In Buddhism, we always define the self as that which possesses and directs the body and mind. Of course, such a self does not exist; it is only a mental fabrication, an illusion. In fact, we cannot separate one existence from the myriad existences of the universe. Whether we know it or not, life, my life, is given to me by the entire universe.
Those who open their mind to reality, to all existences, who break free from the confines of this illusory self, attain their true dimension. One could say that they attain the original self, the true self, far beyond the I, the me and the mine.
The true human being walks alone on the Great Earth. It is not that they are separated or cut off from others, but that they get away from the illusion of the self. They are in an automatic, natural, unconscious relationship with all existences. They have forgotten the little self and become the whole universe. Such is the awakened one.
If we are not careful, we tend to want to possess. The ancients did not say, ‘The Earth is mine’, they said, ‘We belong to the Earth’.
Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese poet, said: ‘Our children do not belong to us. They have passed through us, but they are arrows shot into the universe’.
I sometimes hear this horrible phrase: ‘He is not one of us’. This idea, this illusion of self and mine, leads us to say inappropriate things, to do inappropriate things, to think in the wrong way. Believing in the illusion of self is to separate oneself from reality, to separate oneself from one’s true nature, where the giver, the receiver and the given are one and the same. All existences are the life of each individual.
In the end, there is no difference between Buddhas and ordinary beings. As long as we keep our hearts open to all existences, we are Buddhas. As soon as we shrink into the self and mine, we are ordinary beings.
Some people choose to do good only to those who belong to the self and the mine. The human being of the Way, the one who walks freely on the Great Earth, does not choose to whom he does good, to whom he is beneficial. He understands that his true family is the entire universe, beyond the self and the mine.
When the gift is genuine, the giver, the receiver and the gift are one and the same.
It is an illusion to believe that the self alone, always, possesses and controls the body and mind. Such a self does not exist. It is merely a convenience of language.
Taiun JP Faure, April 2025
