What Is The Meaning of Nonself?
Everything that comes into being depends on everything else.
Nothing arises by itself.
In Buddhism, we often talk about “no self.” This is a difficult idea to grasp in English. What we mean is that the self as we usually
image it doesn’t really exist. Just as
the daffodil is made up of the nutrients it draws from the soil, the energy of
sunlight, the water that helps it grow, and the bees that pollinate, so, too, we
are made up of the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, the
ancestors who have come before us and made our lives possible.
But does this mean that because the daffodil is comprised of
nondaffodil materials it isn’t a daffodil?
Of course not! And likewise for
each of us.
In Chinese the word for “no self” is wuwo, but wu does not
mean “no” in Chinese. It negates rather
than defines. It is indefinite. It is not fixed or concrete. Wu
connotes fluidity, movement, even hope.
The realization of no self is not at all nihilistic. It simply means that the self is something
different from what we habitually assume it to be.
In Chan, emptiness is not nothingness. And nothingness is not nothing. We might say “nonthingness” instead. No self might be better expressed as
nonself. Not no, non-.
What is the meaning of nonself? Infinity.
The downward sweep of Songnian’s hand came out of the place from which
each breath comes and goes. Where each moment
is born and vanishes. A place of nongrasping
where there is complete freedom and everything comes together naturally. A lovely Chinese phrase, xing yun liu shui, expresses this.
It means clouds flowing across the sky, a stream running downhill in
spring without hindrance or obstruction, fully functioning, free but still
connected, as clouds are connected to the sky and rivers to the earth.
When we realize that, we don’t feel terror or despair. On the contrary: to realize that, to live it, gives rise to a feeling of
potential and possibility. We are no
longer bound to the stifling attachment to who we think we are.
Everything changes, including each one of us. We get stuck because we limit ourselves. We do not really open up and become intimate
with the world around us.
Not no, non-
Excerpt from Chan Heart, Chan Mind – A Meditation on
Serenity and Growth by Master Guojun
wisdompubs.org/chan-heart
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