“First of all, "no self" doesn't mean there is no self, haha. So the "no problem" is jumped at a little too fast I'm afraid. Especially in American culture where people tend to be materialistic philosophically. I don't mean running to the mall, but philosophically, you see?” PeopleFirstsMeanLittlesSelfProblemRunningCultureNo ProblemAmerican CultureMaterialisticMallsHaha Author:Robert Thurman
“The idea that somehow "no self, no problem"- I don't exist because I don't have a self- would be a mistaken understanding. However, the selflessness teaching is not that hard to understand. What it means is a type of self that people feel they have, like a fixed, unchanging identity. Either they know they have it, or for some, they feel they need to seek it, and possibly have an experience where they feel like they found something. That type of fixed, unchanging, essential self, or absolute self doesn't exist. That's what "no self" means.” PeopleKnowsNeedsFeelsMeanIdeasSelfHardProblemWould BeFoundUnderstandingTeachingIdentityTypeEssentialsAbsolutesFixedMistakenSelflessnessNo ProblemUnchanging Author:Robert Thurman
“The saying "no self, no problem" probably comes from Zen. In their cultures, where Buddhism is kind of taken for granted, as well as karma, causality, former and future life, and the possibility for becoming enlightened, then it's safe to skirt the danger of nihilism, which would be, I don't exist because Buddha said I have no self, and therefore I have no problem because I don't exist. That would be a bad misunderstanding. But in those cultures, it would not be as easy to have that understanding as it would be here in the west, where we really are nihilistic.” WellsKindSaidSelfProblemWould BeCultureEasyUnderstandingTakenDangerPossibilityBuddhismBecomingSafeWestKarmaFormerGrantedEnlightenedMisunderstandingNo ProblemNihilismSkirtsSaying NoTaken For GrantedCausalityFuture LifeBecoming Enlightened Author:Robert Thurman
“So that's the process of understanding, and through that process, if you have a deep realization of the selflessness in regard to your absolute self, then it releases your relational self to be happily interconnected with everything in a blissful way. Then you yourself have "no problem" in the sense of no suffering. You reach Nirvana.” IfsWaySelfProblemSufferingProcessUnderstandingAbsolutesRegardReleaseRealizationSelflessnessNo ProblemInterconnected Author:Robert Thurman
“However, because of your interconnectedness with all things, other beings still have a problem, and when you realize that you have no absolute self apart from things, you realize that essentially, you are all the other beings.” StillsSelfProblemRealizingAll ThingsAbsolutesInterconnectedness Author:Robert Thurman
“You feel so happy about that, that you feel loving towards these poor being who are suffering in their separateness, and their alienation Then have the problem of how to help them get free, because just by your knowing that they're essentially free, that doesn't free them. Just by your being blissful, it doesn't release them from their knot of separation and false self absolutization.” FeelsSelfHelpingProblemSufferingPoorKnowingSeparationReleaseAlienationKnotsSeparateness Author:Robert Thurman
“The problem has to be answered by means of art, because you can't blast them with bliss. Tat freaks them out even more. So instead, you have to have an artful way of approaching them. You do a dance for them, you get them to imagine being interconnected, and to imagine being free of their suffering, and not so self involved, through art that draws them out. Then you, and they, are all established in what's called a Buddha-verse, or Buddha-land” WayMeanArtSelfProblemSufferingImagineLandInvolvedDrawsArt IsBlissFreakVersesBlastBeing FreeInterconnected Author:Robert Thurman
“In Buddhist ideology, the conventional self is that which is constructed in a way by the use of the pronoun, and when you realize there is no absolute ego there, no disconnected one, self, or ego, then that actually strengthens your conventional ego. It does so in the sense that then you realize it's a construction, and you can strengthen it in order to help others, or do whatever you're trying to do, it's not like you no longer know who you are. Then you can organize your behavior by using your ego, as it's now the pronoun.” KnowsWayTryingDoeSelfHelpingUseOrderRealizingLike YouEgoBehaviorAbsolutesWho You AreHelping OthersIdeologyBuddhistConstructionConventionalOrganizeDisconnectedPronouns Author:Robert Thurman
“The most important enemy for everyone is their own illusion that makes them unrealistic or exaggerates their sense of self-importance in the world. Ironically, you're the super secret enemy. Whether lay or householder, everyone has that internal enemy.” WorldImportantSelfSecretEnemyIllusionImportanceLaysInternalsSense Of SelfSelf-importance Author:Robert Thurman
“In the practice of exchanging self & other, paradoxes abound.” SelfPracticeMeditationParadoxExchanging Author:Robert Thurman
“Those caught in the cycle of self-concern suffer helplessly, while the compassionate are more free and, implicitly, more happy.” SelfInspirationMotivationSufferingConcernCaughtCyclesCompassionate Author:Robert Thurman
