The Illusion of Soul

The Buddha taught that there is no soul, no essential and permanent core to a living being. Instead, that which we call a "living being", human or other, can be seen to be but a temporary coming together of many activities and parts.

When complete it is called a "living being", but after the parts separate and the activities cease it is not called a 'living being' anymore.

Like an advanced computer assembled of many parts and activities, only when it is complete and performs coherent tasks is it called a "computer", but after the parts are disconnected and the activities cease it is no longer called a "computer". No essential permanent core can be found which we can truly call "the computer", just so, no essential permanent core can be found which we can call "the soul".

Yet Rebirth still occurs without a soul. Consider this simile: on a Buddhist shrine one candle, burnt low, is about to expire. A monk takes a new candle and lights it from the old. The old candle dies, the new candle burns bright. What went across from the old candle to the new? There was a causal link but no thing went across! In the same way, there was a causal link between your previous life and your present life, but no soul has gone across.

Indeed, the illusion of a soul is said by the Buddha to be the root cause of all human suffering. The illusion of 'soul' manifests as the "Ego". The natural unstoppable function of the Ego is to control. Big Egos want to control the world, average Egos try to control their immediate surroundings of home, family and workplace, and almost all Egos strive to control what they take to be their own body and mind. Such control manifests as desire and aversion, it results in a lack of both inner peace and outer harmony.

It is this Ego that seeks to acquire possessions, manipulate others and exploit the environment. Its aim is its own happiness but it invariably produces suffering.

It craves for satisfaction but it experiences discontent.

Such deep-rooted suffering cannot come to an end until one sees, through deep and powerful meditation, that the idea "me and mine" is no more than a mirage.

What Makes You a Buddhist?

Over time I have come to realize that people often associate Buddhism and Buddhists with peace, meditation, and nonviolence. In fact many seem to think that saffron
or maroon robes and a peaceful smile are all it takes to be a Buddhist.

However, as a Buddhist, I feel a little

discontented when Buddhism is associated with nothing beyond vegetarianism, nonviolence, peace, and meditation. Prince Siddhartha, who sacrificed all the comforts and luxuries of palace life, must have been searching for more than passivity and shrubbery when he set out to discover enlightenment.

When a conversation arises, a non-Buddhist may casually ask, “What makes someone a Buddhist?” That is the hardest question to answer. If the person has a genuine interest, the complete answer does not make for light dinner conversation, and generalizations can lead to misunderstanding. Suppose that you give them the true answer, the answer that points to the very foundation of this 2,500-year-old tradition.

One is a Buddhist if he or she accepts the following four truths:

All compounded things are impermanent.

All emotions are pain.

All things have no inherent existence.

Nirvana is beyond concepts.

These four statements, spoken by the Buddha himself, are known as “the four seals.” Traditionally, seal means something like a hallmark that confirms authenticity. For the sake of simplicity and flow we will refer to these statements as both seals and “truths,” not to be confused with Buddhism’s four noble truths, which pertain solely to aspects of suffering. Even though the four seals are believed to encompass all of Buddhism, people don’t seem to want to hear about them. Without further explanation they serve only to dampen spirits and fail to inspire further interest in many cases. The topic of conversation changes and that’s the end of it.

The message of the four seals is meant to be understood literally, not metaphorically or mystically—and meant to be taken seriously. But the seals are not edicts or commandments. With a little contemplation one sees that there is nothing moralistic or ritualistic about them. There is no mention of good or bad behavior. They are secular truths based on wisdom, and wisdom is the primary concern of a Buddhist. Morals and ethics are secondary.

Broadly speaking, wisdom comes from a mind that has what the Buddhists call “right view.” But one doesn’t even have to consider oneself a Buddhist to have right view. Ultimately it is this view that determines our motivation and action. It is the view that guides us on the path of Buddhism. If we can adopt wholesome behaviors in addition to the four seals, it makes us even better Buddhists. But what makes you not a Buddhist?

If you cannot accept that all compounded or fabricated things are impermanent, if you believe that there is some essential substance or concept that is permanent, then you are not a Buddhist. If you cannot accept that all emotions are pain, if you believe that actually some emotions are purely pleasurable, then you are not a Buddhist.

If you cannot accept that all phenomena are illusory and empty, if you believe that certain things do exist inherently, then you are not a Buddhist.

And if you think that enlightenment exists within the spheres of time, space, and power, then you are not a Buddhist.

So, what makes you a Buddhist? You may not have been born in a Buddhist country or to a Buddhist family, you may not wear robes or shave your head, you may eat meat. That doesn’t mean you cannot be a Buddhist. In order to be a Buddhist, you must accept that all compounded phenomena are impermanent, all emotions are pain, all things have no inherent existence, and enlightenment is beyond concepts.

It’s not necessary to be constantly and endlessly mindful of these four truths. But they must reside in your mind. You don’t walk around persistently remembering your own name, but when someone asks your name, you remember it instantly. There is no doubt. Anyone who accepts these four seals, even independently of Buddha’s teachings, even never having heard the name Shakyamuni Buddha, can be considered to be on the same path as he.

It’s not the clothes you wear, the ceremonies you perform, or the meditation you do. It’s not what you eat, how much you drink, or who you know. It’s whether you agree with the four fundamental discoveries the Buddha made under the Bodhi tree, and if you do, you can call yourself a Buddhist.

A Meditation on Death

Like the flame blown out by the wind,
This life of ours is headed for destruction.
Seeing the cycle of birth and death in all things
Mindfulness of death is a skill we need to use.

Just as people who have achieved great wealth and fame
Must surely fall in death.
This thing called death will not leave me behind;
Death is always beckoning me to follow.

Death is the true companion of birth
And never far behind,
Searching for an opening
Like a samurai in battle.

It's course cannot be changed
This life we call our own,
Is rushing to its end
Like the sun moving form east to west.

Death takes those from us who are great in strength and wisdom,
No need to speak of one like me.
Because this life of mine lacks in so many ways
I die in every moment with little chance of a good rebirth.

Our life is filled with so much uncertainty
Its length cannot be known.
It is difficult just to stay alive, each day
Filled with the fear and anguish of the death about to come.

There is no chance that life shall not end in death.
Having reached old age what can be next,
Death is part of our true nature.
As the nature of fruit is to fall when ripe.

Just as a potters jar must break and turn to dust
So to these bones of ours will one day break and end the same way.
The young, the old, the foolish and the wise,
The hand of death is always open;
The end is known for sure.

Impermanent is all conditioned things,
All things rise and fall away,
Conditions give us birth,
Conditions give us death.

This body and mind of ours, will soon be lying on the ground
Like a useless piece of drift wood, washed upon the shore.
Our consciousness will vanish, the mind will not be there,
Just like a bubble bursting on the water, turning into air.

We came into this world without an invitation, and
We don't need to ask permission when its time for us to leave.
We rise to birth that always ends in death; we come just as we go.
Does the candle shed a tear when the flame goes out?
Don't be sad, be mindful.