hiding the true nature of the mind, the ego mistakes the eighth consciousness for the "self".
In the mind arises the thought "I have a self", and close examination of the ego leads to obscuring the eighth consciousness.
Sometimes, the more you confront yourself with the truth, the more the "self" establishes itself as "real".
With meditation though, it is possible to remain calm and perceive the seventh and eighth consciousness as they truly are.
The eighth consciousness is non-obscuring since it does not distort or obscure the true nature of the mind.
In between the seventh consciousness--'sentience' in the verse--and the perceiver division of the eighth consciousness--'basis' in the verse--there arises a state of transposed substance, which is the object of the seventh consciousness and which is identified by the seventh consciousness as being the 'self'. This is the process that obscures one's true nature.
Through one's sentience, one misperceives the basis of eighth consciousness as the "self". Hence "sentient being" is synonymous with "one who mistakes the basis of consciousness for the self", and also implies that sentience is not empty of ego-delusion nor empty of ego-self.
However, only the seventh consciousness is full of "ego-delusion" arising as the "self" or "ego-self".
Reference:
VERSES DELINEATING THE EIGHT CONSCIOUSNESSES by Tripitaka Master Hsuan-Tsang of the Tang Dynasty, Translation and Explanation by Ronald Epstein: http://online.sfsu.edu/rone/Buddhism/Yogacara/BasicVersesseventhcons.htm
20130106
Good and Evil are One
To see good and evil as one is to transcend moral judgment. By creation of good by mindful practice, the disciple neutralizes evil of the Five Poisons, and embraces the true nature of her basic goodness.
When I make no moral judgment on good and evil, but see that my actions and the effect of these actions may be considered good or evil, depending on the situation.
Thus, in Buddhism, "good" and "evil" has less to do with moral judgment and more to do with my actions and the effect of those actions.
Buddhist philosophy declares that each of us has the potential to create good or evil, but we favor creating good to neutralize evil.
When the terms "pure", "real", and "true" are used, they refer to "basic goodness". On the other hand the term "evil" is not as absolute as the Western concept of evil because it can easily be neutralized by creating good with loving-kindness. For evil is created by anger, desire, fear, hatred, and ignorance, which are negative emotions and feelings that unsettle the mind.
A result of an unsettled mind is suffering, and one may make a moral judgment and mistake good for evil, and evil for good. Even when one sees good as good, and evil as evil, one may judged oneself and other sentient beings harshly. Due to such misjudgment, one entertains dualistic thoughts by making moral judgments regarding good and evil.
Such dualism is due to an unsettled mind. With the Bodhi Mind as the practitioner's goal, the mindful practice of Buddha Remembrance and meditation results in the nondual mind that sees good and evil as due to her actions and their effect on the lives of both herself and other sentient beings.
That nondual mind arises due to the mindful practice of the Middle Way
For the Middle Way transcends moral judgment involving good and evil, and allows the Buddhist to let go of clinging to such judgment to free himself of ignorant craving. As a result he chooses to create good in his life.
This is the goal of Buddha Remembrance: to mindfully practice Buddha Recitation and meditation to free oneself of the ignorance which arises from a deluded mind. Once Awake, the practitioner maintains her practice to maintain positive control over her ego, lest she fall prey to worldly desires and create evil.
For we are capable of creating good and evil in the journey called Life, and thus we bear the responsibility for our very actions on that journey.
Reference:
Good and Evil in Buddhism: http://gandhara.blogspot.com/2013/01/good-thoughts-destroy-evil-karma.html
When I make no moral judgment on good and evil, but see that my actions and the effect of these actions may be considered good or evil, depending on the situation.
Thus, in Buddhism, "good" and "evil" has less to do with moral judgment and more to do with my actions and the effect of those actions.
Buddhist philosophy declares that each of us has the potential to create good or evil, but we favor creating good to neutralize evil.
When the terms "pure", "real", and "true" are used, they refer to "basic goodness". On the other hand the term "evil" is not as absolute as the Western concept of evil because it can easily be neutralized by creating good with loving-kindness. For evil is created by anger, desire, fear, hatred, and ignorance, which are negative emotions and feelings that unsettle the mind.
