The reason why Zen emphasizes meditation so much is precisely because Enlightenment must be experienced directly. Philosophizing about it and trying to define it is not only pointless, but it actually makes things worse because your are creating more concepts instead of liberating yourself from concepts. As for the fart, my interpretation is that a highly revered Zen Master farting would instantly shatter the concepts that the Monk has subconsciously built up in his head about the Master, including ideas of reverence, formality, superiority, and authority. This same realization is then simply extended to Buddhism as a whole and to the entire universe.
@@MrCmon113 I would suppose the enlightenment moment would render you disinterested in desires. or just contended with breathing altogether due to the spontaneous reaction of enlightenment. As a diligent meditator…yes, I can see the possibility of that scenario. Perhaps that’s the difference between an enlightened person and a practicing meditator.
Yes it is. It's basically the premise of The Power of Now. After reading that book my treatment resistant depression that had lasted 4 years disappeared in a week. I still suffer from occasional anxiety (I admit I'm slacking off on my practice) but it has changed my life at 32.
Marsha Linehan took the concepts found in Buddhism and created Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, a year long, extensive program to assist treatment-resistant diagnoses, especially like Borderline Personality Disorder, based on mindfulness. It's quite extraordinary.
Dude, I never comment on anything, but this brought me back to the best college course I ever took, "rhetoric of zen," it was basically just a zen class disguised as a rhetoric course (there was reading and whatnot involved, but we mostly did meditation and group discussion, even called the class our "sangha" or community). My favorite thing I learned from zen is an analogy for the experience of emotions; it's one I've told to everyone who would listen: Emotions are like a wave, they rise and rise, and can be completely overwhelming when they crash over you, but they will wash away like any other wave. If you don't hold onto it, and don't feed it, any emotion (this is usually about negative feelings, but applies just as much to positive ones) will dissipate in as little as one minute. It's a teaching that has helped me be less angry, less annoyed, less dismissive of things that bore me. Thanks for talking about this stuff, I do wish more folks would give zen a shot, or at least pick up a little something from it. Anyway, don't forget: when hungry, eat; when tired, sleep.
I had some interest in Buddhism in general for a long time, and even visited local Buddhist temple occasionally, but it was never too deep into that. Now, thanks to video and your comment, I'm pretty interested in Zen specifically, I think, I have to dig deeper into it. Thank you and Mostly True a lot
I became enlightened after taking 200micrograms of LSD. I looked for shelter, then for my jacket, then drank, then ate something, then looked for poon.
That "holding on with your mind" and "not letting go" explained with the short example at the beginning is so incredibly understandable, I can't even express it in words. It took people years to truly understand the most basic things like this and you explained it perfectly in about 30s. You are incredibly capable of teaching even though you probably think of yourself as "just" a content creator. (I might be wrong though) Anyways, thanks for finding ways to explain the most in itself basic but difficult stuff in the easiest way possible
@@dustinturner5546 At least in the order that I've come across these channels, his was the first. And the quality is definitely noticeably higher than the others (not to say that I don't like those either).
Hes only telling the stories how they are written, what he does well however is choosing what information to convey in the small period of time he has to convey it, as well as him understanding the subject matter as best he can and being honest where he isn’t 100% on. I find everything he bought up aides in understanding what he brings up next very well. A lot of content creators understand what they talk about but just cant convey it in as clear a manner as this in the same timeframe
As a Buddhist of 30 years, the first riddle was actually in a child's book on Buddhism that I bought my kid when he was 5! So cool to hear it again. The quote on "Where you go is will you be" is something my dad told me all the time as a kid. I never understood it until I was 30/the early '00s. I was upset and went running but got lost. I had a moment of enlightenment when I realized that I was still upset-still "there". I understood the quote as "You can't run away from your problems", lol, I literally tried!😂 Good video! Give the Tao te Ching a look!!✌🎋~Khong Hao
Imagine the same story in Abrahamic religion: The young monk murders the woman and hacks her to pieces. The old monk praises the young monk for being so determined and punishing the workers of shirk. They then mail the pieces to the different tribes of Israel.
Hey, with your knowledge I was wondering what you think about the quote: "Are you done your breakfast?Then go clean your bowl." Is it about the temporary nature of the breakfast, like, if you're finished it, clean your mind of it because it's done. What's your take?
Our dude has already inspired others with his earlier videos. There's another channel called Chains FR that took upon Mostly's presentation to do high/drunk/funny videos. But once again, Mostly True established himself as the OG with this one. Join the resistance. OHM!
@@technodrome I mean mostly true isn’t really original, the channel feels like a mix of casually explained and Sam O’Nella with the drawing style and the topics
Im going through a break up at the moment of a relationship of 5 years and the when you said “ nothing is permanent and it’s when we trick ourselves that we can hold on to something forever we create the conditions for suffering” it really hit deep, humor aside this video really helped out a lot I needed
Same bro, I'm in rehab now cause I self medicated with heavy drugs, wish I would have stuck with psychedelics and dissociatives(Ketamine etc.). I also wish I wouldn't have started taking psychedelics at the early age I did though, definetely wasn't ready back then.
@@darksu6947 quitting opiates and benzos for sure and I'm working on improving my mental health, after I'll probably start getting high again, within reason though. Definitely not gonna get back on the heavy pharma stuff though. Ironically I started meditation practice again 3 weeks ago after not doing it for years and now this video pops up(which is a topic I would have not expected Mostly True to cover) The practice has already improved my mental health greatly.
This video was just pure joy for me. Especially when you talked about acid and Alan Watts - I was like, holy shit you went through the same path haha. I was always wondering why I like your videos so much! Keep it up
As a big meditator, I think I can answer your question on "process" vs an "object". So the idea with an object is it is a thing that exists - think of a cup. It exists, it's basically static and unchanging. A process on the other hand is a fluid thing over time, and a process arises, abides, and then passes away. The trick with Buddhism is to realize everything you experience is really a process (like sure you can hold a cup, but the sensations of holding it, looking at it, etc change over time).
Nah as someone who's reached enlightenment I still side with Mostly True. Believing that material objects are static and unchanging is what leads to the fallacy of materialism. All things in the world are processes. There is no such as static. When people say that "Self" is a process instead of a thing, what they really mean is "The idea that most people believe that they have a static unchanging soul-like center" is not true, and instead the "Self" is more like a process or a river. The water of a river shapes the earth beneath, and the earth dictates where the water goes. I still use the word "self" in day to day language, but what I mean by it is something very different than what I used to mean.
@@negative1up One can if they have seen it. The issue being, of course, falsehood, and so many “tip of the iceberg” experiences. It is one thing to knock on the door, it is another completely to live in Light. Some get a taste, some Live for extended periods. Others are Light itself. All thresholds of Enlightenment.
Consciousness is multiple processes working together to create your experience. The reason those processes don't count as the self is because there is no one thing you can stop and point to and say "this is me." You experience time as flowing because you are a process. It works the same way a song does. When it's playing, you can experience it, but you can't point to any one note or instrument or lyric and say "this is the song."
