Ant McWatt stated to Ham August 30th:
In Note 77 of Lilas Child, we see that Pirsig confirms that his view of
the self concurs with the one held by Buddhism:
Its important to remember that both science and Eastern religions regard
the individual as an empty concept. It is literally a figure of speech. If
you start assigning a concrete reality to it, you will find yourself in a
philosophic quandary.
Finally, in the section of Lilas Child titled Questions and Answers
(where Dan clarifies a number of issues with Pirsig including the
individual), note Pirsigs answer here:
The Buddhists would say [the individual] it is certainly central to a
concept of reality but it is not central to or even a part of reality
itself. Enlightenment involves getting rid of the concept of I (small
self) and seeing the reality in which the small self is absent (big self).
This analogy is explained further by Pirsig in the following quote:
The Sioux concept of self and higher self is one I hadnt heard of. At
first sight it seems like a striking confirmation of the universality of
mystic understanding. In Zen Buddhism Big-Self and small-self are
fundamental teaching concepts. The small-self, the static patterns of ego,
is attracted by the perfume of the Big-Self which it senses is around
but cannot find or even identify. (There is a Hindu parable in which a small
fish says, Mother, I have searched everywhere, but I cannot find this thing
they call water). Through suppression of the small-self by meditation or
fasting or vision quests or other disciplines, the Big-Self can be revealed
in a moment sometimes called 180 degrees enlightenment. Then a long
discipline is undertaken by which the Big-Self takes over and dissolves the
small-self into a 360 degrees enlightenment or full Buddhahood. (Pirsig to
McWatt, January 14th 1994)
Platt commented August 30th:
What Ant tends to ignore in all his quotes from Pirsig and other sources
about the concept of the "individual" as a "convenient fiction" is Pirsig's
own use of the term repeatedly in Lila and other writings as if the concept
was indeed "real," i.e. a high quality value pattern.
Ant McWatt replies:
Platt,
I am well aware of all these examples of the you refer to in LILA and SODV.
However, these are all from the world of everyday affairs (or static)
viewpoint of the MOQ (which is the realm SOM is usually limited to).
My primary point about the individual (confirmed by Rahula, Cooper, Scott
Peck and Hagen) is that if you want to move on from SOM (and improve the
quality of your life by avoiding dukkha), you have to also recognise the
world of the Buddhas (or Dynamic) viewpoint of the MOQ that states that the
idea of a static, independent self is essentially illusory. Furthermore,
without this Dynamic viewpoint, you start entering a metaphysical mess
(a.k.a. SOM Fairyland) as illustrated in the quote from LILA that Arlo
recently referred to:
Man has a body (and therefore is not himself a body) and he also has a
mind (and therefore is not himself a mind). But if one asks what is this
man (which is not a body and not a mind) one doesn't come up with
anything. There isn't any man independent of the patterns. Man is the
patterns. This fictitious man has many synonyms; mankind, people,
the public, and even such pronouns as I, he, and they. Our language
is so organized around them and they are so convenient to use it is
impossible to get rid of them. There is really no need to. Like
substance they can be used as long as it is remembered that they're terms
for collections of patterns and not some independent primary reality of
their own. (LILA, Chapter 12)
Now I wouldnt want to stay in SOM Fairyland. The fairies there tend to be
well meaning but their magic spells always go wrong somewhere along the way.
Best wishes,
Anthony
.
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