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Talk: 20050305-Larry_Rosenberg-IMSRC-self_knowing_learning_how_to_live_part_4-6095 Leandra Tejedor.json Start_time: 00:51:13 Display_question: Can the ego be employed in a productive way? Keyword_search: ego, Buddha, enlightened, PhD., suffering, meditation, meditator, IMS, nobody, love, patience, dualism, Jewish, Rabbi, emptiness, janitor Question_content: Questioner: (inaudible) I'm wondering about employing the ego on this path, it seems like it’s almost inevitable in some respects, the ego gets involved. Larry: Absolutely. Questioner: So can the ego be employed in a productive way? Larry: It is being employed in a productive way. That's what brought you here. Questioner: But of course, I’ve learned some things since I’ve been here over the week, but going forward from here? Larry: Ah yeah. Can I give you…this is one…this is my sense, it's not just mine, of the way the Buddha taught. There have been many, many enlightened people. Buddha is one of them, one of the great ones. There have been other great ones. He may be one of the really greatest teachers, because he left for us a legacy, of very concrete things to do, and help, even 2600 years from now. Even if you had no commentary, you could try to piece together something that could be helpful. I had to do that, there were no teachers, when I first started out, and it still was helpful, in my ignorance, just reading it, and making goofy sense out of what it was, it still was helpful. Here's what I'm trying to say. It's a very realistic teaching, step number one. Of course, we're egocentric, we all start that way, and then we get this high teaching, and we all want to get a PhD, before learning how to write. It doesn't work that way. Break_line: So, step number one, we understand that. We're trying to get free. We're trying to get rid of suffering. Who is doing that? I am. But it's a wanting, that's in the service of… it sort of self-destructs, but not right away. So that you need energy. It has to come from someplace. And you want to be a good yogi, right? You want to be a good meditator. At a certain point, you realize the problem of meditation, is the meditator. That's the whole problem, because the meditator, is just the ego camouflaged, as a yogi. That's all it is. It’s sort of…it is plastic. Whatever you value, it'll go there. But then as the practice unfolds, it gets more, and more refined. So, you let go of more coarse attachments, and then there are still some others that are less coarse, and then they're let go of, and then they're let go of, and then they're let go of. And so, the freedom that we're talking about, you don't walk, come to IMS, and try to practice with that. It would be an impersonation. Yet… so it's to become nobody, happy is the person who's nobody. I mean, real love exists, when I'm not there. I'm getting in the way. Me. Real beauty is available, when me is not there. I don't know if I'm making sense, but I'm trying. So be patient with yourself, but notice the egocentric energy that's driven, like take out the garbage, or how you handle your child, and you can see where that's coming from. In that moment, you've started to use modern language, deconstruct that sense of me, a little bit. And little by little, it starts to melt down. Break_line: As one teacher puts it, buddhas, and sentient beings, that is, people who are not Buddha, not awakened. It's like ice and water. We start out as ice. It's the same substance, only it winds up being water. So, the awareness is melting down this hardness, this coldness, this rigidity, this separation, this dualism. And so, at a certain point, you realize meditation is really understanding the meditator, because that's me trying to do this, beautifully. Break_line: I'm going to end with a Jewish story. This is the High Holidays, and I know some of you have heard this more than once. If you want to tiptoe out the back door, my feelings won't be hurt. It's a good story. That's why I learned from it again, and again. And everyone is all dressed up, including the Rabbi, and the assistant Rabbi. They're in their finery. And the Rabbi gets up and says to the whole congregation on this pact, he says, I'm a nobody. I'm nothing. I'm just a zero. And everyone is just so moved and impressed. Our Rabbi is so humble. He's just nothing. Oh, isn't he wonderful? Then the assistant Rabbi, also beautifully dressed, gets up, says the same thing. I'm also just emptiness. There's nothing here. I'm just a nobody going nowhere, blah. And everyone says, oh, we are so lucky to have these two. Our assistant Rabbi. Then the janitor comes in in his overalls, and he says, I'm nobody too. I'm just a complete emptiness, a zero, and nobody. And then the Rabbi, and the assistant Rabbi, irate, turn around and says, look who thinks he's a nobody. Okay. End_time: 00:56:40