Ive had this described as an airplane before, and i usually describe it like a stream of water because i think its a more accurate analogy to consciousness. But this is probably the most immediately understandable way if describing it that ive seen so far. Props man.
Hello, I am a Zen Monk and I wanted to say I greatly appreciate your Buddhism videos, they help teach and inform the world to this wonderful tradition. Palms together, thank you.
Amazing how Zen and Stoicism, from different parts of the world, converge on the path to inner peace and wisdom. Both emphasize living in the present, self-mastery, and practicality in their own unique ways. Truly, timeless wisdom knows no boundaries.
I’m a practicing zen Buddhist. I’ve also got a dog named nanner dog that was recently diagnosed with cancer. Ever since I got scared by a nanner cancer scare, I’ve been meditating a lot more than usual to stop from being so sad. Before I start, I tell myself that the self is just a thought, and my body is just an arrangement of things. Then I focus on the colors I see behind my closed eyes and I think about how they’re just a thought. I’ll never be ready to lose this dog.
I was, after it happened. I beat myself over her death a few days before it happened (I shoulda..., If only..., Why....) until I finally realized that she was gonna die, and there wasn't a point in torturing myself before or after the event. RIP Ruby, a broken dog for a broken heart. You were the best friend I coulda had in that time of my life. I'm glad we had what we had.
As a Zen buddhist monk: knowing about the self never leeds to knowing it. Dogen Zenji said: "To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things." Long story short, we dont say that you dont exist, just that you dont exist as a separeted being. Generally, elwe thouth that we are drops of water, forgeting that we are simply water. PS: Sorry, english its not my native tong
One really wonderful description of Enlightenment that I read in Sapiens by Yuval Noah-Harari, was that it was an intense form of acceptance. Our natural inclination is to be happy, and wish for this happiness to continue. Likewise, when we're sad, we want that sadness to be over. These wants are the base of a painful cycle, of fleeting happiness and prolonged pain. Instead, you learn to disconnect and stop *wanting*. I found that really profound.
I love your religious/philosophical videos. It’s like so wise and informal, but your voice makes it sound like I’m being told this wisdom by a dude who just hit a fat dubie. Pass that, so I can get some of that sweet sweet enlighten sustenance 😙💨
i used to be in a co-ed buddhist fraternity in college. our pledge program consisted of community service and retreats to different buddhist temples of different sects. It was really cool and I learned a lot about myself, my mental health was also pretty good from it. I’ve fallen off my meditation and mindfulness practice since leaving college but am slowly building it back. The concepts of non-attachment and non-duality were some of my favorite to learn about. We referred to the group and each other as sangha.
Mostly True is an excellent project but BY FAR the best content this man has put together has to be his content on Buddhism. He has a way of effectively communicating the ideas behind a grounding philosophy to a young western audience that is overconcerned with progress, material possessions, happiness, and dopamine hits. Right on man, keep up the good work. :-)
Thank you for this video. I love eastern philosophy. Core concepts from Zen Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism are REALLY difficult to explain to anyone in my generation. But they are so fundamentally valuable that I wish I could share this stuff with more people. But it always takes 1000+ words to articulate and breaks their brain 😂
In my understanding and experience the reason why many Zen stories are structured like jokes is that process of enlightenment itself is kind of a joke. Or more precisely, life is a joke and when you get the joke is when you become enlightened. That's why it's spontaneous and no one can make you enlightened, the same way no one can make you get a joke. At the end of a day you have to get it yourself. Others can only give you hints.
If enlightenment is a permanent state of non-dual awareness, I don't think anyone has ever become enlightened and those, who have gotten close, probably did so gradually.
Nah, as fun as the stories and stuff are and while they can be helpful the core of Zen is Zazen or "just sitting," meditation. It's a physical exercise, not a mental one like some other meditations. There's nothing particular you're supposed to think about or not think about or focus on. You just rigidly maintain a certain posture, lotus or half-lotus, on the floor, staring at the most non-descript wall possible, for as long as you can manage every day for years. All the stories, jokes, and philosophy in Zen are solely to help practitioners of Zazen understand what they're experiencing and not freak out and to work with it, they have no real value on their own.
@@ForeverMasterless In that case it's completely useless, because you can easily sit on your butt all day thinking about football or thinking about history or planning out an essay.
“A lot of the teachers don’t take themselves too seriously,” is so true about Zen masters. Alan Watts literally used to call himself a “philosophical entertainer.”
Thank you for spreading awareness of enlightenment to a Western audience… while staying uniquely hilarious and goofy. Keep making the world a better place man 😄☯️☮️🧘🏻♂️✨
Wow, those meditation techniques helped me fall asleep basically on command last night. I've been struggling hopelessly to get good sleep over the last month. Bravo!
which one? trying to empty my head wont do a trick and it actually makes it harder to fall asleep. I'm doing quite the opposite thing, use imagination to tire mind which seamlessly goes to dream state. I can't pinpoint a moment when my conscious thoughts goes into autopilot.
Good job man, this teach people how to meditate. I always thought its difficult to explain people how to do it. But ur making it clear in a entertaining way.
First comment on what I’m sure is to be yet another excellent video ♥️ I love your content and I’m really excited to watch your channel grow to the top, keep doing great work my friend ~Alastor
Dude I can't tell you how many videos I've watched on Buddhism and you nailed it, it was so easy to follow all the way through. Thank you so much man, stay blessed.
I‘m impressed with your skill to simplify this without losing its message. Especially the part of attachment to ideas and thoughts of a reduced self is wonderfully explained and even enriched my understanding of ego in a way because of the practical picture you drew. I‘m interested in concepts and ideas of buddhism for some time and I really admire the philosohy, its depth and clarity. I can find it within myself. Keep up the good work!
I recommend reading Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. It touches on a number of things, but a lot about what a self is. A companion book called I am a Strange Loop also exists. I recommend it as well!
Okay but like this is geniuinely the most informative 'storytime animation' styled animation on youtube. Like this feels like a lecture, but for the people and not for the scholarly. This is something that is easy to understand and genuinely entertaining. Well done! You earned my subscription
Dude we literally just started the "personhood and the self" chapter of our textbooks in my philosophy class and this brings such an interesting take on an amazing topic!
I love the part about suffering. I’m not saying I’ve been a Zen Buddhist my whole live or I’ve been enlightened, but I’ve always seen concepts such as ideas on non-self and suffering in Zen Buddhism as just facts, even when I didn’t know they were a thing. When I was a kid, I thought everyone agreed with the concepts I knew of buddhism, but there was one thing that keep everyone from it and I just haven’t found it. I learned more, reach adulthood and still didn’t see really anything I found wrong with Zen Buddhism, then again, I didn’t know anything but little zen buddhism things. Then I had a discussion in the last few months with my girlfriend that I guess you could say lead to a sort of enlightenment. The discussion started with how when I hear any statistic or naming of people who died due to an injustice or disaster, I end up tearing up. I said that even when watching shows and a background character clearly gets hurt, I struggle to watch, and all of that lead to a couple topics: physical attachments and losing people. It got to her talking about a plush she usually held when she was sad, and I told her I never really had any sentimental items or childhood toys. They asked how I didn’t have at least toys, and I explained that me being the youngest of 4 in a low income family made it that I never truly owned anything till I was way older, everything was a hand-me-down or will be one for my sibling’s future kids. I thought that was common, but she starting naming off dozens of things she still has, cares for, and uses now from over 10+ years and that baffled me. And I started kinda thinking out loud, saying how I never really longed or mourned for people who died or left me, at most I felt bad for a while about missed opportunities. She was doubtful and then asked how I felt about my grandparents, who both passed away within the last 2 years. I said that I did feel sad, I wish to have spoken more and not been as selfish, but that I don’t really feel that bad now. I miss them both, but I knew that they’d pass eventually, as we all do and in my mind I already accepted that. She was really confused by that, and I end up kinda committing more to that and saying that even if I died at that very moment, and I was capable of caring, I would be disappointed for a while, all that I could have done and learned of others and the world, but I’d get over it, cause I’m dead, there’s nothing that will fix that. While saying that, I felt severely confused, I felt that I was somehow both the most empathetic yet the most psychopathic mf in the world. I always was capable of sympathizing and empathizing completely, sometimes a little too much, I clearly am capable of feeling. I had a couple similar discussions before with my mom about the physical attachments, and I denied I didn’t feel for anything, then I couldn’t name any item, the question I used to think of stuff was, “what would you save if your house was burning down.” I noticed any item I did have was just expensive things that would be difficult to replace, nothing sentimental like a ring or necklace. after a moment of confusion with my girlfriend I had an epiphany, I don’t really see anything as permanent, I am capable of caring, but my attachments are never develop from the feeling or thought of them being there for me at all moments or of being mine and mine alone, it was from taking advantage of opportunities to learn about people, have special experiences that can only happen with certain people or to improve myself as a person. I felt that I fully understood the concept of suffering in Buddhism and have little to no struggles with it.
If anyone has a different perspective that may go against what I believe, I’d love to hear and discuss it, I would love to see how I could improve or reinterpret
Dang, I feel like I should've looked into buddhism a loooong time ago. I slowly overtime learned this these things on my own, would've caused a lot less suffering and stuff if I had this kinda mindset earlier on in my life... oh well, it's in the past =p
Hi future me, I hope ur happier and better than the old me because that is most imp. It’s also imp that you and spencer are still dating and if it’s a long time since you’ve read this it’s imp that you’re married. Love, past self
I have never had any previous knowledge of Buddhism (I’m Christian), but I do the breathing technique to fall asleep for as long as I can remember. Once my mind starts to drift, I focus on my breathing and thinking about nothing or just the color black until I fall asleep. Awesome video, one of my favorite channels on TH-cam!
Yes! This kind of reminds me of how Uncle Iroh in avatar uses knowledge from each land. Even if you have faith in a certain religion there is wisdom in learning how the other religions work
I'm really glad that you learned how to do that with falling asleep, a good majority of people who are in the west are caught up with the notion of "going to sleep". When you're a child and it's late and your parent sees you up they tell you "go to sleep" as if it's something that you do.
There is no self, think of it this way, the idea of a self, is like a wave at the beach, continuously coming and going, but never solid. If it is continuously changing, coming going, but never solid, then it's not "solid" or real. Anything that is constantly moving and changing, which is basically everything, then it's just a concept, and non-existent. Everything is impermanent, therefore, so are thoughts and the ''self" that thinks the thoughts. Just a wave coming in and out, in and out. Yes, the idea of you, doesn't exist, because you have no ego, or "I" there is no me vs you, we're all one, one collective unified consciousness. Everything from the trees, to the birds, the insects, to land and aquatic animals, to humans, is consciousness. All the four elements are all tied in and collectively one.
Buddhism can be simplified; 1. We all suffer. 2. To end suffering, think correctly. Nothing is needed after you learn these two nobel truths. Thinking correctly leads you to the rest of the 8 fold path. Thinking correctly will solve your problems that lead to suffering. The relationship between quantum physics and Buddhism is irrelevant. Reincarnation is irrelevant. God is irrelevant. Dont waste time on irrelevant issues.
You did a pretty decent job at explaining this. I absolutely never expected this channel to go so in-depth on something so theological. Though, in my opinion the self is that everything is the same, but the self is what we can control.
Self, from what I studied in psychology, is basically you, not a physical entity but you, who comes to being from like experiences and shit, and also the result of the feedback about yourself you get from other people.
My little brother told me the significance of Zen Buddhism and how it is portrayed in my favorite video game series the Legend of Zelda, especially in Skyward sword and breath of the wild, causing me to take a bit more of an interest in it! I've been everywhere in terms of philosophy and I honestly want to read more into it but zen, being that I enjoy the concept of taking things a step at a time, focusing on the entity that is you, self, experiencing what's outside of you and not feeding into every little moment and losing yourself in said moments just gives a more 'lax vibe, if that made sense. Your vid, Yet again just gives the sense of fun and education all in one and it doesn't rides into either which side.. keep this magic up bro I'm always looking forward to the next!
I want to shed some light on the debate on the problem of the self. To do this, I wanna share an argument from W.T Stace’s book “Mysticism and Philosophy” and combine it with an analogy from Alan Watts, to show how flexible the idea of the self is, yet how flexible it can still be. Then I'm going to give a phenomenological perspective of Zen's idea of self. Mostly True, your analogy of how thoughts form the idea of the “false-self'', is very similar to how Stace describes the “false-self” Stace uses “subjective experiences” which are basically the same to thoughts. To follow your and Stace's arguments, once you annihilate one's thoughts as an ego, one is left with nothing. One is left with a characterless, attributeless consciousness/ego. While your argument ends there Stace’s argument goes further by saying that if two people were to annihilate all thought and end up at this attributeless consciousness, there is nothing different about those consciousnesses since they are attributeless. The analogy by Alan Watts is that of cookies (he also made an analogy using paint splattered against the wall). While all cookies are a slightly different shape and contents (this can be seen as the thoughts of an individual, the “False-Self”), the cookies are all… cookies, they are of the same origin (the attributeless consciousness). From this analogy however, how does one account for the separateness of the cookies? How does one account for the actioner or the thinker of thought? One can say that there is no-self because they are all cookies. Or one can say that there is a self but it is or is part of the cookie batter as a whole. In my own opinion, it is not so much about a self, but rather how that self, or lack thereof, is interpreted. If it sees the self as part of the cookies (like monism/pantheism/panentheism), then it is consistent and the differences in interpretation does not matter. Again, that last bit is my opinion. Now, in defense of Buddhism and Specifically Zen, from a phenomenological perspective, there is no-self, meaning that, from an outside perspective there may be a self (the actioner or the thinker) but from an experiential perspective, there is not. Here is my argument. Even if you identify yourself with the thinker and not the thoughts, the act of identifying is a thought-process. If you truly identified as the thinker, the conscious living being, you would not need to think this, and therefore would not attach themselves to either actions of being conscious. By doing this, one acts spontaneously. Now if one acts spontaneously, like a reaction? Is that really you, the consciousness individual? If you do something unconsciously, is that you? Yeah, unconscious you might say yes, consciousness you would say no because consciousness you recognize is a thought. So one can't really “be” the actioner/ conscience because they intrinsically are the actioner/ conscience. It's not a thing, it just…is. So from an experience perspective, there is no self.
Everyone can clap one hand, just slap your fingers into your pal and there will be a very quiet clap, or slap your fingers to your wonderful opposable thumb, even just one finger. No intention of offense, just thought it was an "impossible" question with a pretty simple solution.
The sound of one hand clapping can be understood if you think in terms of the gesture. The answer is you doing a gesture, there is a gesture which represents what would happen if one hand tried to clap, the gesture of the hand just waving back-and-forth making no noise, the gesture/action resulting in “nothing” is what explains the answer. The man put the shoe on his head and walked away as an answer to “show me zen or I’ll cut this cat in half”
A monk ask an elder monk"how do i achieve enlightenment?" the elder says "first you must ligma" and the student says "whats ligma?" the elder replies "Deez nutz" and the monk reaches enlightenment
My view on the differences between self and soul is that soul can be viewed as core and self is referring to your being as a whole. soul is considered permanent, for example when someone references the soul of something they’re usually talking about the core, something that is continuous and does not change - is consistent Where as Self is a being as a whole, best way I can describe it is say you get a hair cut, you are still yourself wether or not you have gotten that haircut. being in a self mindset would work in the same way. - forever changing yet not consistent and not inconsistent being being/self is physically immeasurable.
That definition would imply that zen buddhists don't believe in the "soul" as we would define it and actively refute it's existence as an illusion that causes suffering.
I think that the point of a lack of "self" is to be able to let go of ideas that you previously identified with and take on new ones that make more sense. So many people are threatened by a fact that contradicts something they have taken to heart (i.e. incorporated as part of the "self").
I had someone tell me one day "I always expect the worst when I go into work. That way I'm never disappointed." And I often find that this puts me in a state of Zen whenever I'm stressed out about my work.
The mind produces the thoughts and emotions. You are simply the observer. The same observer and consciousness that animates everyone and everything. The Christian alone in a room says it is God and I alone in the room. The Buddhist says in the same scenario that God is the only one in that room
It seems like Zen Buddhism simply boils down to “I Am”. In The Bible, God describes Himself to Abraham as, “I Am that I Am.” I honestly don’t believe that as coincidence. And after all, our perception of God is also a conglomerate of concepts applied to a theoretical non-noun. Nonetheless, very intriguing.
If you didnt read it, I recommend you Siddhartha, of Herman Hesse. Talks about the self and the enlightment and its modern philosphy. Also, great video!
The reason why Zen emphasizes meditation so much is precisely because Enlightenment must be experienced directly. Philosophizing about it and trying to define it is not only pointless, but it actually makes things worse because your are creating more concepts instead of liberating yourself from concepts.
As for the fart, my interpretation is that a highly revered Zen Master farting would instantly shatter the concepts that the Monk has subconsciously built up in his head about the Master, including ideas of reverence, formality, superiority, and authority. This same realization is then simply extended to Buddhism as a whole and to the entire universe.
Hewo
@@ambikadangol8253 Hewwo
whats anime uproar doing here?
@@miguelsilva9085unironically I think the correct response to your query is yes.
Because "you" do "have" enlightenment.
I think it's a lot like the mother Russia jokes.
In mother Russia bicycle ride you!
In zen buddhism enlightenment has you!
That version of the "self" is more or less how I've come to see myself after many quiet nights of introspection
Enlightenment comes to those who want more from life, because they realize how little they actually need to live
A diligent meditator can be happy in life with just hookers and cocaine, because he recognizes attachment as temporary appearances in mind.
@@MrCmon113 I would suppose the enlightenment moment would render you disinterested in desires. or just contended with breathing altogether due to the spontaneous reaction of enlightenment. As a diligent meditator…yes, I can see the possibility of that scenario. Perhaps that’s the difference between an enlightened person and a practicing meditator.
That's perfect .... You mentioned attachment and suffering ... 😊
It's like poetry...
I recently started meditating and its amazing. People should do it more
Love this video!
Another chill philosophy TH-camr in the rolodex
subscribed. This helped a lot.
Yeah acid and Allan!
Doing acid and listening to alan watts is pretty sick though
To answer your question: no - a process is not a thing. There is no self and noone has ever experienced a self.
This is the guy who brought us 7 levels of high. What a beautiful timeline.
Thanks for giving me that timeline! Essentially
Brooo lmao there’s no way
this is him, but on acid it seems
If you count the sober state it's the eight folded path.
lol that’s why i’m here and since i’m high i just caught myself laying down with this at background noise lmao
Man. My therapist pitched this as grounding. Helpful for panic attacks, sepressive episodes, or really any emotional crisis
Yes it is. It's basically the premise of The Power of Now. After reading that book my treatment resistant depression that had lasted 4 years disappeared in a week. I still suffer from occasional anxiety (I admit I'm slacking off on my practice) but it has changed my life at 32.
If your therapist was talking about Mostly True, they were correct.
Marsha Linehan took the concepts found in Buddhism and created Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, a year long, extensive program to assist treatment-resistant diagnoses, especially like Borderline Personality Disorder, based on mindfulness. It's quite extraordinary.
I do similar videos on my TH-cam channel lol
@@notize8246 nah bro u just a copy cat
Dude, I never comment on anything, but this brought me back to the best college course I ever took, "rhetoric of zen," it was basically just a zen class disguised as a rhetoric course (there was reading and whatnot involved, but we mostly did meditation and group discussion, even called the class our "sangha" or community).
My favorite thing I learned from zen is an analogy for the experience of emotions; it's one I've told to everyone who would listen: Emotions are like a wave, they rise and rise, and can be completely overwhelming when they crash over you, but they will wash away like any other wave. If you don't hold onto it, and don't feed it, any emotion (this is usually about negative feelings, but applies just as much to positive ones) will dissipate in as little as one minute. It's a teaching that has helped me be less angry, less annoyed, less dismissive of things that bore me. Thanks for talking about this stuff, I do wish more folks would give zen a shot, or at least pick up a little something from it.
Anyway, don't forget: when hungry, eat; when tired, sleep.
Thanks for sharing this. I resonate with it deeply. 👍🏻
I had some interest in Buddhism in general for a long time, and even visited local Buddhist temple occasionally, but it was never too deep into that. Now, thanks to video and your comment, I'm pretty interested in Zen specifically, I think, I have to dig deeper into it. Thank you and Mostly True a lot
@@vileflesh8295 but their is nothing to dig deeper into
@@Etarlam There is - until there isn't, but they gotta see that themselves
I became enlightened after taking 200micrograms of LSD. I looked for shelter, then for my jacket, then drank, then ate something, then looked for poon.
That "holding on with your mind" and "not letting go" explained with the short example at the beginning is so incredibly understandable, I can't even express it in words. It took people years to truly understand the most basic things like this and you explained it perfectly in about 30s.
You are incredibly capable of teaching even though you probably think of yourself as "just" a content creator. (I might be wrong though)
Anyways, thanks for finding ways to explain the most in itself basic but difficult stuff in the easiest way possible
This dude sets himself apart from the other creators that have been making similar content
@@dustinturner5546 At least in the order that I've come across these channels, his was the first. And the quality is definitely noticeably higher than the others (not to say that I don't like those either).
I mean, he literally just spoke the story verbatim, but I think he does deserve props for choosing to include it at the beginning of this video.
Hes only telling the stories how they are written, what he does well however is choosing what information to convey in the small period of time he has to convey it, as well as him understanding the subject matter as best he can and being honest where he isn’t 100% on. I find everything he bought up aides in understanding what he brings up next very well.
A lot of content creators understand what they talk about but just cant convey it in as clear a manner as this in the same timeframe
Did you really think he came up with the story at the beginning? 🤣
As a Buddhist of 30 years, the first riddle was actually in a child's book on Buddhism that I bought my kid when he was 5! So cool to hear it again. The quote on "Where you go is will you be" is something my dad told me all the time as a kid. I never understood it until I was 30/the early '00s. I was upset and went running but got lost. I had a moment of enlightenment when I realized that I was still upset-still "there". I understood the quote as "You can't run away from your problems", lol, I literally tried!😂 Good video! Give the Tao te Ching a look!!✌🎋~Khong Hao
Imagine the same story in Abrahamic religion: The young monk murders the woman and hacks her to pieces. The old monk praises the young monk for being so determined and punishing the workers of shirk. They then mail the pieces to the different tribes of Israel.
@@MrCmon113
Perfect, haha!😭💀
@@MrCmon113 k maybe thats a little over the top
I've been enjoying the book of chuang ze, it's got quite a few stories that um, put me in the meditative state so to speak.
Hey, with your knowledge I was wondering what you think about the quote: "Are you done your breakfast?Then go clean your bowl." Is it about the temporary nature of the breakfast, like, if you're finished it, clean your mind of it because it's done. What's your take?
I can't remember the last time a channel just burst onto the scene and got so popular like this one. Fully deserved because these videos are great!
Our dude has already inspired others with his earlier videos. There's another channel called Chains FR that took upon Mostly's presentation to do high/drunk/funny videos. But once again, Mostly True established himself as the OG with this one.
Join the resistance. OHM!
@@technodrome I mean mostly true isn’t really original, the channel feels like a mix of casually explained and Sam O’Nella with the drawing style and the topics
Yea pretty much, standing on the shoulders of those before me. I try to not copy salmonella’s topics too much tho
@@MostlyTrue Sam O’Nella was history and science mostly, your topics are pretty different
Im going through a break up at the moment of a relationship of 5 years and the when you said “ nothing is permanent and it’s when we trick ourselves that we can hold on to something forever we create the conditions for suffering” it really hit deep, humor aside this video really helped out a lot I needed
Peace, bro.
Doing acid and listening to Allan Watts...damn I miss doing that
The world would be a much better place if everyone would partake in more drugs of their choice and more Alan Watts.
Same bro, I'm in rehab now cause I self medicated with heavy drugs, wish I would have stuck with psychedelics and dissociatives(Ketamine etc.). I also wish I wouldn't have started taking psychedelics at the early age I did though, definetely wasn't ready back then.
@@Anarkitty420 Rehab is for quitters. You don't want to be a quitter do you? Lol, I hope you're doing ok and I hope everything works out for you dude.
@@darksu6947 quitting opiates and benzos for sure and I'm working on improving my mental health, after I'll probably start getting high again, within reason though. Definitely not gonna get back on the heavy pharma stuff though.
Ironically I started meditation practice again 3 weeks ago after not doing it for years and now this video pops up(which is a topic I would have not expected Mostly True to cover)
The practice has already improved my mental health greatly.
And shrooms with Terence McKenna
This video was just pure joy for me. Especially when you talked about acid and Alan Watts - I was like, holy shit you went through the same path haha. I was always wondering why I like your videos so much! Keep it up
As a big meditator, I think I can answer your question on "process" vs an "object". So the idea with an object is it is a thing that exists - think of a cup. It exists, it's basically static and unchanging. A process on the other hand is a fluid thing over time, and a process arises, abides, and then passes away. The trick with Buddhism is to realize everything you experience is really a process (like sure you can hold a cup, but the sensations of holding it, looking at it, etc change over time).
I see, I think the word object is more accurate as opposed to "thing" which I think I used. In that case it makes a little more sense.
Nah as someone who's reached enlightenment I still side with Mostly True. Believing that material objects are static and unchanging is what leads to the fallacy of materialism. All things in the world are processes. There is no such as static. When people say that "Self" is a process instead of a thing, what they really mean is "The idea that most people believe that they have a static unchanging soul-like center" is not true, and instead the "Self" is more like a process or a river. The water of a river shapes the earth beneath, and the earth dictates where the water goes. I still use the word "self" in day to day language, but what I mean by it is something very different than what I used to mean.
Can someone really claim themself to have "reached enlightenment"?
@@negative1up One can if they have seen it. The issue being, of course, falsehood, and so many “tip of the iceberg” experiences. It is one thing to knock on the door, it is another completely to live in Light. Some get a taste, some Live for extended periods. Others are Light itself. All thresholds of Enlightenment.
@@Maikeru64 The River of Entropy! All things change and flow. Nothing is static, nothing remains.
I like how much your format varies, man. Good stuff.
Holy shit its scramboli!!!!!!!!!!
basedboli
I struggle daily with mental health and this video helps me severely. Thank you dude. You deserve more subs.
Listen to Alan Watts to keep up the good feelings :)
How you doing these days TheMrMtnMan?
I've been doin okay my man. Thank you for checkin in. Need more hero's like you.
@@themrmtnman3774 How you doing man? It's been a while since your last update. I hope you're doing well, or perhaps even, better.
@@luzhang9730 I've been doin alright. Still a little hard to get up somedays and actually stream but I've gotten better about it.
Consciousness is multiple processes working together to create your experience. The reason those processes don't count as the self is because there is no one thing you can stop and point to and say "this is me." You experience time as flowing because you are a process.
It works the same way a song does. When it's playing, you can experience it, but you can't point to any one note or instrument or lyric and say "this is the song."
So succinctly put!!
Ive had this described as an airplane before, and i usually describe it like a stream of water because i think its a more accurate analogy to consciousness. But this is probably the most immediately understandable way if describing it that ive seen so far. Props man.
I like the idea of being a song. And then... silence
Hello, I am a Zen Monk and I wanted to say I greatly appreciate your Buddhism videos, they help teach and inform the world to this wonderful tradition. Palms together, thank you.
Your channel is growing so fast and I'm so happy to see it. Such quality content at such a nice pace. Here's to 1M, cheers
Amazing how Zen and Stoicism, from different parts of the world, converge on the path to inner peace and wisdom. Both emphasize living in the present, self-mastery, and practicality in their own unique ways. Truly, timeless wisdom knows no boundaries.
Except Buddhism brings you enlightenment and eternal equanimity, and stoicism blows.
You are my favourite youtube channel, and I always love your uploads. Thanks for still keeping up the amazing videos! Im not a bot btw
Lol
sounds like something a bot would say
I wish i was a bot...
Same tho
@@user-hj8yf3hr4i aren't we all according to this video?
I’m a practicing zen Buddhist. I’ve also got a dog named nanner dog that was recently diagnosed with cancer. Ever since I got scared by a nanner cancer scare, I’ve been meditating a lot more than usual to stop from being so sad. Before I start, I tell myself that the self is just a thought, and my body is just an arrangement of things. Then I focus on the colors I see behind my closed eyes and I think about how they’re just a thought. I’ll never be ready to lose this dog.
I was, after it happened. I beat myself over her death a few days before it happened (I shoulda..., If only..., Why....) until I finally realized that she was gonna die, and there wasn't a point in torturing myself before or after the event.
RIP Ruby, a broken dog for a broken heart. You were the best friend I coulda had in that time of my life. I'm glad we had what we had.
Have you cleaned his bowl? Namaste
As a lay Chan Buddhist, I can say this is entirely correct! Especially when you peace out straight up in the lotus position. It's fun at parties.
As a Zen buddhist monk: knowing about the self never leeds to knowing it. Dogen Zenji said: "To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things."
Long story short, we dont say that you dont exist, just that you dont exist as a separeted being. Generally, elwe thouth that we are drops of water, forgeting that we are simply water.
PS: Sorry, english its not my native tong
EDIT: congrats for the video. i will definitely use it to teach new practitioners
One really wonderful description of Enlightenment that I read in Sapiens by Yuval Noah-Harari, was that it was an intense form of acceptance. Our natural inclination is to be happy, and wish for this happiness to continue. Likewise, when we're sad, we want that sadness to be over. These wants are the base of a painful cycle, of fleeting happiness and prolonged pain. Instead, you learn to disconnect and stop *wanting*. I found that really profound.
I love how clearly you've laid this out whilst keeping to the theme of the channel. Keep up the good stuff man!
I love your religious/philosophical videos. It’s like so wise and informal, but your voice makes it sound like I’m being told this wisdom by a dude who just hit a fat dubie. Pass that, so I can get some of that sweet sweet enlighten sustenance 😙💨
😆
i used to be in a co-ed buddhist fraternity in college. our pledge program consisted of community service and retreats to different buddhist temples of different sects. It was really cool and I learned a lot about myself, my mental health was also pretty good from it. I’ve fallen off my meditation and mindfulness practice since leaving college but am slowly building it back. The concepts of non-attachment and non-duality were some of my favorite to learn about. We referred to the group and each other as sangha.
NEVER STOP LISTENING TO ALAN WATTS. Also, give Spinoza a listen some time
Your videos are as equally educational as entertaining. Truly only an individual who has reached enlightenment could create such a medium of content
For some reason Zen keeps calling me back ...
Mostly True is an excellent project but BY FAR the best content this man has put together has to be his content on Buddhism. He has a way of effectively communicating the ideas behind a grounding philosophy to a young western audience that is overconcerned with progress, material possessions, happiness, and dopamine hits. Right on man, keep up the good work. :-)
I’ve practiced amateur meditation for a few weeks now. When I’m done it’s like my mind is clear, it’s incredible, it’s legitimately amazing.
The past half hour i was waching your videos and discovered your channel and i love them and now there is another one amazing
Thank you for this video. I love eastern philosophy. Core concepts from Zen Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism are REALLY difficult to explain to anyone in my generation. But they are so fundamentally valuable that I wish I could share this stuff with more people. But it always takes 1000+ words to articulate and breaks their brain 😂
In my understanding and experience the reason why many Zen stories are structured like jokes is that process of enlightenment itself is kind of a joke. Or more precisely, life is a joke and when you get the joke is when you become enlightened. That's why it's spontaneous and no one can make you enlightened, the same way no one can make you get a joke. At the end of a day you have to get it yourself. Others can only give you hints.
If enlightenment is a permanent state of non-dual awareness, I don't think anyone has ever become enlightened and those, who have gotten close, probably did so gradually.
Nah, as fun as the stories and stuff are and while they can be helpful the core of Zen is Zazen or "just sitting," meditation. It's a physical exercise, not a mental one like some other meditations. There's nothing particular you're supposed to think about or not think about or focus on. You just rigidly maintain a certain posture, lotus or half-lotus, on the floor, staring at the most non-descript wall possible, for as long as you can manage every day for years. All the stories, jokes, and philosophy in Zen are solely to help practitioners of Zazen understand what they're experiencing and not freak out and to work with it, they have no real value on their own.
@@ForeverMasterless
In that case it's completely useless, because you can easily sit on your butt all day thinking about football or thinking about history or planning out an essay.
“A lot of the teachers don’t take themselves too seriously,” is so true about Zen masters. Alan Watts literally used to call himself a “philosophical entertainer.”
Thank you for spreading awareness of enlightenment to a Western audience… while staying uniquely hilarious and goofy. Keep making the world a better place man 😄☯️☮️🧘🏻♂️✨
+1 ❤️
This video is fantastic. It's really thought-provoking and also hilarious.
I think thats the opposite of what he wanted you to have, not thoughts but no thoughts 😆
hi
Sup
Hi
Wow, those meditation techniques helped me fall asleep basically on command last night. I've been struggling hopelessly to get good sleep over the last month. Bravo!
which one? trying to empty my head wont do a trick and it actually makes it harder to fall asleep. I'm doing quite the opposite thing, use imagination to tire mind which seamlessly goes to dream state. I can't pinpoint a moment when my conscious thoughts goes into autopilot.
Good job man, this teach people how to meditate. I always thought its difficult to explain people how to do it. But ur making it clear in a entertaining way.
First comment on what I’m sure is to be yet another excellent video ♥️
I love your content and I’m really excited to watch your channel grow to the top, keep doing great work my friend ~Alastor
I don't think ur first lol
But still right
Dude I can't tell you how many videos I've watched on Buddhism and you nailed it, it was so easy to follow all the way through. Thank you so much man, stay blessed.
I‘m impressed with your skill to simplify this without losing its message. Especially the part of attachment to ideas and thoughts of a reduced self is wonderfully explained and even enriched my understanding of ego in a way because of the practical picture you drew. I‘m interested in concepts and ideas of buddhism for some time and I really admire the philosohy, its depth and clarity. I can find it within myself. Keep up the good work!
That moment when you are a brain inside a skeleton body
"Thank you to ZEN BUDDHISM for sponsoring this video."
I recommend reading Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. It touches on a number of things, but a lot about what a self is. A companion book called I am a Strange Loop also exists. I recommend it as well!
there both on my list, although ive heard I am a Strange Loop is a little more accessible to people like me who dont know much about Math
@@MostlyTrue Strange Loop is definitely more accessible and to the point than GEB
Okay but like this is geniuinely the most informative 'storytime animation' styled animation on youtube. Like this feels like a lecture, but for the people and not for the scholarly. This is something that is easy to understand and genuinely entertaining. Well done! You earned my subscription
Dude we literally just started the "personhood and the self" chapter of our textbooks in my philosophy class and this brings such an interesting take on an amazing topic!
I love the part about suffering. I’m not saying I’ve been a Zen Buddhist my whole live or I’ve been enlightened, but I’ve always seen concepts such as ideas on non-self and suffering in Zen Buddhism as just facts, even when I didn’t know they were a thing. When I was a kid, I thought everyone agreed with the concepts I knew of buddhism, but there was one thing that keep everyone from it and I just haven’t found it. I learned more, reach adulthood and still didn’t see really anything I found wrong with Zen Buddhism, then again, I didn’t know anything but little zen buddhism things. Then I had a discussion in the last few months with my girlfriend that I guess you could say lead to a sort of enlightenment. The discussion started with how when I hear any statistic or naming of people who died due to an injustice or disaster, I end up tearing up. I said that even when watching shows and a background character clearly gets hurt, I struggle to watch, and all of that lead to a couple topics: physical attachments and losing people. It got to her talking about a plush she usually held when she was sad, and I told her I never really had any sentimental items or childhood toys. They asked how I didn’t have at least toys, and I explained that me being the youngest of 4 in a low income family made it that I never truly owned anything till I was way older, everything was a hand-me-down or will be one for my sibling’s future kids. I thought that was common, but she starting naming off dozens of things she still has, cares for, and uses now from over 10+ years and that baffled me. And I started kinda thinking out loud, saying how I never really longed or mourned for people who died or left me, at most I felt bad for a while about missed opportunities. She was doubtful and then asked how I felt about my grandparents, who both passed away within the last 2 years. I said that I did feel sad, I wish to have spoken more and not been as selfish, but that I don’t really feel that bad now. I miss them both, but I knew that they’d pass eventually, as we all do and in my mind I already accepted that. She was really confused by that, and I end up kinda committing more to that and saying that even if I died at that very moment, and I was capable of caring, I would be disappointed for a while, all that I could have done and learned of others and the world, but I’d get over it, cause I’m dead, there’s nothing that will fix that. While saying that, I felt severely confused, I felt that I was somehow both the most empathetic yet the most psychopathic mf in the world. I always was capable of sympathizing and empathizing completely, sometimes a little too much, I clearly am capable of feeling. I had a couple similar discussions before with my mom about the physical attachments, and I denied I didn’t feel for anything, then I couldn’t name any item, the question I used to think of stuff was, “what would you save if your house was burning down.” I noticed any item I did have was just expensive things that would be difficult to replace, nothing sentimental like a ring or necklace. after a moment of confusion with my girlfriend I had an epiphany, I don’t really see anything as permanent, I am capable of caring, but my attachments are never develop from the feeling or thought of them being there for me at all moments or of being mine and mine alone, it was from taking advantage of opportunities to learn about people, have special experiences that can only happen with certain people or to improve myself as a person. I felt that I fully understood the concept of suffering in Buddhism and have little to no struggles with it.
If anyone has a different perspective that may go against what I believe, I’d love to hear and discuss it, I would love to see how I could improve or reinterpret
Dang, I feel like I should've looked into buddhism a loooong time ago. I slowly overtime learned this these things on my own, would've caused a lot less suffering and stuff if I had this kinda mindset earlier on in my life... oh well, it's in the past =p
Hi future me,
I hope ur happier and better than the old me because that is most imp. It’s also imp that you and spencer are still dating and if it’s a long time since you’ve read this it’s imp that you’re married.
Love, past self
Huh?
i really enjoy your content and hope u do more of it and wish the best for you :D
I have never had any previous knowledge of Buddhism (I’m Christian), but I do the breathing technique to fall asleep for as long as I can remember. Once my mind starts to drift, I focus on my breathing and thinking about nothing or just the color black until I fall asleep. Awesome video, one of my favorite channels on TH-cam!
Yes! This kind of reminds me of how Uncle Iroh in avatar uses knowledge from each land. Even if you have faith in a certain religion there is wisdom in learning how the other religions work
I'm really glad that you learned how to do that with falling asleep, a good majority of people who are in the west are caught up with the notion of "going to sleep". When you're a child and it's late and your parent sees you up they tell you "go to sleep" as if it's something that you do.
@@dustinturner5546 huh, I never thought of that!
Thanks, I'm gonna adjust my speach and see if something changes
Mostly true posts really make the day better
There is no self, think of it this way, the idea of a self, is like a wave at the beach, continuously coming and going, but never solid. If it is continuously changing, coming going, but never solid, then it's not "solid" or real. Anything that is constantly moving and changing, which is basically everything, then it's just a concept, and non-existent. Everything is impermanent, therefore, so are thoughts and the ''self" that thinks the thoughts. Just a wave coming in and out, in and out. Yes, the idea of you, doesn't exist, because you have no ego, or "I" there is no me vs you, we're all one, one collective unified consciousness. Everything from the trees, to the birds, the insects, to land and aquatic animals, to humans, is consciousness. All the four elements are all tied in and collectively one.
amazing vid 😁
You haven’t even watched it yet tho
@@Maco777111 no I hadn't but it's by him it's obviously gonna be amazing
@@Maco777111 that's what I was gonna say
@@CrispyCaucassion bro I just watched it and these are the first words that popped into my head
@@CrispyCaucassion amazing video
Buddhism can be simplified;
1. We all suffer.
2. To end suffering, think correctly.
Nothing is needed after you learn these two nobel truths. Thinking correctly leads you to the rest of the 8 fold path. Thinking correctly will solve your problems that lead to suffering. The relationship between quantum physics and Buddhism is irrelevant. Reincarnation is irrelevant. God is irrelevant. Dont waste time on irrelevant issues.
You did a pretty decent job at explaining this. I absolutely never expected this channel to go so in-depth on something so theological. Though, in my opinion the self is that everything is the same, but the self is what we can control.
What about a general with 100 soldiers ready to die under his order 24/7, would this be a single self identity
There’s nothing theological about this, which is the beauty of it
Self, from what I studied in psychology, is basically you, not a physical entity but you, who comes to being from like experiences and shit, and also the result of the feedback about yourself you get from other people.
My little brother told me the significance of Zen Buddhism and how it is portrayed in my favorite video game series the Legend of Zelda, especially in Skyward sword and breath of the wild, causing me to take a bit more of an interest in it! I've been everywhere in terms of philosophy and I honestly want to read more into it but zen, being that I enjoy the concept of taking things a step at a time, focusing on the entity that is you, self, experiencing what's outside of you and not feeding into every little moment and losing yourself in said moments just gives a more 'lax vibe, if that made sense. Your vid, Yet again just gives the sense of fun and education all in one and it doesn't rides into either which side.. keep this magic up bro I'm always looking forward to the next!
I want to shed some light on the debate on the problem of the self. To do this, I wanna share an argument from W.T Stace’s book “Mysticism and Philosophy” and combine it with an analogy from Alan Watts, to show how flexible the idea of the self is, yet how flexible it can still be. Then I'm going to give a phenomenological perspective of Zen's idea of self.
Mostly True, your analogy of how thoughts form the idea of the “false-self'', is very similar to how Stace describes the “false-self” Stace uses “subjective experiences” which are basically the same to thoughts. To follow your and Stace's arguments, once you annihilate one's thoughts as an ego, one is left with nothing. One is left with a characterless, attributeless consciousness/ego. While your argument ends there Stace’s argument goes further by saying that if two people were to annihilate all thought and end up at this attributeless consciousness, there is nothing different about those consciousnesses since they are attributeless. The analogy by Alan Watts is that of cookies (he also made an analogy using paint splattered against the wall). While all cookies are a slightly different shape and contents (this can be seen as the thoughts of an individual, the “False-Self”), the cookies are all… cookies, they are of the same origin (the attributeless consciousness).
From this analogy however, how does one account for the separateness of the cookies? How does one account for the actioner or the thinker of thought? One can say that there is no-self because they are all cookies. Or one can say that there is a self but it is or is part of the cookie batter as a whole. In my own opinion, it is not so much about a self, but rather how that self, or lack thereof, is interpreted. If it sees the self as part of the cookies (like monism/pantheism/panentheism), then it is consistent and the differences in interpretation does not matter. Again, that last bit is my opinion.
Now, in defense of Buddhism and Specifically Zen, from a phenomenological perspective, there is no-self, meaning that, from an outside perspective there may be a self (the actioner or the thinker) but from an experiential perspective, there is not. Here is my argument. Even if you identify yourself with the thinker and not the thoughts, the act of identifying is a thought-process. If you truly identified as the thinker, the conscious living being, you would not need to think this, and therefore would not attach themselves to either actions of being conscious. By doing this, one acts spontaneously. Now if one acts spontaneously, like a reaction? Is that really you, the consciousness individual? If you do something unconsciously, is that you? Yeah, unconscious you might say yes, consciousness you would say no because consciousness you recognize is a thought. So one can't really “be” the actioner/ conscience because they intrinsically are the actioner/ conscience. It's not a thing, it just…is. So from an experience perspective, there is no self.
Your videos are always a treat, man. They come sparsely but they always have an impact.
Everyone can clap one hand, just slap your fingers into your pal and there will be a very quiet clap, or slap your fingers to your wonderful opposable thumb, even just one finger. No intention of offense, just thought it was an "impossible" question with a pretty simple solution.
As someone who got trained to meditate this is very accurate!!! Thank you for your explanation ❤️
This guy has the best way to visually represent the message he's conveying. 11/10 love all your videos
The sound of one hand clapping can be understood if you think in terms of the gesture. The answer is you doing a gesture, there is a gesture which represents what would happen if one hand tried to clap, the gesture of the hand just waving back-and-forth making no noise, the gesture/action resulting in “nothing” is what explains the answer.
The man put the shoe on his head and walked away as an answer to “show me zen or I’ll cut this cat in half”
Dude your editing is as good as the story itself in this video. Excellent.
A monk ask an elder monk"how do i achieve enlightenment?" the elder says "first you must ligma" and the student says "whats ligma?" the elder replies "Deez nutz"
and the monk reaches enlightenment
Great video as always 🥂👌
The video got uploaded a minute ago
@@nick5865 ong
@@nick5865 you just always know😏
All Chinese emperors were narcissist so we had to end the dynasty for a hundred years. Now I’m starting it again with humble noble actress singer
My view on the differences between self and soul is that soul can be viewed as core and self is referring to your being as a whole.
soul is considered permanent, for example when someone references the soul of something they’re usually talking about the core, something that is continuous and does not change - is consistent
Where as
Self is a being as a whole, best way I can describe it is say you get a hair cut, you are still yourself wether or not you have gotten that haircut. being in a self mindset would work in the same way. - forever changing yet not consistent and not inconsistent being being/self is physically immeasurable.
That definition would imply that zen buddhists don't believe in the "soul" as we would define it and actively refute it's existence as an illusion that causes suffering.
No one says "a minute ago I wish the feeling of toilet water splashing on my butt".
So a self doesn't exist other than as a character in stories.
How do you reincarnate without soul ??
I think that the point of a lack of "self" is to be able to let go of ideas that you previously identified with and take on new ones that make more sense. So many people are threatened by a fact that contradicts something they have taken to heart (i.e. incorporated as part of the "self").
I had someone tell me one day "I always expect the worst when I go into work. That way I'm never disappointed." And I often find that this puts me in a state of Zen whenever I'm stressed out about my work.
That’s a Stoic concept.
The mind produces the thoughts and emotions. You are simply the observer. The same observer and consciousness that animates everyone and everything. The Christian alone in a room says it is God and I alone in the room. The Buddhist says in the same scenario that God is the only one in that room
It seems like Zen Buddhism simply boils down to “I Am”. In The Bible, God describes Himself to Abraham as, “I Am that I Am.” I honestly don’t believe that as coincidence. And after all, our perception of God is also a conglomerate of concepts applied to a theoretical non-noun. Nonetheless, very intriguing.
well put
You should do the next video on Tibetan Buddhism
of couuuurse mostly true knows about buddhism. that does just make sense. this is cool!!is cool!!
"The Soul is the crossroad of consciousness and personality"
- Me, drunk
“How does a man clap with one hand?” Stares at my left hand for 8s…. Hits little brother: huh a slap.
i'm so confused right now....or is my "self" that is confused??? ..... dude...
When you have Borderline Personality Disorder and you’ve apparently been Anatta your whole life 😂
Watching this High as shit just amazes me.
“You gotta stop doing acid and listening to Alan watts” that hit me at home
The beginning part was a bar
The Koan is actually,
"You know the sound of two hands clapping, what is the sound of one hand?"
That first tale must be the oldest burn in recorded history, I’m not sure Jr. skeleton ever recovered from it even after centuries passed
OH FINALLY, my power to clap with one hand will be of use!
First video from you I have seen i enjoyed it very much tought it was funny and entertaining and also learned me some new stuff so thank u
The best video ever explaining zen that I've seen. In a very accessible way. Well done mate!
@mostlytrue whats the background music playing 1:27
If you didnt read it, I recommend you Siddhartha, of Herman Hesse. Talks about the self and the enlightment and its modern philosphy. Also, great video!
i agree with you, siddhartha was amazing. also if you havent read Demian by hesse you should give it a go :)