Expert: Buddhis8 - BuddhismIS.com - 4/28/2009

Question
Hello,

I have recently been reading a book that I find very similar to the concepts of buddhism. I am having trouble understanding one of the author's points and was wondering if you could help me out. He says that we all feel isolated from life as long as we are divided within, that is, from the "I"(ego) and experiences from the here and now. After establishing this, he continues by saying "But you will cease to feel isolated when you recognize, for example, that you do not have a sensation of the sky: you are that sensation. For all purposes of feeling, your sensation of the sky is the sky, and there is no 'you' apart from what you sense, feel, and know."

I am having trouble understanding this idea. I think buddhism ideas move in the same direction, so do you think you can help me clarify?

I have asked other experts who specialize in buddhism, hoping to better my understanding. I hope this doesn't bother you.

thanks alot,
joey

Answer
Dear Joey,

Maybe, rather than "I experience X", it is actually "X-experience".

The former is actor, action and enacted.
Or, experiencer, experience and experienced.

The latter is neither.

"Actor" (karaka) and "experiencer" (vedaka) are other names for "Self" in Buddhism. All are rejected.

The nature of language, subject object and verb, constructs around such false views, and builds a world of "I" and "other".

Hope this helps. Huifeng.

Yours in Dhamma
Shozen, Metta
http://www.knowbuddhism.info/2009/03/knowledge-of-self.html