The view of the Buddha about our ego and our relationships with the world

Modern science is coming to the Buddha's view of the Universe.

As described later in the book the recent conclusions of quantum physics are that the universe is one organic whole.

This is what the eastern Religions have been saying through the ages - be it Hinduism, Buddhism or Taoism.

Osho Rajneesh speaks of the experience of a raindrop falling into the ocean. The raindrop merges with the ocean and loses its separate existence, its separate individuality. This is in some ways similar to the mystical experience of being one with the universe - of Nirvana or enlightenment. Nirvana is what the Buddha attained through his meditation practices.

But in some ways the experience of the raindrop is different from the mystical experience. It would be exactly similar if the raindrop had the sensation of losing its separate identity and also the sensation of BECOMING THE WHOLE OCEAN. This is the essence of the mystical experience. Another way to look at it is by thinking of a wave in the ocean. The wave while it exists is transient and has a very short life. It is immediately obvious to us that the wave is made up of water and that it is part of the ocean. If a wave had consciousness it might think that it had a separate individual existence. It might worry about its demise, compare itself with other waves and develop superiority or an inferiority complex.

Yet in a way the wave does not exist. It is all ocean- the only reality is the ocean. The wave is just a concept in our minds formed by the mind’s habit of looking at only a portion of the universe and then naming and classifying. Similarly our own separate existence is nothing but a concept in our minds. In reality there is just the one organic. Universe and we never were and never will be separate from it. This is the view of the Buddha.

I admit however, that the concept of the ego is a highly useful concept. It enables us to live in this world in our society and civilization. We would not be able to function without it but it is emphatically not the ultimate reality. As the Buddha would say we need to make use of the fiction but not be deceived by it.

The Ultimate reality - that the Buddha spoke about - is that we are not separate, we are not the ego, we are not the body or the mind. We are something more than that. We are as the Buddhists say in the Heart sutra - empty of a separate self.

Another example is this- consider a cell in the human body. The human body is one living organism- that is clear to us. The biologists, the doctors and the scientists, divide classify and name the various parts of the body as the heart, the lungs, the brain or an individual cell. The knowledge they gain from this conceptualization is highly useful as it enables them to understand the function of the various organs and this enables to them to cure illness and disease. Yet these are ultimately just concepts – although highly useful and essential concepts. The ultimate reality is that the body exists and that the heart, the lungs the brain on the individual cell do not have existence separate from the body.

It is this ultimate dimension that we need to make a part of day to day life and moment to moment thinking. None of us have had a mystical experience. If you had had one you would not be reading this book However we can take steps to move towards such an experience as well as rid ourselves of a lot of suffering in our lives by forming the true conception of ourselves and our place in the universe. The Buddha spoke of the need for a Right View of ourselves and the Universe.

All of the above means that our habitual identification of ourselves as the body or the mind is an error. The concept that we are a separate ego, that we exist independently of the rest of the world is mistaken. It might be a useful concept but it is a mistaken one.

It is this picture of our true relationship with the universe that we need to keep in mind on a moment to moment basis. This will end our habitual tunnel vision in which all we care about is our own selves. Combined with a few easily learned psychological techniques these will end the habit of identifying with the body and the mind. And when this identification ceases or lessons- our sufferings and frustrations will end with them.

I want you to make this the core philosophy of your life, of course only if you are convinced by it. I want you to be guided by this ultimate picture at every moment in your life. I want you to make every decision in your life with the detachment that this picture produces. In doing so you will learn to deal with your problems or your problems themselves will cease to matter - if not completely then at least your problems will matter to a much letter degree.

And how are we to make these realities a part of our lives. We can do this and quickly – in a matter of a few months. It takes some amount of effort but the results are well worth it. How we can do this is the topic of next chapter of this ebook. Then we will attain the state of mind that the Buddha and other mystics attained and which they wanted us also to aspire to and attain.

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