Detaching from ego and becoming a hermit in the woods

[Risho]

hahahaha

[Bion]

Sorry... Couldn't resist posting this. Apologies to anyone that doesn't get the reference.



Gassho,
Seikan

-stlah-



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HA!!! [emoji1787]

[emoji1374] SatToday

[Jinyo]

I like to sit on the sofa with my ego in the morning, when only the dog, cats, and I are up. If it goes away, that's fine, too. But it gives us a chance to set the day's priorities.

It comes to work with me. That's probably where our relationship is most strained. We need each other, but it's a devil of a time getting the right balance.

I gently ask my ego to give me some time when walking the dog or hiking. At those times it just blocks the view.

Sometimes my ego becomes talkative when I go to bed. Which isn't really helping anyone.

And sometimes my ego makes the stupidest comments to my wife. And then it will go away, and I am fully present with my wife. But I still have to clean up ego's karma.

Sorry for going long. Me ego made me do it.

Gassho, Jim
ST/LaH

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Great

it reminded me of the Leonard Cohen song that begins 'I love to speak with Leonard'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sA66l0j8do

gassho

Jinyo

Sat today

[Tom A.]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it true that no Buddhist sect is trying to get rid of ego? Isn’t the point that we are made up of skandhas, 6 senses, name etc... etc... whatever you want to call it, in a complex arrangement that creates the illusion of a seperate self, much like constellations are illusions (pareidolia specifically) and made up of their own stars and yet are part of the entire night sky?

Tom,
Gassho
Sat/Lah

[Jakuden]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it true that no Buddhist sect is trying to get rid of ego? Isn’t the point that we are made up of skandhas, 6 senses, name etc... etc... whatever you want to call it, in a complex arrangement that creates the illusion of a seperate self, much like constellations are illusions (pareidolia specifically) and made up of their own stars and yet are part of the entire night sky?

Tom,
Gassho
Sat/Lah

Yes... as Jundo says, we have our ego and need it to function, but also let's keep in mind that there is no ego. Then we will perhaps hold on to our idea of "ego" less tightly.

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday/LAH

[serenewolf]

On aspirations and hermitage. Ask what the motives behind those aspirations were and are they still valid at there core? The goal of life is happiness. But being too comfortable is dangerous as well. It is tempting to become a hermit and its a valid lifestyle, however social interactions and difficulties often challenge your peace and allow you to grow and learn in ways you wouldnt otherwise. The middle way.

Gassho
David
Sat/lah

[Jundo]

On aspirations and hermitage. Ask what the motives behind those aspirations were and are they still valid at there core? The goal of life is happiness. But being too comfortable is dangerous as well. It is tempting to become a hermit and its a valid lifestyle, however social interactions and difficulties often challenge your peace and allow you to grow and learn in ways you wouldnt otherwise. The middle way.

Gassho
David
Sat/lah

Is the goal of life happiness??

I might say that, in Zen practice, we learn to be happy to be happy, and a kind of subtle Happy (big H) to be downright heartbroken and crying sometimes even when it feels anything but "happy."

Gassho, J

STLah

[Bokucho]

I believe it was in the ego podcast of The Zen of Everything, but my favorite line was something along the lines of "I just need enough ego to not get hit by a bus" said by Kodo Sawaki maybe? It's been awhile since I listened to it, but that idea stuck with me. It's important for survival, but really the separateness is just an illusion.

Gassho,

Bokuchō
SatToday/LaH

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[T@r0]

One needs an ego to live. Sometimes I read some guru or cult leader who claims to be "beyond all ego," or to not have had a single thought in many years (that Byron Katie I wrote about yesterday actually claims so), I feel it is hogwash.

What we can be is not so attached to our ego, to the push and pull of our desires and drives, excesses and runaway destructive thoughts and emotions, so that our thoughts are moderate, balanced, like an ox well tamed. Or, a hamster well tamed.

We can also learn to see through our ego, and experience a reality free of an individual ego, a separate sense of self, and all the frictions and fears which a separate self creates between its ears when it bumps into the other seeming separate selves of the world, or fears for its own non-existence. The result is not nihilistic nothing, but a wholeness, fullness and flowing that sweeps in and through all separate things.

In fact, we can do all this at once, as one, as if encountering the world through two eyes which, both open, give perspective and clarity: A moderated self AND no self at once, each infusing and perfuming the other.

However, we need a self so long as we are human beings, and not trees or rocks.

Sorry to run long in my words.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

PS - The Buddha and Dogen both got a lot done in their lives, building organizations, creating teachings, moving and shaking. They did a heck of a lot for folks without "thoughts and egos"

I really like this explanation! Thanks Jundo! “One needs an ego to live”. Indeed.

Gassho ✨💫
Clinton

[John.3]

Thanks everyone for the replies on this thread. I'm very grateful to be apart of this community.

Gassho,
John
Sat today

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[Synjin]

Hi John,

Show me your ego.

Gassho, Jishin, __/stlah\__

I'll consult my wife

[serenewolf]

Is the goal of life happiness??

I might say that, in Zen practice, we learn to be happy to be happy, and a kind of subtle Happy (big H) to be downright heartbroken and crying sometimes even when it feels anything but "happy."

Gassho, J

STLah

I agree in most situations. Contentment in feeling and growing, a sort of constant serenity. It is very easy to be tempted and deluded by the calm and serenity of the secluded hermitage but living as such prevents challenges that facilitate growth.

Gassho
David
Sat/lah

[Bion]

I agree in most situations. Contentment in feeling and growing, a sort of constant serenity. It is very easy to be tempted and deluded by the calm and serenity of the secluded hermitage but living as such prevents challenges that facilitate growth.

Gassho
David
Sat/lah

I doubt secluded hermitage is all calm and serenity, as many hermits will tell you, and considering people went mental while under a simple lockdown in the comfort of their homes last year. “Growth” as you call it is also a relative thing, as it is the result or consequence of a certain series of factors. I’d look more into whether certain types of “growth” are actually beneficial.

[emoji1374] SatToday

[Shonin Risa Bear]

Red Pine in his book Road to Heaven, on Chinese hermits, reports Chan and Taoist hermits in the mountains of Chongnan are not regarded in Chinese society as hiding from the world so much as going there to recharge their spiritual batteries, so to speak, and, importantly, as batteries for society, i.e., the recharging is thought of as a service to all.

Notably, many of them accepted/accept disciples who either live on the premises, build their own hut nearby, or show up from time to time for instruction.

I was a part time hermit for three years but interestingly when I began participating in Treeleaf, and then with the advent of Covid, I found the Zoom room to be essentially a return, will she or nill she, to the zendo; it feels now almost as though I live in a monastery.

gassho
ds sat and lah this day

[Shokai]