Monday, April 22, 2013

The Greatest illusion of all

Sumith is short, dark and not good looking. A classmate who has got angry with him calls him, “ugly dwarf”. Sumith becomes angry too and hits the other boy with his pencil box. Class teacher’s timely intervention prevents the incident developing into something serious. The young child got angry because he was called names. This sounds quite natural. This is a small incident in a school. People become angry if they think, they are insulted, their position is challenged, they cannot have their way to get what they want, someone does not agree with their opinion etc. Sometimes losing temper gets out of hand leading to violence, loss of a life or unimaginable destruction. According to a clause in the United Nations Charter, ‘War originates in the human mind’. Adolf Hitler’s anger on a Jew over an incident that made him feel insulted when he was a young boy developed into such hatred that it resulted in the holocaust of the 2nd World War with millions of Jews being massacred, when he became the dictator of Germany.
Not only anger but other defilements such as jealousy, enmity, stinginess, vengeance, grief, fear, impatience etc. originates in the mind as a result of looking at things self centered. These occur in relationships, friendly, intimate, husband and wife, teacher and student, superior and subordinate, ruler and citizen etc. Reacting to these could result in a minor, just forgivable and forgettable happening or in a serious, violent or destructive incident – starting with disagreements, heated arguments and ending up in exchange of blows, parting of the ways or even murder.
The cause may be minor but the consequences would be disastrous. How does it happen this way? People say that when you take things as personal it leads to such situations. Why does one take things as personal? This is because of the ego ‘I’ which identifies someone as ‘self’, ‘me’, ’my’ or ‘mine’. ‘I’ was scolded, insulted, embarrassed, not cared for, not loved, cheated, beaten or my property, my beloved ones etc. is how it is being taken for granted. This thought is very strong. You identify things as yours. You may see many belongings on a table, say hand bags but you identify your one as yours. Yet all are just bags. You will see cars stopped in the park. But you see your one separately. My car! You feel a difference. The fact that all are cars does not occur. The thought ‘my car’ stands out. That is how possessive the ego ‘I’ is. This is how we have been conditioned from birth by our parents and other elders.
The easiest thing to know in this world is that there exists a person called ‘I’. Of course, you can feel it and you can sense it. It comes from right within you.  Can anyone challenge it? On the contrary however, the most difficult thing to realize unquestionably concerns also with ‘I’ and that is the fact that in reality there is no such person called ‘I’.  How can one say this? Prove this? Yes it is most confusing and complicated for a lay person to fathom it. If someone who has realized that the ego, ‘I’ does not exist, says so he will be laughed at and considered as ‘out of mind’.  Isn’t each of us a separate individual with a body and a mind? Let us see how real this is.
The hollow man
A person is composed of the physical body, the mind and different physical energies. Taken separately none of these could make a living being on its own. All three components have to be bound together to form a human being. If you consider the body, it is basically made of different elements of the universe which are in a state of continuous transformation from one form to another. The speed at which these changes take place is so fast that we cannot realize or recognize it. As a result we don’t see a constantly changing phenomenon in us but a permanent entity. A good analogy is the working of a movie. To show a single movement, say the winking of an eye, hundreds of frames in the film each with a micro fraction of change in position move so fast, the naked eye sees only one movement i.e. the winking of the eye.  Thus it is clear that there is no permanent body as our sense organs show us but only a constantly changing physical phenomenon.
How solid is our body? It looks and feels real solid. The physical elements of which the body is made fundamentally constitute of atoms. The atoms in turn are made of sub-atomic particles such as electrons protons and neutrons. The arrangement and movement of these particles in the atom is similar to that of a solar system where planets orbit around a sun. There is a nucleus with protons and neutrons around which electrons revolve. In the planetary system there is a vast distance perhaps many light years between the central sun and the planets.  Having the same system these gaps do exist in the atom as well though they are relatively micro. So there are spaces or gaps in the atoms of which we are made of. Also atoms are said to be the smallest mass of an element. But do they really have a mass. Think of the components they are made of, electrons, protons, neutrons and any other sub-atomic particles. Do these have a mass? Albert Einstein the greatest physicist the contemporary world has seen discovered that mass is some quality interchangeable with energy. And energy he said is a manifestation of vibrations. Once when asked as to what one would see ultimately if the body is analyzed he said, “vibrations and vibrations”. The Lord Buddha saw this over 2,500 years ago, not by experimenting with advance scientific equipment or by deducing from complicated mathematical calculations but through wisdom developed by insight.
So it is understood that our bodies are neither permanent entities nor solid matter as they appear to be but phenomena constantly undergoing change and with lots of gaps or spaces within. In reality physically we are just hollow; hollow men and women.

The invisible monster
There is an invisible monster within each of us that cannot also be touched or felt. This is the non-physical component or the mind. It cannot be reached but it governs and controls us: tells us what to do and what not to the way it wants. We have become slaves to it. If it can’t have its way it would lead us to sacrifice our lives even. It craves to indulge in pleasures and directs us to seek and get it by hook or by crook. It has no bounds for this. However much happiness you give, it is never satisfied asking for more and more.  Till the end of our life what we do is trying please this monster master.
What is this monster or the mind made of? The mind is an energy composed of a flux of thoughts arising and passing away every moment. This action takes place so fast perhaps in one millionth of a second that we cannot recognize it. Once a thought passes off another one replaces it. This happens all the time; throughout the life. Each new thought is related to the previous one causally. But we feel that it is a constant stream of thinking. Here again we are trying to see a permanent entity in a continuously changing phenomenon. This is our problem.

