This is a very good post. The Buddha taught that all sense perceptions are nothing but an error, a miscalculation on the part of the fooled mind.
This claim, outrageous as it may appear, can be verified in the Zen practice. What Zen practice reveals to us is that all the sense of space, time and change, that all of us tend to go through during our tenure here on earth, is merely like apparitions in a dream. This is exactly what your post is talking about. I've really enjoyed seeing it articulated that way. Keep up the good work, and your good intentions too! On 8/23/05, Bhikkhu Samahita <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Friends: > > Overwhelmed, fooled & deceived by simple Sensing! > > Touched by contact, while blinded by ignorance, the unlearned and > untrained ordinary person conceives this false & fatal assumption: > 'By my eye, ear, nose, tongue and body I clearly sense this & that! > Therefore: "I am"! I perceive this & that: Therefore "Do I Exist".! > I feel this & that: Therefore: "These feelings are mine and me".....! > I experience this & that: Therefore: "These experiences I am"......!' > > Then he proliferates this self-deception even further by breeding: > "I am this eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind right here & now!" > "I always was & have been this eye, ear, nose, tongue, body & mind!" > "In the future, I will be this eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind!" > "I am this form, feeling, perception, construction & consciousness!" > "I was this form, feeling, perception, construction & consciousness!" > "I will be form, feeling, perception, construction & consciousness!" > Thereby consolidating the false & constructed notion of a stable Ego! > > Finally he externalizes this non-existent entity 'Me' by comparing it: > "I am equal to this and that...", and "I am better than this and that...", > "I am worse than this and that...", thereby creating first egoism, then > pride and arrogance, and moreover detrimental feeling of inferiority... > > Clinging to this hypothetical 'I'-idea, which he mistakes for real, he > becomes desperate, when whatever it is, he identifies with, changes, > decays, becomes otherwise, fades away and finally disappears... > He is terrified by the thought: "It is 'I' & 'Me' who changes, decays, > becomes otherwise, fades away and finally disappears..." So big is the > power of this unnoticed idea, that it produces fear, anxiety & horror!!! > > There arises no such great panic, when one understands it as it really is: > The six inputs by the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are not mine, > this is not what I am, this neither is nor belongs to my or any other self! > This form, feeling, perception, construction & consciousness is not mine, > this is not what I am, this neither is nor belongs to my or any other self!!! > > Fundamentally releasing from an invisible prison is such understanding... > > ________________________________________________________ > PS: Please include the word Samahita in any comment, since then > will my automatic mail filters pick it up and I will see it & respond!! > Bhikkhu Samahita, Sri Lanka. > > Friendship is the Greatest ... > Let there be Calm & Free Bliss !!! > > http://www.What-Buddha-Said.org/ > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Buddha-Direct > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/What_Buddha_Said > Dhamma-Questions sent to my email are quite Welcome. > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> 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/
