|
fear
THE FIVE SKANDHAS
by Chogyam Trungpa
To understand more precisely the process of confirming
the solidity of I and other, that is, the development of
ego, it is helpful to be familiar with the five skandhas, a
set of Buddhist concepts which describe ego a five-step
process.
The first step or skandha, the birth of ego, is called
“form” or basic ignorance. We ignore the open, fluid, and
intelligent quality of space. When a gap or space occurs in
our experience of mind, when there is a sudden glimpse of
awareness openness, absence of self, then a suspicion arise:
“Suppose I find that there is no solid me? That possibility
scares me. I don’t want to go into that. That abstract
paranoia, the discomfort that something may be wrong, is the
source of karmic chain reactions. It is the fear of ultimate
confusion and despair. The fear of the absence of the self,
of the egoless state, is a constant threat to us. “Suppose
it is true, what then? I am afraid to look.” We want to
maintain some solidity but the only material available with
which to work is space, the absence of ego, so we try to
solidify or freeze that experience of space. Ignorance in
this case is not stupidity, but it is a kind of
stubbornness. Suddenly we are bewildered by the discovery of
selflessness and do not want to accept it; we want to hold
on to something.
|