希修
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< 불교에 대한 오해 #3. 나와 남 사이의 경계를 없애는 것이 '무아' >
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거의 대부분의 종교들이 '신성한 본체' (신, 브라만, 불성, 대자연 등)를 상정하고 그것의 회복이나 그것과의 합일을 궁극의 목적으로 하며, 그렇기에 나와 남 사이의 경계를 없애는 것이 수행의 중요한 부분이 되지만 (나도 남도 그 '신성한 본체'의 일부/표현일 뿐이기에), 초기불교는 예외.
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부처님은 '본성'이나 '본체'의 존재를 부인하셨으며, A라는 사람의 업은 오로지 A 스스로만 어떻게 할 수 있지 부처님조차 도무지 도와 줄 방도가 없다는 것이 초기불교의 관점. 우리가 타인을 '돕는' 것은 누군가 다쳤을 때 구급차를 부르거나 반창고를 건네 주는 정도일 뿐. 그 사람의 건강은 궁극적으로 그 사람 스스로 건강한 생활습관을 들이고 운동 열심히 해야만 가능한 것. 내가 상대를 아무리 사랑해도, 상대방 대신 내가 열심히 운동한다고 해서 그 사람이 건강해지지는 않는 것. 이런 점에서 초기불교에서 나와 남 사이의 경계는 결코 지워지지 않는 것. (해탈 이후는 어떻게 되는지 모르겠음.)
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불교에서 말하는 '무아'의 '아'는 '나의 이익', '나의 즐거움', '나의 관점/서사'를 가리킴. 그런 관점 대신 탐진치의 관점에서 impersonal 하게 매사를 보라는 것. 남과 세상을 콘트롤할 수 없기에 어떤 일의 발생에 나 자신 어떻게 직간접적으로 공헌했으며, 그걸 바라보는 내 마음 속에 어떤 일들이 일어나고 있는지에 집중하라는 것. 다시 말해
수행은, '생각/말/행동으로 내가 무엇을 하고 있는가?'라는, 처음부터 끝까지 '나'가 중심.
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남을 '위해' 내가 할 수 있는 가장 기본적이면서도 가장 중요한 일은, 나 스스로 수행하여 나의 탐진치 때문에 남에게 직간접적인 폐를 끼치지 않는 것, 남을 나의 에너지원으로 삼아 소비/섭취하면서 그걸 '사랑'이라고 착각/고집하지 않는 것. (그래서 스님들은 봉사나 구제 활동이 아닌 오로지 수행만 하루종일, 매일, 평생, 하는 것 - 세속적인 관점에선 '이기적'으로 보이지만.) 인간이나 인간관계에 대해 비현실적 낭만적 환상을 가질 때보다 불교의 이런 관점을 기억할 때 오히려 더 건강한 인간관계가 가능할 듯.
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Bhikkhu Bodhi on
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거의 대부분의 종교들이 '신성한 본체' (신, 브라만, 불성, 대자연 등)를 상정하고 그것의 회복이나 그것과의 합일을 궁극의 목적으로 하며, 그렇기에 나와 남 사이의 경계를 없애는 것이 수행의 중요한 부분이 되지만 (나도 남도 그 '신성한 본체'의 일부/표현일 뿐이기에), 초기불교는 예외.
.
부처님은 '본성'이나 '본체'의 존재를 부인하셨으며, A라는 사람의 업은 오로지 A 스스로만 어떻게 할 수 있지 부처님조차 도무지 도와 줄 방도가 없다는 것이 초기불교의 관점. 우리가 타인을 '돕는' 것은 누군가 다쳤을 때 구급차를 부르거나 반창고를 건네 주는 정도일 뿐. 그 사람의 건강은 궁극적으로 그 사람 스스로 건강한 생활습관을 들이고 운동 열심히 해야만 가능한 것. 내가 상대를 아무리 사랑해도, 상대방 대신 내가 열심히 운동한다고 해서 그 사람이 건강해지지는 않는 것. 이런 점에서 초기불교에서 나와 남 사이의 경계는 결코 지워지지 않는 것. (해탈 이후는 어떻게 되는지 모르겠음.)
.
