The Death of Ego

[Guest guest]

perhaps since the ego is imaginary, any apparent death of

the ego is also imaginary?

 

-=- BINGO!

 

-=- There is an end to self-grasping, however.

 

-=-let the discussion (which Era suggests) begin.

what is the so-called ego-death that many teachers

refer to?

 

--------------------------------

 

J: From a 'em Buddhist perspective -

 

First Step - considering the possibility of emptiness

of lack of self in the person.

 

Why is this important? Because the clinging to the IDEA

that one has a single, permanent, independent, truly existent

self/ego is the root cause of all one's suffering.

 

One does not have to have an explicit or clearly formulated

idea of self in order to act as if one has an ego. Both animals &

humans act as if they have a self to preserve & protect which

is automatic and instinctive. The implication is that this self/ego

would be happy if all pain, irritation, stress & suffering were removed

& most of our life is directed towards this aim.

 

The first investigation would be to watch dispassionately & ardently

how the mind (attention/focus) clings to the IDEA of self -

the emotional reactions of 'me', 'mine' etc. & see how suffering

arises from this attachment. One looks for this self to try

to isolate it from experience (seeing. hearing, thinking, sensation etc)

& to try to identify & locate it.

 

Any rational analysis shows that person, personality, ego,

is a changing, composite train/chain of events conditioned

by many complex factors. The question is, why do we behave emotionally

as it were lasting, single, & independent? Thus when we are looking

for this 'ego' it is important to remember that we are examining our

emotional responses. When one responds to events as if one had

an ego, e.g. when one feels hurt or offended, one should ask oneself

who or what is feeling hurt or offended; who is afraid of what might

happen in the future and why does death seem like such a threat

when the present disappears every moment?

 

If one continually addresses oneself to what or who this self is,

can it be found? There is a tremendous emptional resistence to the

realization that this ego cannot be found. Fantasies about " ego-death "

are part of this resistence. It can take a long time to break through

but

when

this happens there is an immediate release of tension & feeling

of freedom & joy. This cause of suffering is gone. The cause of

suffering was a deep mental attachment to something that was not

there.

 

There is nothing more important than to realize that when one

acts AS IF mind and body constitute a lasting, single, separate,

independent ego, one unthinkingly, without awareness, attributes

to them qualities they do not have. Nothing in the stream of mental

& physical phenomena that constitutes one's experience of body

& mind has the quality of separate, independent, lasting existence.

It is all change. Impermanence moment to moment & so none

of it can be an 'ego' or self & it is one's persistent effort to

treat

it AS IF IT WERE that causes our constant stream of suffering.

 

So - what happens is that if one continually investigates, there can be

a release of the mental attachment to something that was imagined,

a conditioned belief in ego. Something that was never there in the first

place can't die but one will live with the fear of death until one sees

this. (die before you die is great advice)

 

This is only a beginning step - freedom from one deeply

engrained conditioning - more path to travel.

 

Joyce