[Buddha-l] Means of ego inflation

Tue Mar 3 20:19:55 MST 2009

Paradoxically,

A truly serious Dharma practitioner
would realise that
there is no one* who practises the Dharma seriously.

- Stonepeace

The Lord [Buddha] asked: What do you think, Subhuti, does it occur to the Stream-winner,** 'by me has the fruit of a Streamwinner been attained'? Subhuti replied: No indeed, O Lord. And why? Because, O Lord, he has not won any dharma. Therefore is he called a Stream-winner. No sight-object has been won, no sounds, smells, tastes, touchables, or objects of mind. That is why he is called a 'Stream-winner'. If, O Lord, it would occur to a Stream-winner, 'by me has a Stream-winner's fruit been attained', then that would be in him a seizing on a self, seizing on a being, seizing on a soul, seizing on a person."

- Diamond Sutra   

* The illusion that there is some'one' as a result of self-delusion.
** Stream-entry is the most basic attainment that serious practitioners strive to attain in this lifetime.

(No la... Me definitely not selfless... yet! 
Piya's books inspired me to seek and do Dharma work!)

-----Original Message-----
From: Piya Tan [mailto:dharmafarer at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, 04 March, 2009 11:07 AM
To: Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Means of ego inflation

Guys,

The first fact I know about myself is that I do have a BIG ego, and that's all I have at the moment. And I'm not sure what to do about it exactly.

I want to be a serious scholar and a serious meditator, even is it means having to deal with a big ego. I think that's what being a Buddhist is about. There are those who talk about big ego, and there are those who worth with it.

On the other hand, self-effacement is also a form of ego trip. In fact, I think it is one of the biggest ego trip. So you see there is really no way out: be proud, you are ego-bound, be humble, you are ego-bound, too.

Even streamwinners by definition may have a "big" ego in the eyes of non-streamwinners. Arhats by definition have no ego.

Do we have arhats amongst us?

We all have big egos, but the difference is there are those who know about it and those who do not.

I suppose we (mostly traditional Asians) tend to define being "selfless" (without ego, or having small ego) as being submissive, obsequious and politically correct (that is, very Confucian).

Having said that, yes, I do agree many Buddhist teachers (incl myself) floating around in Singapore are really "I-pods" of self-views. This a phase we must outgrow for Buddhism to be meaningful and effective here.

An important way out of ego Buddhism is to learn a thing or two from the western development of Buddhism, where Buddhism is accepted for what it is, and not as a cultural or ethnic faith. We need to go beyond "Chinese" or "Thai" Buddhism, etc, if we are to be globally effective.

Buddhisms are very competitive today. Mahayana has come to mean "big business". "Big ego" should not mean "I don't like such people," but we need  to work harder so that we can do something about it. The Buddha noticed the ego of Brahmanism and did something about it.

Ethnic Buddhism will always be there, but we need to work on a more selfless Buddhism.

I'm stuck with ego Buddhism because it's so difficult to get people to work on a not-ego platform.

We all love memes: big temples, air-conditioned rooms, nice crowd, some back-slapping, and VIPs nearby..

The start of bursting the ego begins, I think, with trying to be sincerely friendly to others despite everything (this is also called compassion), I find this very hard to do sometimes, but I know I have to start there.

Shian and Weng Fai are two sincerely selfless friends I know in Singapore.They are each doing great Buddhist work in their own remarkable way.

Piya Tan

On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 2:07 PM, [DPD CDT] Shen Shi'an <shian at kmspks.org> wrote:
> When anyone considers oneself a 'serious scholar' or a 'serious 
> meditator/ practitioner', chances are that s/he has taken his/her 'self'
> too seriously. And the irony is that such seriousness based on self 
> impedes true advancement in one's work and practice. The self is 
> always in the way till it's realised to be illusory.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Weng-Fai Wong [mailto:wongwf at comp.nus.edu.sg]
> Sent: Tuesday, 03 March, 2009 1:59 PM
> To: 'Buddhist discussion forum'
> Subject: [Buddha-l] Means of ego inflation
>
> My casual observation: both "practice" and "studies" seems to work 
> well as means for ego inflation. I have met both "serious 
> meditators/practitioners"
> as well as Buddhist scholars who have very big egos and think the 
> world of themselves.
>
> W.F. Wong
>
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