불교에서 말하는 '무아'의 '아'는 '나의 이익', '나의 즐거움', '나의 관점/서사'를 가리킴. 그런 관점 대신 탐진치의 관점에서 impersonal 하게 매사를 보라는 것. 남과 세상을 콘트롤할 수 없기에 어떤 일의 발생에 나 자신 어떻게 직간접적으로 공헌했으며, 그걸 바라보는 내 마음 속에 어떤 일들이 일어나고 있는지에 집중하라는 것. 다시 말해
수행은, '생각/말/행동으로 내가 무엇을 하고 있는가?'라는, 처음부터 끝까지 '나'가 중심.
.
남을 '위해' 내가 할 수 있는 가장 기본적이면서도 가장 중요한 일은, 나 스스로 수행하여 나의 탐진치 때문에 남에게 직간접적인 폐를 끼치지 않는 것, 남을 나의 에너지원으로 삼아 소비/섭취하면서 그걸 '사랑'이라고 착각/고집하지 않는 것. (그래서 스님들은 봉사나 구제 활동이 아닌 오로지 수행만 하루종일, 매일, 평생, 하는 것 - 세속적인 관점에선 '이기적'으로 보이지만.) 인간이나 인간관계에 대해 비현실적 낭만적 환상을 가질 때보다 불교의 이런 관점을 기억할 때 오히려 더 건강한 인간관계가 가능할 듯.
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Bhikkhu Bodhi on
Brahman / Atman / Oneness / Fullness (Vedic tradition)
vs. Emptiness (Early Buddhism)
Majjhima Nikaya (MN 121: part 1-1, 2014.11.15) Bhikkhu Bodhi
1,435 views•Dec 13, 2014
BAUS Chuang Yen Monastery
Chapter 121: Culasunnata Sutta - The shorter discourse on voidness.
"The Majjhima Nikaya, the Middle Length Discourses"
The Buddha instructs Ananda on the "genuine, undistorted, pure descent into voidness."
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#194~210: The Buddha nature? https://facebook.com/keepsurfinglife/albums/1107718949600187/
希修 Unless you can step back from your own actions and keep diligently evaluating your actions to make them more refined and skillful, you cannot improve yourself. Just because the intention was pure and well-meant, does not mean your actions and the consequences are immune to judgment or criticism. This applies not only to individuals but also to organizations or social campaigns.
If you wonder whether you are 'selfish', read the part on ego. Only if you pursue your happiness by harming/hurting others or you demand that other people should make you happy, then you are 'selfish'. Also check whether you are caught by the spiritual bypass of ego-less-ness or self-less-ness.
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Head & Heart Together
*** You can download this book for free at https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html under the category of 'Essays'. ***
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#2~27: The Lessons of Gratitude
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(a) You can 'appreciate' your mean difficult boss who forced you to learn how to be patient. But, as for those who went out of their ways to give you a help to improve the quality of your life, you have to feel 'grateful' and 'indebted' to.
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(b) No matter how mean or abusive your parents have been, as long as they did not leave you to starve to death when you were a baby, you are still indebted to them. However, just because you carry them on your shoulder for 100 years, it is not good enough to pay them back.
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(c) The best way to repay anyone is: (i) to work hard so that the help you received will bear as much fruit as to deserve the benefactor's resources - such as time, money or energy - invested in you instead of dissipating them; (ii) to become a person of integrity and 'wisdom' or help your benefactor to become a such a person too. ('Wisdom' in this context means to live following the Buddha's teachings.)
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(d) Since we have been going through trillion times of rebirths, everyone we meet in this life must have been a family member in one birth or another. The lesson here, though, is not that you should love everyone you meet. The real message from the Buddha is that you should wake up to the meaning-less-ness of this never-ending rebirth cycle of infinite debts, entanglements and suffering and that you should find a way to end all these through nirvana, awakening or release.
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[cf.] Considerations on how to help others wisely:
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"Limitless Compassion, Limited Resources"
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1094889330883149&set=a.1042727616099321&type=3&theater
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"Unlimited Compassion, Limited Resources" (1)~(8)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1068501266855289&set=a.1042727616099321&type=3&theater
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#28~40: No Strings Attached. Generosity.
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(a) Giving a gift is not an obligation. You give one wherever you are inspired.