A result of an unsettled mind is suffering, and one may make a moral judgment and mistake good for evil, and evil for good. Even when one sees good as good, and evil as evil, one may judged oneself and other sentient beings harshly. Due to such misjudgment, one entertains dualistic thoughts by making moral judgments regarding good and evil.
Such dualism is due to an unsettled mind. With the Bodhi Mind as the practitioner's goal, the mindful practice of Buddha Remembrance and meditation results in the nondual mind that sees good and evil as due to her actions and their effect on the lives of both herself and other sentient beings.
That nondual mind arises due to the mindful practice of the Middle Way
For the Middle Way transcends moral judgment involving good and evil, and allows the Buddhist to let go of clinging to such judgment to free himself of ignorant craving. As a result he chooses to create good in his life.
This is the goal of Buddha Remembrance: to mindfully practice Buddha Recitation and meditation to free oneself of the ignorance which arises from a deluded mind. Once Awake, the practitioner maintains her practice to maintain positive control over her ego, lest she fall prey to worldly desires and create evil.
For we are capable of creating good and evil in the journey called Life, and thus we bear the responsibility for our very actions on that journey.
Reference:
Good and Evil in Buddhism: http://gandhara.blogspot.com/2013/01/good-thoughts-destroy-evil-karma.html
20110828
On the Mind
Kashyapa said: "Mind is not to be found within. Nor does it exist outside. And it can not be observed anywhere else."
To which Maitreya adds: "Mind has no shape, no colour and no location. It is like space."
In our delusion, what is arrogant and conceited but ego?
Yet ego itself has no substance (no, shape, no color, no location), is impermanent, existing neither within nor without.
It is the seventh consciousness, and once it is appeased, delusion falls away.
Yet the eight consciousness is seen to be non-self, i.e. not a soul that transmigrates, but where the seeds of karma are sown, including the desire to spiritually awaken.
Originally written June 28, 2010 at 11:29 PM
To which Maitreya adds: "Mind has no shape, no colour and no location. It is like space."
In our delusion, what is arrogant and conceited but ego?
Yet ego itself has no substance (no, shape, no color, no location), is impermanent, existing neither within nor without.
It is the seventh consciousness, and once it is appeased, delusion falls away.
Yet the eight consciousness is seen to be non-self, i.e. not a soul that transmigrates, but where the seeds of karma are sown, including the desire to spiritually awaken.
Originally written June 28, 2010 at 11:29 PM
20110121
The Smoke and Mirror of Mind and the Ego
Never consider either the mind or the ego to be "evil" or "good".
It is just a mind, and is just an ego. Do not interpret these two basic statements as more than that!
"Mind" is just a conventional way of referring to what we is; likewise, "Ego" is just a conventional way of referring to self-will.
For example:
To consider Charles Manson's mind evil is the root of all things evil; but, to consider his word as good is insanity because his followers just did the same thing again and again expecting different results (money, power).
Yet "evil and good" is the dichotomy based mainly on convention which requires common sense as a guide to distinguish between good and evil.
To see it in action, you may consider the either-or fallacy which Christians and other religious folk who are faithful daily to their God, as well as atheists, agnostics and even humanists, some of whom are faithful as often as their religious "enemies".
Why? Because it's all smoke and mirrors caused by a deep faith in emotions and feelings, so deep that few people come to understand this point:
Meditation does hold the key to regaining control over both mind and the ego.
It all begins with one breath...
It is just a mind, and is just an ego. Do not interpret these two basic statements as more than that!
"Mind" is just a conventional way of referring to what we is; likewise, "Ego" is just a conventional way of referring to self-will.
For example:
To consider Charles Manson's mind evil is the root of all things evil; but, to consider his word as good is insanity because his followers just did the same thing again and again expecting different results (money, power).
Yet "evil and good" is the dichotomy based mainly on convention which requires common sense as a guide to distinguish between good and evil.
To see it in action, you may consider the either-or fallacy which Christians and other religious folk who are faithful daily to their God, as well as atheists, agnostics and even humanists, some of whom are faithful as often as their religious "enemies".
Why? Because it's all smoke and mirrors caused by a deep faith in emotions and feelings, so deep that few people come to understand this point:
Meditation does hold the key to regaining control over both mind and the ego.
