From: darsie@eecs.ucdavis.edu (Richard Darsie)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: Buddha's "No Soul" theory.
Date: 2 Sep 92 20:44:21 GMT
Article-I.D.: qiclab.1992Sep3.083921.22264
Organization: University of California, Davis

In article <1992Sep1.220656.19000@qiclab.scn.rain.com>, eradm@wbst845e.xerox.com (Erik Radmall) writes:
> 
> I am wondering a lot about the "No Soul" theory in Buddhism. I can accept
> almost all other Buddhist tenets except that one. Maybe I just don't
> understand it clearly enough. If existence is composed of the "5 aggregates"
> and is a "dependent arising", then why the need to experience Nirvana? If
> Nirvana is the cessation of all sensation - even though Buddha said it is
> not a nihilistic thing, I just don't see how it could be other than that.
> It would seem to be senseless to annihialate your own consciousness for
> some undefined end. Personally, I don't see what I stand to gain by
> "entering the Stream". If anyone has opinions on this, please share them, this
> is a real bone in my throat.
> 
> Thank You,
> Erik.

This is a very serious and sincere question. Please realize that my answer
arises from my own experience and understanding, which is not that of
an enlightened person :(

Buddhist teachers often say that the problem of "birth and death" is not
just about the birth and death of the body. In fact, every second we are
"dying" and "being born". This is seen in the way our minds leap from this 
to that (a phenomenon usually described as "monkey mind"). We have built
up through the years (lifetimes? millenia?) the illusion of a solid self
because it's like a security blanket we feel we need.  Buddhist practice
is to help us let go of the security blanket and experience life directly 
without the "go-between" of ego. Meditation practice in most Buddhist schools
emphasizes bare attention or mindfulness as the means to penetrate the
veil of illusion that leads us to believe in our own ego. Through continual
practice of mindfulness, we learn to simply watch our thoughts, emotions,
pain, etc. as a passing show, and to realize that there's nothing
permanent. The Buddha said (or is reported to have said), "All that we are
is the result of what we have thought."  What this means to me is that our
thoughts (which arise naturally as a function of consciousness) are something
which we identify with ("I think, therefore I am"). And we take these 
thoughts and follow them and chain them together. They develop their own
energy and in fact lead us around. Thoughts by themselves are not good or
bad, but when we allow them to control us we are truly in servitude. So
maybe the random thought surfaces, "That person over there is different
from me, so he's bad." Well, anyone can have a negative thought like this, 
but the mindful person just watches it and lets it go. But a nonmindful
person may get caught up in the whole negative scenario, and then develops
a prejudice or bigoted attitude which causes great harm to himself and others.
So one aspect of meditation practice is ceasing to identify with your
thoughts - not suppressing or denying them.

Also, I'd add that you don't have anything to "gain" by entering the Stream.
We practice to lose things rather than gain them. The hardest aspect of
meditation practice is to do it without ambition - even the ambition
for enlightenment, which is probably the hardest one to give up.

Richard Darsie
darsie@eecs.ucdavis.edu
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern