There's this joke about a Buddhist that walks up to a hot dog stand. The hot dog vendor asks "what do you want?" The Buddhist says "make me one with everything." [laugh here]
Today, on my Google homepage, I found this on my "Buddhist Thought of the Day" widget:
"There seem to two kinds of searchers: those who seek to make their ego something other than it is, i.e. holy, happy, unselfish (as though you could make a fish unfish), and those who understand that all such attempts are just gesticulation and play-acting, that there is only one thing that can be done, which is to disidentify themselves with the ego, by realizing its unreality, and by becoming aware of their eternal identity with pure being."
I have a buddy who's into Shamanism. They have a very similar approach to ego. My question is this: what is the difference between ego and individuality?
In Christianity, individuality is encouraged and celebrated. Paul says we are all different parts of the same body, and that we should value our specific gifts. Theologically speaking, freedom of will is very important. It's one of the few ways you can begin to deal with the problem of evil.
At the same time, Paul encourages us to "die to self." He says "there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." The Elohist claims we are all created in the image of God.
So in Christianity there appears to be this tension between individuality and being one. Let the countless Hallmark Cardesque analogies about how snowflakes are all made of water but each one is unique roll.How does this work in the East? Is diversity/individuality celebrated? On what terms?
4 Comments:
Snowflakes
Um, methinks there is not a lot of individuality promoted among these monks -- unless, perhaps, one of them has a secret bellybutton piercing or has painted his toenails a daring shade of pink:
Monk, monk, monk, monk...and look, another monk!
God punishes everyone for someone else's sin; then he saves them by killing an innocent victim.
Whoo, Christianity.
as far as ironic statements go, that one, mr/ms anonymous, is mildly clever. it's only _mildly_ clever because it does not fully engage its subject matter; it's pretty reductive. but that's the nature of jokes! they reduce, abstract, blow out of proportion, and take out of context. i fully acknowledge that my joke about the buddhist and the hot dog vendor was equally reductive.
as a christian, however, i felt rather slighted reading your joke. i'm pretty sure you didn't intend to slight me. it has served to make me aware of the fact that my joke about the buddhist might have insulted someone. i sincerely apologize to anyone i may have offended, and thank you mr/ms anonymous for the wake-up call.
sincerely,
captain hyper-sensitivity
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