Good morning! Hope you’re hungry. Today, we’re expanding on what we talked about yesterday with the idea of transcendence in both Christianity and Buddhism. For our main course, we’re going to go over the illusion of Self. This bridges the Buddhist concept of Anatta (no-self) and Christian humility. After that, we’ll lighten up a bit and talk about shaving. For dessert, we’ll read part of Alan Watts’ The Way of Zen and talk about it. Wash your hands and set your plate because breakfast is served!

Yesterday we discussed the mutual goals of Christianity and Buddhism and gave a brief contextual example of how each system looks to attain those goals. Today, we’re going to dive into another mutual understanding of these eastern and western philosophies.

Both Christianity and Buddhism describe the same issue using different languages: humanity’s natural misunderstanding is mistaking the ego for the self.

Christians believe that humility reveals the true self. Jesus repeatedly calls for people to give up who they think they are in order to find communion with The Father.

Jesus says, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)

This verse may get confused most of the time because it isn’t explained properly. Your “life” according to Jesus here, is your idea of yourself. Whoever wants to keep their identity and ego will ultimately lose it, while those who let go of their ego for the sake of oneness with God will find their true “self.”

The great Christian philosopher Thomas Aquinas makes an important distinction on this topic as well. Humility does not mean humiliation, the goal isn’t to humble yourself by way of social shame until you lose your ego. Humility means clarity—a truthful realization of our existence being bound by something much greater.

For Aquinas, humility isn’t weakness or shame, it’s the beginning of aligning yourself with the will of God, detaching from that of your own.

“Humility means seeing ourselves as we truly are: as nothing without God, and as possessing nothing except what God has given.” —Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, Q.161

This brings us to Anatta or “no-self.” In Buddhism, this is the insight that what we refer to as our “self” is simply a human construction. Our “self” is a conglomerate of sensations, desires, memories, and attachments. In Buddhism, clinging to this “self” is the root of all suffering (dukkha).

The Buddha says in The Dhammapada 277-279, “All formations are impermanent; all formations are subject to suffering; all phenomena are non-self.”

The Buddha is saying that in order to attain enlightenment, one must realize that there is no “self.” Rather that there is only collection of impermanent processes (skandhas) and your experience is simply part of a flow of awareness that simply comes and goes, as does a wave in the ocean. It is important to note that this letting go of the “self” is a liberation, not a loss.

The Buddhist philospher, Nāgārjuna, who is often seen as the Buddhist version of Aquinas says, “There is no self in the five aggregates, yet the illusion of self arises from clinging to them. When clinging ends, the illusion dissolves.” - Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

To clamp down on this insight, let’s take a quote from our familiar favorite. Our Book Nook has featured him twice so far, he’s a modern Zen master who bridges Christianity and Buddhism greater than anyone.

Thich Nhat Hanh says, “We are not separate from the world; we are the world. When we see there is no separate self, compassion naturally arises.”

The self is a story that ends when we stop telling it, and what’s left is love.

So ask yourself today: “Are we losing the Self, or finding a truer one?”

A barber shaves everyone in town who does not shave themselves. So… who shaves the barber?

If the barber shaves himself, then it wouldn’t be true that he only shaves everyone who does not shave themselves. If he doesn’t shave himself, then he wouldn’t be the barber who shaves everyone who does not shave themselves.

This paradox touches on self-reference, which is a perfect light hearted side dish to our main course this morning. See if you can dig to find the right answer, if it even exists.

Turns out even logic can’t shave itself. 🤣

To go along with our theme of this week, let’s take a line from Alan Watt’s The Way of Zen to consider. This is actually my favorite line.

“Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.”

This can be inferred so many ways. Can one of your hands grab itself? Well that’s what trying to define yourself is like. Everyone “searches for themselves” but the mirror simply doesn’t satisfy the desire.

Maybe that’s why self improvement never quite satisfies. It’s the self trying to fix the self, the handing grabbing itself, teeth on teeth.

Perchance this is why enlightenment is so slippery. The more you chase the “self,” the less there is to find.

So take this all into consideration as you go through today. Try to let go of the idea that you exist separate of everything around you, because we’re all connected. You can munch on this for breakfast, but try not to bite your own teeth…

You ought to thank your friend/colleague/parent/forwarder because they’ve blessed your inbox with something special. Every day we will upload more thought-provoking content that will ignite your day with a sense of mindfulness and thoughtfulness.

Remember to stay mindful, smell the flowers, and take it easy.

Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast

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