In Search of A Method

An interesting question arose from yesterday’s Buddhist meeting— is there is a concrete method that we can follow for our cultivation? Before we answer this question, let us clarify the following issues:

1. The goal: What are we really seeking? What is the goal for cultivation? It is absurd to talk about methods unless we know what our goals are.

2. The subject: What is the entity that is seeking? If you say that you are seeking enlightenment, then you must first understand who “you” are.

The first question is relatively easy to answer. Many Buddhists are seeking some kind of inner peace, “genuine happiness,” some kind of freedom from harm, lasting security, enlightenment, Nirvana, etc. These seem to be all worthwhile goals.

But the second question is much more difficult to answer. What is the entity that is seeking? We cannot really talk about the method before we know who or what the subject is.

I brought up the notion of the Anatta(no-self) Friday night. In Buddhist philosophy, the self is an illusion. The “being,” the “person,” or the “individual” in Buddhism is simply the Five Aggregates. But the Five Aggregates are never unstable. They are based on a bundle of conditions that are always changing. Buddhism belongs to what the West calls Process Philosophy. Life is flux. Nothing stays the same. That…