A conversation with a Buddhist monk

[funkychunkymonkey]

Greetings friends, I was curious. Does anybody know if Buddhists are actually awake? I know from my experience (past tense) that there is a constant in existence. Whatever is outside of the visual field I guess that void which exists. But I spoke with this monk and he’s so insistent on there being no self. Even if the self is no self paradoxically. Idk I left the conversation very confused. Anybody have anything to say on this point. I can’t help but feel disappointed. When I asked Forrest Knutson about the void “everything vanished, even myself, everything I ever knew went poof gone, but I still was, I just wasn’t anything.” He said yes! I did it (I know I have a lot more to go in my journey) but my brain feels scrambled…. Would love to hear your guys views. 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Im watching Leo’s gaslighting video lol 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Could I be wrong? Is there no self? Know what fuck this im starting from scratch. 

[Ninja_pig]

I think that everyone has a different definition of 'awake', and Buddhists generally don't meet Leo's high standards. To Zen Buddhists, being awake means to see through the illusion of the self and understand existence as pure void. To leo, being awake means an infinite awareness and direct experience of reality as pure consciousness, and eventually the understanding that you are god. These two experiences seem to be distinct to me, although some would argue they are the same.

I personally have had this void experience that your monk was saying he had. I was able to achieve it after a few months of "do nothing" meditation. The point that all experience is just void. There is no real substance to reality at all. If you get skilled enough at meditation you can turn off your mind's reality making function and then you just experience pure nothingness while still being conscious, and absent of a sense of self. Check my "Why Reality is Imagination" article a more detailed explanation of that. All of reality is just ideas, and the self is purely a concept. It's not real. I also recommend Fred Davis on YouTube for a good explanation and guidance towards awakening.

[Davino]

Buddhism is a drop in God's Ocean

Yet the drop is Infinite in itself and reflects the whole

Yet what about the Ocean that is a drop in God and reflects all Oceans?