Self and Selflessness

“For realizing one's inner divinity, Lord Krishna states in the Bhagavad-Gita, "The Supreme Reality is revealed in the consciousness of those who have conquered themselves." Thus, one's spiritual quest begins with cultivating self-control, detachment, truthfulness and nonviolence, and culminates in realizing the ultimate reality within oneself and in all of existence.”

The problem here, as usual . . is that they think they have a ‘self’ to conquer – and note the word: conquer - as in the war against cancer, the fight against aids &c. Not to mention the crap about where or where not the Supreme Reality is to be found, as if when discovered, it can then be rubber stamped, or cut and pasted into yet another trap . . Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche gives a few fresh words on the subject:

“Even when we speak of selflessness, the mind goes to “me?’ We think, “I’m selfless:’ but everything is selfless. Saying “everything is selfless” is like calling that stone “dogless?’ It might give the impression that a dog was there at some point, but it never was. It was our idea of a dog that was there. Similarly, we say that everything is selfless, but the self was never there. There was only our idea of a self. When we realize that we have always been selfless, what is missing? The conceptual mind that centralizes into “me” and then projects a world out there that is solid and separate. Who we think we are and what we think of the world is a concept that we are creating with our mind. We create a concept in our mind and we believe that concept. Our belief in a self is the most obvious example of this fundamental ignorance.”

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, The Mind of the Dragon, Shambhala Sun, November 2005, pp. 33 ff.

"No man from outside can make you free... No one holds the Key to the Kingdom of Happiness. No one has the authority to hold that key. That key is your own self, and in the development and the purification and in the incorruptibility of that self alone is the Kingdom of Eternity . . .".

-- J. Krishnamurti

Here it is again - the Self . . .yet from Aryadeva:

“Whatever arises by dependence

Can never be independent,

And as all are non-independent

The Self has no existence.” ^[1]

And back to Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche:

“We can start by contemplating what the Buddha said: the self we imagine to be solid and continuous is really just a gathering of ingredients—heaps. It is the conjunction of blood, bones, memories, emotions, thoughts, and perceptions. When we experience this conglomeration of elements, ignorance says, “I think I’ll call this ‘me.” We are creating an illusion and giving it a name. Not only is the illusion transparent and dreamlike, but the things we make it with are the same. It’s like watching clouds form into the shape of a dragon. We know it’s not a dragon. We know the clouds themselves are not really solid. But when we see that form, we give it a name—something recognizable.” ^[2]

One of the best lessons I have learnt in being a Buddhist is “Do not take your self too seriously.” But being a human being, or being sentient, is a serious business. But Life is not a business as yet. On the downward plunge into the material condition, we gather the seriousness, similar, as I always say, to dropping a lead anvil on a butterfly.

I think that this quote by Charles Asher decidedly adds to the discourse that I am trying to amplify - i.e. a deconstruction of views of the self - and it is interesting to see this happening within the Jungian matrix, albeit the James Hillman facet thereof.

"The theological foundations of Jung's self concept are sick unto death. I would hasten their death." [^[3]]

Like James Hillman, and his "Psyche as Big as the Earth' - [anima mundi] - Asher posits a "communitarian self":

"A communitarian self has important implications for psychotherapy, and more broadly for education and our life together. The social, communal images of our life together become worthy of cultivation and attention. I find such a vision critical to our survival as well as to the possibilities for our common life." ^[4]

Asher ends his discourse with a quote from Jung [no reference is given]:

"The phenomenology of the psyche," said Jung, "is so colorful, so variegated in form and meaning, we cannot possibly reflect all its riches in one mirror."

This quotation fulfills for me, a clear pointer to the new nature of our appreciation of consciousness. We do not want definitions of the self, the ego - the de-finite-imprisonings. We have had enough of those calcifications. The image of the mirror, with its Mercurial associations, the quicksilver, is in itself Hermetic. The Mind. Mind. Consciousness. Chit.

Samten

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^[1] Aryadeva in the Catuhsataka-sastra-karika.^[2] Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, The Mind of the Dragon, Shambhala Sun, November 2005, pp. 33 ff. ^[3] Asher, Charles, The Communitarian Self as (God) Ultimate Reality, Spring 54, a Journal of Archetype and Culture, June 1993, ^[4] Asher, Charles, The Communitarian Self as (God) Ultimate Reality, Spring 54, a Journal of Archetype and Culture, June 1993, p.97.