03: A Concise Introduction To Tibetan Buddhism / John Powers

I would like to write about what I understand Buddhism and think so far except about the question like "all phenomena are selfless" through this book and the difference between Buddhism and other religions.

Introduction
“All phenomena are selfless” signifies that there is no stable existence in this world. In this paper, there are three parts which describes 1) why all phenomena are selfless, 2) what the concept of self influences to us, and 3) how Buddhism differs from other religions.

No Stable Existence
There is no stable existence—this phrase is expressing what Buddhists think. In the viewpoint of Buddhism, everything is changeable without any exceptions. For example, all natures such as plants, fishes and animals including human beings would die but also non-natures such as technology would disappear. Although everything seems stable in a moment, it always changes and nothing in this world can be allowed to be permanent.

This definition of “everything” includes not only visible phenomena such as creatures but also invisible phenomena such as minds. In general, people tend to believe that they have consistent minds. Although they might admit their minds can change, they still comprehend that there is concrete mind and this generates their differences. This idea is self. According to the viewpoint of Buddhism, however, this self is a misconception. Except for nothing, all phenomena are selfless and the idea of self is just a hallucination.

There is a reason why Buddhists assume all phenomena are selfless. They explain that we suffer from a lot of things because we are convinced of a permanent self. Nevertheless all things are impermanent, we tend to understand that our minds are consistent: thus we suffer from all phenomena because of the misunderstanding. In order to avoid suffering, it is essential to accept that there is nothing stable including “self.”

Self Generating Differentiations
The notion of “self” produces some bad influences for monks because “self” differentiate one from another. In other words, “self” separates ourselves into each individual and give each identity. In Buddhism, each existence is just like a shadow generated through the surroundings. It is by far different from a solid existence because our existences are connected with all our surroundings which is totally changeable. Since all environments are continually changing, our existences involving them also should be changing as well. Nevertheless, we tend to believe that we are separated from others and each person is an individual apart from the surroundings at least partly. This notion is the misconception in Buddhism and it keeps us from understanding what emptiness is.

Emptiness in Buddhism is being an entity. For the sake of being emptiness, it is necessary to stop separating us from their environments perfectly. Person is connected with everything and emptiness involves everything. In this sense, the altruism in Buddhism is not hypocritical because it is not exactly for others in the context of Buddhism. For Buddhists, the altruism happens since they think all phenomena are selfless and there is no discrimination there.

The Difference of Buddhism from Other Religions
In Buddhism, all compounded phenomena are impermanent and there is no exception even if it is god. God is the solid symbol which compounds of the religion and it is definitely independent from other existences. Buddhism, however, denies such a god because everything is changeable and even god cannot be permanent. In other words, ultimately speaking, Buddhism might deny the use of symbolism. That is, god is an important symbol in any religions and all well-known religions contain such symbols. On the other hand, all phenomena are changing in Buddhism; thus stable symbols cannot exist there. In this sense, Buddhism is different from other religions. While all religions are dependent on the power of symbolism, Buddhism functions without t that of symbolism in deep levels. Although the goal of Buddhism is to achieve Nirvana, Nirvana does not function as the symbol but signifies some physiological and cognitive statement.

Conclusion
To sum up, all phenomena are selfless because “self” is a misconception and there are no stable existences including “self”. Since we assume that there is such a “self,” we suffer from this world. Also, the notion of “self” prevents us from the comprehension of emptiness because emptiness is all beings but “self” splits them. In this sense, self is a symbol because symbols have power to differentiate one from others. In contrast, Buddhism does not function with such symbolism; therefore Buddhism differs from other religions.

02: Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief / Andrew Newberg

“As long as our brains are arranged the way they are, as long as our minds are capable of sensing this deeper reality, spirituality will continue to shape the human experience, and God, however we define that majestic, mysterious concept, will not go away.” (pp.172)

      Gods surely exist—that is what I thought after reading this work. Although I have no particular religion such as Christianity, Buddhism, Shinto, etc., I would like to admit such exists with my pleasure. Nwbrg claims “mystical experience is biologically, observably, and scientifically real” (pp.7) because they actually influence our biological functions, not only our thoughts. Thus, gods exist not only in the sense of metaphysics issues but also of physics.

      In general, we tend to regard them as just metaphysical matters. I also thought metaphysical existences are just concepts from our high-level cognitive process and they did not affect our physical and concrete reality because they are described as imaginable, conceptual and abstract stuffs.