It all begins with one breath...
20110106
The Solution to Ego Addiction
Dialectic Behavior Therapy requires a trusted facilitator with a psychotherapy background to help the client realize that the root of his problems is ego addiction.
A brief definition of ego addiction is the unhealthy exercise of a person's ego which results in negative feelings of abandonment, grief, guilt, psychic pain, and remorse out of proportion with any given situation.
Furthermore, ego addiction may be harder to recover from, because the afflicted have only a vague concept of ego and how it arises; yet they cling to it strongly.
Easterners have a stronger concept of ego and its originations. This is why they reject psychiatry and the DSM. It also explains their belief in karma.
In the East, it isn't the ego that leads to mental illness.
Rather, it is clinging to the idea that the ego is a permanent entity to the point where one fears nonexistence, and strongly believes the self-as-neutral-observer to be a permanent soul.
For certain Easterners who have carefully studied esoteric Buddhism, the five senses and their organs are the five consciousnesses, the mind is the sixth, and the ego and that "soul" are the seventh and eighth consciousnesses.
For advanced meditators, relief from mental unrest is found by visualizing oneself as the deity (usually Amitabha Buddha) and where one is meditating as the mandala palace (the Pure Land). In Vajrayana Buddhism, it may be White Tara and her Pure Land.
Amida Buddha and his Pure Land of Bliss is actually the symbol for peace of mind.
Thus the solution to the mental unrest caused by ego addiction begins by first stilling the mind through meditation in a social setting conducive to it.
Then, as a result of dialog and practice with a trusted master (therapist), the practitioner behaves in a peaceful and non-violent manner.
20101108
The Social Fabrication of the Ego
In Buddhism, human suffering is explained by the Buddhist concept of dependent arising, which consists of twelve parts which work together in an orderly manner. First and foremost, ignorance is the first of those twelve parts. Next comes fabrications.
Indeed, Buddhist thought confirms that the ego is a social fabrication. Likewise does social psychology.
According to Greenwald, Ego, or self-will, is an organization of knowledge, characterized by cognitive biases strikingly analogous to totalitarian information-control strategies.
These totalitarian-ego biases function to preserve organization in cognitive structures.
Ego's cognitive biases are egocentricity (self as the focus of knowledge), "benevolence" (perception of responsibility for desired, but not undesired, outcomes), and cognitive conservatism (resistance to cognitive change).
In addition to being pervasively evident in recent studies of normal human cognition, these three biases are found in actively functioning, higher level organizations of knowledge, perhaps best exemplified by theoretical paradigms in science.
The thesis that egocentricity, benevolence, and conservatism act to preserve knowledge organizations leads to the proposal of an intra-psychic analog of genetic evolution, which in turn provides an alternative to prevalent motivational and informational interpretations of cognitive biases.
See Anthony G. Greenwald's article "The Totalitarian Ego Fabrication and Revision of Personal History" (1980).
Commentary:
"Benevolence" is my interpretation of Greenwald's term "beneffectance" (beneficence and effectance), which is a term he coined to describe the perception of oneself as responsible for desired outcomes but not responsible for undesired ones. This involves forgetting failures more easily than successes, and remembering one's contribution to a group effort to have been better than average due to superiority bias.
Beneficence is defined as doing good and feeling beneficent, and specifically describes the quality of being kind, helpful or generous.
"Effectance" itself is not defined in any dictionary, but is probably related to effectiveness and its synonyms, power and especially powerfulness, which means possession of controlling influence.
Cognitive conservatism, being defined as resistance to cognitive change — changing what one knows based on current experience — suggests an unwillingness to adapt to present circumstances.
Adaptability is a useful psycho-social trait in which the individual adapts readily to the current environment, especially during times of political change and upheaval. It is also useful within the context of social rehabilitation related to addiction, mental health and associated issues.
Thus cognitive conservatism as defined by Greenwald does not imply adaptability at all.
Overall, egocentricity, beneffectance, and cognitive conservatism are not effective means of dealing with human suffering. The reason that they are not is that the ego tends to blame others for human suffering, so as to reduce its ultimate role in one's own suffering.