The greatest illusion
It is clear that since body and mind are continuously changing that there cannot be a permanent person; a person called ‘I’; but only a changing entity. To understand this, suppose you say ‘look’. The moment you’ve finished uttering it you become a changed person; a different person. In a broad sense if there is a ‘self’ or ‘I’ then our body and also the mind should exist and perform in the way we want. But this is not the case. We do not like to get old or sick. Can we live without these happening? Everybody wants to be happy throughout life without being sad, worried or fearful. But can anybody even with all the luxuries, power and intellect achieve this? The feeling of possession extends not only to your own body but to other physical entities as well; ‘my’ loved ones, personal ware, home, vehicle, land, enterprise, position etc. This is how you see them. But in reality none of these are yours because there is no either ‘you’ or ‘I’ i.e. no one who owns anything does exist. On the other hand if they are yours they should perform or exist the way you want. But also these undergo change or decay against your wish. You cannot control it. If so how can you identify them as yours? Further when you die you have to leave all these behind. What an illusion this is?


Concept ‘I’ and reality      
All these facts show that there is no such person as ‘I’; that there is no ‘self’. Then why do we think that ‘I’ exists? We live in a world full of concepts and we are conditioned by them. There are concepts of mind and body, man and woman, place, time, possession, self etc. Of these the mostly deeply rooted one that keeps us blind and carries us through the cycle of birth, death and rebirth is the concept of ‘I’ or ‘self’. It originates at the earliest stage of life, in the fetus. As soon as the sense organs are functional any sensations felt results in identifying the physical body as ‘mine’. This is the beginning of “self” or ‘I’. From here onwards the feeling intensifies and develops into the ‘self’ concept which is further strengthened by elders especially parents and whatever acquisitioned after birth and lasts throughout the lifetime.
How does this concept work?  It is the factor of the mind which perform the act of cognition that separates and isolates ‘self’ or ‘I’ from the rest of the world. These two are modes of expression for factors of vision, sound, smell, taste and touch arising in the sense organs eye, ear, nose, tongue and body respectively. The following example would help to understand this fact. Take a car. The major parts of a car is made of body, engine, upholstery, chassis and wheels which in turn are composed of metals, plastic, rubber, glass and cloth. In reality a car is a collection of parts made of these elementary materials fitted together and not a ‘car’ as such. The ‘car’ is only a concept. But we don’t see it as such. It is the same illusion that we are in when we think that there is ‘I’ or ‘self’.
So if this is reality can we live our life with it? In the South-Eastern part of Sri Lanka in a place called Kutumbigala there is forest monastery. The monks following the Eightfold Path reside at the top of an elevated rocky area, engaged in their meditation procedures. They have to come to the village down through a long, narrow passage between two huge rocks for alms. This is also the same route used by a few wild elephants to go up or down. The passage is barely enough for a big elephant to pass through but there are one or two places which are a little wider. If it happens that the monks come down at the same time that the elephants go up, when they see the beasts they move to and stay in the nearest wide spot and let the animals go up. On the other hand if the elephants are on their way down, they move aside in one of these places and let the monks pass by. Here if the monks imagine “Oh! We are hollow and so are the beasts and we can mingle with each other like two shadows and go through each other” what will happen? This is obviously suicidal. So the reality is there for us to understand the actual nature of things. But the concept is necessary for us to live in this world. But you must not become a slave to it. But rather make use of it to eradicate suffering and achieve the Eternal Bliss as taught by the Buddha.

Escaping from ‘I’                  
The concept of ‘I’ or ‘self’ creates us almost every problem, worry, sorrow, fear and misery in our life. That is, it is the main producer of suffering in an individual. Not only it causes suffering in this life but also carries it to the next life by initiating rebirth. How can we escape from it? The only way to do this is by getting reality unfolded. The attachment to concepts on things strengthens their separation and isolation from the rest of the world. When we free our minds from these attachments by ‘letting go’ of them we can unfold reality. It is then we begin to see things as they are; the fundamental unity of elements that comprise our being. Even a momentary realization that ‘I’ is no person settles the mind instantly particularly during the meditation procedure based on the Eightfold path which I described in my 1st article. If one experience this only, can one realize the value of it. The bonds attached to the ‘I’ concept are severed and you experience a great relief. Away goes the burden accompanied with ‘I’ which comprises the defilements such as indecisiveness, confusion, worry, desire, sorrow and fear. This releases the mind. Now the meditator sees that it is not ‘I’ or ‘self’ that keeps track of the meditation procedure but the mind component responsible for awareness. This is realized through insight. Now an excessive force or striving is neither required nor applied since there is no ‘I’ or ‘self’ to implement this. From then onwards meditation becomes simple and successful with the freed mind following it with full awareness. The Lord Buddha showed us that the only way to realize reality is by freeing our minds from attachments by passage through the Noble Eightfold Path. Thus the above mentioned meditation technique based on the Eightfold Path that trains us in ‘letting go’ will carry us through the four Higher Mental States, ‘Sovan’,’ Sakurudagami’,’Anagami’ and ‘Arhant’ to Nirvana in this life itself freeing us from the Greatest illusion of all, the ‘I’. Kalu Rinpoche, a well known Tibetan meditation master summed up this Great Feat in a nut shell. Thus,
-          “You live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a Reality. You are that Reality. When you understand this, you will see that you are nothing. And being nothing, you are everything. That is all”. 

     

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