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Originally Posted by sky123
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How can a non-person interact with the world as did Buddha, am I missing something  |
The way I am using that word "person" in the negative is two fold. It is what you are projecting inward as yourself and what you project outward as yourself.
For example: One may carry around this idea they want to be more spiritual. This idea and belief of course is not always present or foreground. When this person is watching tv, or going out to eat with friends etc it lays dormant, forgotten. But then every once in a while it pops up and they say, I will go sit in my meditation room and do this or that.... work on being spiritual. Work on seeking to change, work on having experiences. This is an example of projecting "person" inward.
"Person" here is thought created reality. Conceptual life. The idea I exist as "someone" and this "someone" is this or that (more reality created by ideas, by thought and thinking - memory - conditioning - all of that) and so this "person" manufactured by thought is the "doer."
Then projecting person outward, an example of this is someone suggesting you go eat somewhere, and you say, "oh no that place looks dirty, I won't eat there." They say "I eat there all the time it's great! Lets go!" And you say, "If that's where you are going count me out, I'll just go eat alone at home." This is an example of projecting person outward. Here again, one is ruled by thoughts. Thoughts become experienced reality.
Without paying attention to these thoughts, a "person" is still there. People around you will still know you as you. Though you will appear less opinionated, less confrontational, more open minded, more easy going. more at peace in yourself. You will also still know yourself as yourself. But you will be free of the noise in your mind, free from conflict, resistance. Grounded in the present moment. Fully aware here and now and free of minds influence.
So that's what I mean by the "person" one drops. The self created by thought, belief, opinions, conditioning. But yea when you are not created by thought you are still there and even can be said to be a "person." Others viewed Buddha as a person. But Buddha's "person" was not created by thought or memory or the conditioning of the past. That emptiness within, which was full, was the base or core from which he acted.
One learns to let go of thought. So self awareness, self knowledge, is present. One is aware of more, knows more, and this knowing or knowledge, this understanding is what acts, is what projects inward and outward. So it is still similar to "person" but the base has changed. Before the base was thoughts, beliefs, habits, memories, and now the base is self understanding, known or experienced insights, present moment awareness. The base or source of inward and outward projecting has changed. So what the "person" is has changed. This new person seeks, desires, but it is not conceptual. It is wholly based on the known. One is not seeking or desiring the unknown or an idea or a concept. They are seeking and desiring what they have experienced as insights into their own true nature.
But all of this old person stuff, it exists in the body and the brain. So being "person-less" is a full time job. One has to be aware of what is present in each moment to transcend it, to not be touched by it, to not have it become phenomenal or experiential reality. So one must be present and awake. This is also like pealing an onion, there are many layers to it. One does not become free all at once. Different layers are noticed, awareness becomes aware of this and not that. So "enlightenment" is a gradual process. One can be liberated from these things and not those. One can have insights that show more advanced letting go, then the insight leave and one is back in the old patterns. So one begins again, in this moment, to find ones way back, to see what is missed. To more fully implement the insights into each moment and experience and into what is projected inward and outward.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by sky123
How can a non-person interact with the world as did Buddha, am I missing something |
What is the "world" one is interacting with? Is it one's thoughts, beliefs, conditioning, or just what is here now, inherently present, without concepts and ideas intruding.