Indeed, the ego will come up with seemingly good excuses to avoid or deny responsibility. Yet a healthy view of personal responsibility allows for each of us to share responsibility for relief of the suffering of others.
Therefore, Greenwald's article suggests that totalitarianism might be the externalization of egocentricity taken to political extremes.
Egocentricity taken to extreme on the individual might also explain addiction and other dysfunctional behavior, especially within the context of beneffectance and cognitive conservatism.
Indeed, beneffectance in itself could be used to deny and excuse responsibility for undesirable outcome, while cognitive conservatism, the inability to change.
Overall, Greenwald's analogy that the cognitive biases of the ego are similar to totalitarian information-control strategies confirms the ego only exists as a social fabrication.
References:
Social psychology notes on Greenwald's article: http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/greenwald_tot_ego.html
Totalitarian ego: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/w/page/6537228/Totalitarian-Ego
Greenwald's references on beneffectance: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/Beneffectance
Mistakes were made but not by me: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/w/page/6537204/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-not-by-me
Indeed, Buddhist thought confirms that the ego is a social fabrication. Likewise does social psychology.
According to Greenwald, Ego, or self-will, is an organization of knowledge, characterized by cognitive biases strikingly analogous to totalitarian information-control strategies.
These totalitarian-ego biases function to preserve organization in cognitive structures.
Ego's cognitive biases are egocentricity (self as the focus of knowledge), "benevolence" (perception of responsibility for desired, but not undesired, outcomes), and cognitive conservatism (resistance to cognitive change).
In addition to being pervasively evident in recent studies of normal human cognition, these three biases are found in actively functioning, higher level organizations of knowledge, perhaps best exemplified by theoretical paradigms in science.
The thesis that egocentricity, benevolence, and conservatism act to preserve knowledge organizations leads to the proposal of an intra-psychic analog of genetic evolution, which in turn provides an alternative to prevalent motivational and informational interpretations of cognitive biases.
See Anthony G. Greenwald's article "The Totalitarian Ego Fabrication and Revision of Personal History" (1980).
Commentary:
"Benevolence" is my interpretation of Greenwald's term "beneffectance" (beneficence and effectance), which is a term he coined to describe the perception of oneself as responsible for desired outcomes but not responsible for undesired ones. This involves forgetting failures more easily than successes, and remembering one's contribution to a group effort to have been better than average due to superiority bias.
Beneficence is defined as doing good and feeling beneficent, and specifically describes the quality of being kind, helpful or generous.
"Effectance" itself is not defined in any dictionary, but is probably related to effectiveness and its synonyms, power and especially powerfulness, which means possession of controlling influence.
Cognitive conservatism, being defined as resistance to cognitive change — changing what one knows based on current experience — suggests an unwillingness to adapt to present circumstances.
Adaptability is a useful psycho-social trait in which the individual adapts readily to the current environment, especially during times of political change and upheaval. It is also useful within the context of social rehabilitation related to addiction, mental health and associated issues.
Thus cognitive conservatism as defined by Greenwald does not imply adaptability at all.
Overall, egocentricity, beneffectance, and cognitive conservatism are not effective means of dealing with human suffering. The reason that they are not is that the ego tends to blame others for human suffering, so as to reduce its ultimate role in one's own suffering.
Indeed, the ego will come up with seemingly good excuses to avoid or deny responsibility. Yet a healthy view of personal responsibility allows for each of us to share responsibility for relief of the suffering of others.
Therefore, Greenwald's article suggests that totalitarianism might be the externalization of egocentricity taken to political extremes.
Egocentricity taken to extreme on the individual might also explain addiction and other dysfunctional behavior, especially within the context of beneffectance and cognitive conservatism.
Indeed, beneffectance in itself could be used to deny and excuse responsibility for undesirable outcome, while cognitive conservatism, the inability to change.
Overall, Greenwald's analogy that the cognitive biases of the ego are similar to totalitarian information-control strategies confirms the ego only exists as a social fabrication.
