Question
I have a question that makes me terribly anxious. I do not know whether this is yet another fear of losing "my self," which I nevertheless know is imaginary, or fear of foolishly going too far and throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as they say, making "reincarnation" as a bodhisattva impossible. If you would be so kind as to answer the following, I would be extremely grateful.
I understand perfectly that there can be no personal self, that we are perpetual change both physically and in thought. That there is no one to grasp is something I know and have verified. Thus I live my life with a self particular to this existence, going its own way.
But if we perfectly realize no-self, should we understand that after the body's dissolution it would no longer be possible to take another body, for lack of a self that had vanished? In that case, nothing and no one would be able to "return" for a bodhisattva mission?
But if we can return, then who or what initiates that choice to return if there is no self?
Anonymous
Answer from Master Kosen
The ego is without noumenon, and the noumenon is without ego. Love is the indispensable bond between all things; it cannot be accomplished by force.
Kosen