![]() ![]() When the Buddha is explaining the arising and cessation of dukkha, and the practice that puts an end to dukkha, essentially he’s viewing humanity as a co-operative of interdependent beings with a tendency for creating suffering (by clinging to delusions) but capable nonetheless of attaining freedom from suffering (by developing morality, concentration, and wisdom). But this narrative is hardly conducive to peace and goodwill, is it? Yet it’s what we’re being asked to believe when media corporations run popular science stories about our evolutionary ‘hard-wiring’ for conflicting behaviours like altruism and greed, for example, and more often than not there’ll be a proper neuroscientist somewhere pouring cold water on them.įor me personally, the most insightful view of human nature is contained within the Four Noble Truths Sutta that the Buddha taught around 2500 years ago. I suppose it’s understandable given that many have us were born in one of the bloodiest centuries in recorded human history. Since Darwin, the popular stereotype of humanity has been one of a globally dominant tribal species composed of fiercely aggressive individuals all genetically programmed for a self-serving life of reproduction and pleasure seeking. Now, if we want to get on the path to nibbana or freedom from suffering as the Buddha advises, we need to drop unskillful behaviours and replace them with wholesome new alternatives, and for that we need to start believing new things about ourselves – preferably things that are based upon reliable observations and experiences. He was able therefore to skillfully teach ‘healthy-self’ strategies and ‘not-self’ strategies so we too might be liberated from the stresses of birth, ageing, sickness, and death. But unlike the vast majority of people, who cling blindly to their self image because they wrongly believe it to be their existential truth, the Buddha knew when a self identity was useful and when it wasn’t. Moreover, I very much doubt that ‘no-self’ is the actual experience of people who’re neither brain damaged, dreaming, blinded by dogma, drunk on intoxicants, experimenting with jhanas, nor doing anything else that might trigger hallucinations.Įven the Buddha, I suspect, would have continued to experience ‘self sensations’ after awakening to them as impermanent and unsatisfactory and illusory along with all other conditioned phenomena. However, as far as I’m aware ‘not-self’ doesn’t mean ‘no-self’. It’s pretty common knowledge that ‘not-self’ is a core teaching of the Buddha, and so it may seem wrong for me to be talking about creating a self identity that’s ‘healthy’ or ‘ideal’ or otherwise. We’re less likely to suffer if we can build appropriate wholesome habits that affirm rather than contradict our self image. We need therefore a positive self image and skillful behaviours that require little if any conscious effort to perform. However, until that happy day we’re always likely to create suffering for ourselves and others. ![]() Įventually even our healthy sense of self will no longer be needed because we’ll have realised the Buddha’s three characteristics of existence – impermanent ( anicca), unsatisfying ( dukkha), and ownerless ( anatta) at this point we no longer create suffering because all of our actions are aligned with reality and our attitude of universal compassion, friendliness, joyful appreciation, and equanimity, is indomitable. Basically, what our study and practice of Dhamma is doing is developing skillful habits and a healthy sense of self in order to stop any negative kammas arising from an unhealthy sense of self. We study and we practice as the Buddha advised in order to overcome the stresses of birth, ageing, sickness and death. ![]()
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