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(b) The donor should be glad before, while and after giving. The recipient should be free of passion/craving, aversion and delusion.
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(c) The teaching of Dhamma should be rewarded not by a gift but by the listener's respectful learning and practicing.
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#41~64: The Power of Judgment. Admirable Friends. ('Friends' include 'teachers'.)
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(a) An 'admirable friend' is someone who has integrity and wisdom and whose actions you want to model after. Even if someone is a 'good person', if his standards/values are not necessarily what you want to internalize, he won't be a good friend for you.
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(b) In order to see your delusion, you need an admirable friend's criticism - gentle or harsh.
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(c) If you focus on 'yourself' or your 'pride' rather than on improving your 'actions', you won't be able to take a criticism, and you won't be able to have an admirable friend. But you have to test your friend's suggestions instead of going blind.
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(d) Without integrity yourself, you won't be good at judging others' integrity. By carefully evaluating your actions all the time and learning from mistakes, you will sharpen your discernment.
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(e) A teacher-student relationship or friend-friend relationship can last only as long as the relationship can help integrity and wisdom to grow. If it does not work, go separate and don't take it personally.
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(f) If one becomes a person of integrity and wisdom, it will benefit the entire world. This is why judging one's own and others' actions is not only justified but in fact necessary. The goal of the Buddhist practice is not to be 'easy-going' or 'positive' or 'happy' with a dull mind like an animal but to eradicate or reduce craving, aversion and delusion.
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[cf.] Khaggavisana Sutta "We praise companionship - yes! Those on a par, or better, should be chosen as friends. If they're not to be found, living faultlessly, wander alone like a rhinoceros."
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.03.than.html
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# None: Think Like a Thief.
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#65~71: Strength Training for the Mind.
Mental food. Watch why you want to eat. Don't take more from the world than you are willing to give back.
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#72~89: Mindfulness Defined. Mindfulness, alertness, ardency, appropriate attention, contentment, patience, intelligence.
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#90~94: The Joy of Effort. Diligently keep evaluating your actions with honesty, not as signs of what kind of person you are but as experiments. You don't mature if you demand that the world should please or entertain you.
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#95~102: Head & Heart Together. Goodwill, compassion, equanimity.
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[cf.]
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(i) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1072471653124917&set=a.1042727616099321&type=3&theater
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(ii) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1103963433309072&set=a.1042727616099321&type=3&theater
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(iii) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1104038103301605&set=a.1042727616099321&type=3&theater
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#103~122: The Wisdom of Ego. Mature wisdom requires a mature ego.
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(a) 'Ego' = 'A healthy and well-integrated self'.
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(b) If you pursue ego-less-ness, which is a spiritual bypassing, you might become destructive to yourself and others or end up with an enlarged toxic super-ego.
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(c) Each person should take a full responsibility for developing a healthy ego and keeping an inner balance/stability. This will benefit the entire world.
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(d) #118~119: Expecting no return is not the way. The whole purpose of the Buddhist practice is to gain the true happiness of nirvana by paying the cost of walking the eightfold path. Helping others is also a trade between investing one's time and energy and the expectation that the recipients will work to bear fruit. (See #2~27 in this album.)
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[cf.] "You Are Your Own Child, Too"
https://facebook.com/keepsurfinglife/albums/840366193002132/
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#123~124: Ignorance. Craving and delusion.
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#125~142: Food for Awakening. No bare attention but appropriate attention.
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#143~193: The Buddha via the Bubble. How the Western tradition of reading the Christian Bible has resulted in a mistaken belief about 'all paths leading to the top of one and the same mountain', especially misrepresenting and distorting the Buddha's teachings. This elucidates why there are so many misunderstandings about the Buddha's teachings. ('Common core beliefs of all great religions'?)
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[cf.] #93~136: The Roots of Buddhist Romanticism. The Western Obsession with Oneness/Nonduality and Interconnectedness.
https://facebook.com/keepsurfinglife/albums/1209061849465896/
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[cf.] #137~159: Perennial Issues. 'Common Core Beliefs of All Great Religions'?
https://facebook.com/keepsurfinglife/albums/1145865939118821/
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#194~210: Freedom from Buddha Nature.
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