      Supernatural existences, however, are actually relevant to more primitive organs of our brains rather than our high-level cognitive process such as our frontal lobes. Nwbrg points out that our limbic system is the organs to create such supernatural experiences (pp.42).

      According to Nwbrg, the limbic system involves hypothalamus, the amygdale, and the hippocampus (pp.43). In these primitive organs, hypothalamus is especially important and functions as the master controller of the autonomic nervous system (pp.43). In other words, our supernatural experiences are connected deeply with such the master controller of autonomic nervous system and supernatural existences based on our fundamental functions.

     This notion was surprising me because I thought gods were related to our high-processed cognitive area, not our primitive and emotional areas. And yet, supernatural experiences really influence our lives through the emotions and the physical reaction, hence we can believe them strongly.

      Then, why do we create gods through such primitive organs? The simple answer is that supernatural existences are just beneficial for our lives. In ancient ages, nature was terribly complex, uncertain and dangerous for human beings to survive. To simplify and to get coherence, people created gods through their supernatural existences (p137).

      In fact, a data indicates religious beliefs and practices are good for our mental and emotional conditions (p.130). Since we have such organs to experience supernatural things and religious beliefs rooted on the experiences are practically beneficial, god won’t go away.

 Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief / Andrew Newberg

01: The Masks Of God: Primitive Mythology / Joseph Campbell

     Mythology—and therefore civilization—is a poetic, supernormal image, conceived, like all poetry, in depth, but susceptible of interpretation on various levels.(pp. 472)

     Mythology—which we tend to think has already become just antiquity—is the main topic in Masks of God. Different from my pre-understanding, he mentions that mythology is alive and even universal.   According to him, “Man, apparently, cannot maintain himself in the universe without belief in some arrangement of the general inheritance of myth “(pp.4).   My interest, then, changed towards why we need such a mythology in our lives, how mythology functions, and how we can find any mythological things in our societies.

     The reason why we need mythology is shown in this book like this: “a mythology is an organization of images conceived as a rendition of the sense of life, and that this is sense is to be apprehended in two ways.  Namely: 1) the way of thought, and 2) the way of experience” (pp.179). In other words, mythology gives us the meaning of life and our thoughts are based on this mythology! 

     This idea somewhat astonished me because I  got the idea why so many people nowadays are confused of their meaning to live in this contemporary world. Mythology is, in a sense, like a package of the meanings of life. Indeed, mythology is our basic concept of how we perceive the world.

     Mythology, however, does not only give us the meaning of life through the images but also involves some activities. 

     Ritual is one of the most essential elements of mythology and it is also based on it. He describes  “ritual is mythology made alive, and its effect it to convert men into angels” in his work. How do rituals function in human societies then? 

     Shamanism is a good example for describing what rituals are. In fact, shamanism is the most fascinating topic for me in this book. What is shamanism? According to him, Shamans have an occult power over nature and they can use either to harm or to profit his fellow (pp.249). 

     In short, shamans have great abilities to enforce their own powers through their techniques. For example, animism is one of their techniques. Although he never refers the word “animism” in this work, it is obvious that shamans use the concept of animism: the power of symbolism. In this sense, it is interesting for me  that he explains that animal species tend to be stereotyped in comparison with human beings(pp.292) because symbolism involves a sort of stereotyping. 

     Since each animal has the own characteristic, stereotyping animals is easy to understand and useful for shamans. Indeed, he quotes “Every shaman must have an animal-mother or origin-animal” by Pavlov Kapiton.  Different from contemporary urban people, shamans have such a strong connection with animals and they regard animals as the source of their powers.

     This book allowed me to think how we can enforce our powers in our cultures. Before reading this text, I thought shamanism, myths, witchcraft, etc. were just nonsense and superstitions. 

    Now, I am thinking it is quite natural for human beings to have those behaviors in their cultures because it is reasonable to enforce themselves socially, psychologically and physically. 

 The Masks Of God: Primitive Mythology / Joseph Campbell

First of all

Dear everyone who reads this blog

I am a Japanese student who studies in the US as an exchange student from Tokyo.

I've found my English writing is surprisingly poor compared with others and realized I cannot go to any graduate schools unless improving my English writing immediately (not only writing though...).
Then, I decided to start this blog to improve my writing skill and the contents.

Nice to see you and I am glad if you correct my poor mistakes!