On Mar 7, 2008, at 4:36 PM, Andrew Fildes wrote:
> And what exactly is doing the 'being'?
> Not trying to be a smartarse - I really don't get that fundamental
> and critical concept of Buddhism.
> I can grasp the materialist/physicalist dismissal of mind but this
> one eludes me, poor prosaic, mundane creature that I am - or am not.
It's an excellent question, and one that deserves a better answer
than I can hack on the fly. Unfortunately, the Dalai Lama is not
taking my calls this afternoon. <g>
I make no claims to being a Buddhist. Just a lapsed Druid with some
Buddhist proclivities.
One way I've heard it put that makes sense to me is that the mind and
body are not distinct, though they seem to be, and that the mind is a
tool, in the same way that opposable thumbs and binocular vision are
tools. Thinking is the mind's job. It's so good at it, and such an
attention hog, we forget it's just tool we can put down in the same
way we can loosen the grip of our opposable thumb on the hammer we've
been using to whack nails into roof shingles. What we do is let our
thinking hijack ourselves into thinking we are our thoughts when we
are not. A carpenter is a carpenter. He is not a thumb. But he has
one (or two) and knows how to use it (them). You are you. You are not
your mind. But you have one and if it all works out, you'll use it
rather than let it use you.
Beyond that, there's the ongoing fascination with being able to still
the mind altogether, and for however brief a moment come into contact
with the unfathomable and unknowable mystery that is, well, that is.
In theory, that's where you get your answer to "what's doing the
being." (Sorry, couldn't help myself there. I thought maybe I was
starting to make sense and felt an overwhelming need to go wobbly.)
Photographic content: Sometimes when I'm out taking pictures, and
utterly "in the zone," I hit that note and really do go all wobbly.
--Bob
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