a spinoza note: the ego is the per-sona of the self

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The Ego is the Persona of the Self: Spinoza and Zen

There is a difference between self and ego. Sometimes Buddhist speakers appear to confuse both terms or use them interchangeably. Once we pears through the per-sona, the cover that is the ego, we reach our true selves. The ego is built as a patchwork of outside influences, it is definitely not us. The self is pure and waiting, it waits...

A Spinoza Note: In the area of the control of the mind over the emotions, the Zen message resounds a Spinozistic note. Spinoza argued for seeking the absolute freedom of the mind unhindered by the control that the emotions are able to exert over it. Spinoza, as in Zen, divided the self into mind and emotions and it is either one or the other when it comes to true happiness in life. The joy of a life free from the oppression of the unruly and autonomous emotions is the bliss or enlightenment that Spinoza argues for in his Ethics. Spinoza, in contrast to Zen, did not see the need to offer a system for the attainment of freedom. In a sense, Spinoza believed that people are able to see and perceive the rationality of the divide mind-emotions and the reason why the mind must prevail. That rational comprehension was enough to make rational people understand and exert control and restrain over the emotions. It is the geometric evidence of reason that proofs the need to accept mind over emotions, not a Zen-like practice of practical applications of non-dual meditation. Spinoza spoke of a third kind of knowledge, one that resembles an intuitive perception of an enlightened state of being. Geometrical contemplation leads to that state of bliss. Spinoza, in this case, through the system he used to explain and justify his views, helps Zen to do the same.