References:
Social psychology notes on Greenwald's article: http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/greenwald_tot_ego.html
Totalitarian ego: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/w/page/6537228/Totalitarian-Ego
Greenwald's references on beneffectance: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/Beneffectance
Mistakes were made but not by me: http://biasandbelief.pbworks.com/w/page/6537204/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-not-by-me
20101025
The Four Noble Truths and a God-centred Life
Within context of a God-centred life, then the Four Noble Truths may be interpreted as:
- Human suffering is inevitable.
- Human suffering is caused by ignorance of God as we know Him, the ego-centred life
- Relieving such suffering is possible by living a God-centred life through careful prayer and meditation
- Apply the Eightfold Noble Path to address meditation
Living a God-centred life is the ideal for a person in recovery from the suffering of addictions, of which the unhealthy ego is its primary cause.
A God-centred life, thus, deflates the ego with the help of God as I know Him.
How do one come to know Him? By meditating on what I have learned about Him, just for today.
How does one cure suffering? By sharing with others the way to relieve suffering: through careful prayer and meditation.
20100719
The Oneness of Heart-Mind
Not craving, not clinging,
full of primordial goodness,
no-mind and no-self arise
from Buddha Nature...
the heart and mind are one.
Unquestionably,
with joy the heart embraces
what the mind reasons!
For nothing drives apart
the heart and mind - only
ego occults the truth that
the heart-mind is as one.
20100625
Artistic Expression, Ego and Genius
Most artists appear to have somewhat dysfunctional lives.
However, this does not imply a dysfunctional ego.
What is dysfunctional is how they express their ego in life.
I don't believe in a dysfunctional ego; I believe that growing up a dysfunctional family merely leads to behavioral and mental negativities due to mental unrest it causes.
Those negativities occult (cover up) one's true self.
Art is thus the creative outlet for expression of genius
For I believe ego is related to the true self.
In essence, artistic expression is the ego cutting through dysfunction towards health.
However, this does not imply a dysfunctional ego.
What is dysfunctional is how they express their ego in life.
I don't believe in a dysfunctional ego; I believe that growing up a dysfunctional family merely leads to behavioral and mental negativities due to mental unrest it causes.
Those negativities occult (cover up) one's true self.
Art is thus the creative outlet for expression of genius
For I believe ego is related to the true self.
In essence, artistic expression is the ego cutting through dysfunction towards health.
20100504
Conquering One's Mind (poem)
Through careful study and practice,
one uses meditation to appease one's ego.
For it is useful to conquer one's mind
before one tries to conquer the world.
By conquering one's mind,
one realizes how to live;
in realizing how to live
one learns how to conquer the world
by the skillful means of clear insight.
one uses meditation to appease one's ego.
For it is useful to conquer one's mind
before one tries to conquer the world.
By conquering one's mind,
one realizes how to live;
in realizing how to live
one learns how to conquer the world
by the skillful means of clear insight.
20100121
Reflection on the Tao (poem)
With the right training
the mind is a precious tool.
Ego forgotten, feelings yielding
to the tamed mind leads
the way to the heart of Tao.
Yet when common sense fails us,
neither ego nor the untamed mind are of use.
All that is left then is the heart.
Fed by desire and passion,
emotions and feelings seem wonderful,
yet are worthless clothing the ego.
Indeed, the humble power of the heart
helps us to forget ourselves,
and to wield Mind softly with love.
Gently desires paint
the soul with the melody of passion,
until the sunrise of compassion
awakens our hearts to the Tao.
Letting go of desire,
grasping only straw,
let the heart lead.
the mind is a precious tool.
Ego forgotten, feelings yielding
to the tamed mind leads
the way to the heart of Tao.
Yet when common sense fails us,
neither ego nor the untamed mind are of use.
All that is left then is the heart.
Fed by desire and passion,
emotions and feelings seem wonderful,
yet are worthless clothing the ego.
Indeed, the humble power of the heart
helps us to forget ourselves,
and to wield Mind softly with love.
Gently desires paint
the soul with the melody of passion,
until the sunrise of compassion
awakens our hearts to the Tao.
Letting go of desire,
grasping only straw,
let the heart lead.
20071225
Shin Buddhism And The Value of Humility
I've never heard of Shin Buddhists founding an order, only discussion groups.
And, I'd like to think the founder Shinran never wanted to make a name for himself, because of what he had learned by becoming associated with Honen.
