--- In [email protected], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Oct 13, 2005, at 9:44 AM, Irmeli Mattsson wrote: > > > It puzzles me also, why people, when they stop identifying the 'I' > > with an image of one's personal self, say there is no 'I' anymore. > > > > The `I' is the subject, who feels, sees, interprets and evaluates > > situations, makes meaning, uses concepts like enlightenment in > > communication, relates to others, is in dialogue with others. The > > fact that something is being perceived is based on subject/object > > dualism. The perceiver is subject, the perceived is object. > > The `I', the subject, cannot see itself. If it can, there is an error > > in interpreting. The subject can see only something that is object to > > itself. In enlightenment this error vanishes. And another error seems > > to appear, the idea that there is no `I'. > > The whole topic is rather interesting. This would certainly not be > considered enlightenment IMO--merely a transitory realization that > "I" is empty and not "solid". Really from a Buddhist perspective, if > one is enlightened one does not claim it for a number of reasons-- it > causes sentient beings to argue, it creates jealousy, etc. Therefore > a Buddha cannot make a declaration which will cause suffering. >From > that POV one who claims to be "enlightened" typically is not. I have > to wonder if that is one of the reasons the Surangama sutra is > mentioned in movement literature (and lectures)--so that people might > pick it up and read it. It details all the ways that people are > fooled into believing they are enlightened--and I'm sure this is one > of them. > > IIRC it also prophecizes that at the end of the Kali yuga, large > numbers of people who are not enlightened will surface, claiming to be. >
I've often held a contrary perspective, that *most* people are enlightened, or at least act and think as such very often. This idea that just a few attain this state seems untrue. Maybe people don't know the verbage or have the interest or set the focus on enlightenment. Yet, nonetheless, there is more enlightenment around us than ignorance. It is just that the ignorance gets most of the attention. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/JjtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