Even when offered the opportunity to head a temple late in life, he refused.
Yet, for lesser men, the ego is sometimes so hard to curb.
So, because in these times ordinary people in the West have been inculcated in the public school system to fear any religious or spiritual feeling, and remain ignorant of such things in general, the awakened may decide instead on a life of poverty and obscurity over a life seeking status and wealth.
In Shin tradition, it is more about people who are very ordinary; calling attention to one's good works is like bragging about one's merits.
If a founder of a Buddhist order, whose ordination is suspected to have materialized out of his imagination, was really deserving of his yellow robes, then his works will not declare this. Instead, it'd be shown by his humility when exposed to the light of public opinion.
I suppose that I talk like this because of my culture. For humility maintains anonymity.
And, I'd like to think the founder Shinran never wanted to make a name for himself, because of what he had learned by becoming associated with Honen.
Even when offered the opportunity to head a temple late in life, he refused.
Yet, for lesser men, the ego is sometimes so hard to curb.
So, because in these times ordinary people in the West have been inculcated in the public school system to fear any religious or spiritual feeling, and remain ignorant of such things in general, the awakened may decide instead on a life of poverty and obscurity over a life seeking status and wealth.
In Shin tradition, it is more about people who are very ordinary; calling attention to one's good works is like bragging about one's merits.
If a founder of a Buddhist order, whose ordination is suspected to have materialized out of his imagination, was really deserving of his yellow robes, then his works will not declare this. Instead, it'd be shown by his humility when exposed to the light of public opinion.
I suppose that I talk like this because of my culture. For humility maintains anonymity.
20070319
Peace of Mind / Paz da Mente
Let nothing of Ego
pervert the mind.
Let only the mind
rein in the Ego,
calming this mind,
creating only peace.
In this calm void
the ego is vanquished.
In this peace of mind,
the ego sleeps.
Take care those
who wakes this snake!
Deixado nada do Ego
pervertido a mente.
Deixou somente a mente
rédea no Ego
em acalmar esta mente,
em criar somente a paz.
Neste vago calmo
Ego é vencido.
Nesta paz da mente,
dos sonos do ego.
Ciao aqueles que
acorda esta serpente!
pervert the mind.
Let only the mind
rein in the Ego,
calming this mind,
creating only peace.
In this calm void
the ego is vanquished.
In this peace of mind,
the ego sleeps.
Take care those
who wakes this snake!
Deixado nada do Ego
pervertido a mente.
Deixou somente a mente
rédea no Ego
em acalmar esta mente,
em criar somente a paz.
Neste vago calmo
Ego é vencido.
Nesta paz da mente,
dos sonos do ego.
Ciao aqueles que
acorda esta serpente!
20051103
Emptiness of mind
Actually, emptiness of mind is not even a state of mind, but the original essence of mind which Buddha and the Sixth Patriarch experienced. "Essence of mind," "original mind," "original face," "Buddha nature," "emptiness"--all these words mean the absolute calmness of our mind.
-Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind"
Commentary: Indeed, an empty mind is not filled with ego-delusion. To conquer ego-delusion, Suzuki urges the practitioner to "have a firm conviction in the original emptiness of your mind".
Empty mind is described as infinity, so that we "give up calculating" with our mind.
Interest in infinity helps us "to stop the thinking of your small mind".
Suzuki's "small mind" is his term for the ego-delusion which is part and parcel of samsara.
Thus samsara is the mundane world consisting of the cycle of birth, life and death. It is empowered by ego-delusion.
To escape samsara, one has to awaken to this and put out the flames of desire.
-Shunryu Suzuki, "Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind"
Commentary: Indeed, an empty mind is not filled with ego-delusion. To conquer ego-delusion, Suzuki urges the practitioner to "have a firm conviction in the original emptiness of your mind".
Empty mind is described as infinity, so that we "give up calculating" with our mind.
Interest in infinity helps us "to stop the thinking of your small mind".
Suzuki's "small mind" is his term for the ego-delusion which is part and parcel of samsara.
Thus samsara is the mundane world consisting of the cycle of birth, life and death. It is empowered by ego-delusion.
To escape samsara, one has to awaken to this and put out the flames of desire.
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