Hi Helcat,

I discovered Buddhism 33 years ago. It was a life altering experience. I don’t believe or disbelieve in a soul. The same goes for God. They, along with most concept, belong to the myriad of things I have no reason to believe, or not believe. Having said that, I am ‘very’ suspicious of my ego, which I suspect has a vested interest in telling me how unique, different, special, etc. I am. As humans, the primary way we evaluate the world, what we find threatening, good, bad, right, wrong, evil, true, fearful, the list is endless, is by comparison. It’s a survival mechanism, and as such is always skewed toward our self interest …. ego, as you say. I see no reason to believe that I’m special or unique;  different …. sure, but, so is everything else.

…… john

Hi Peter,

I found this book, Hara, the Vital Centre of Man, on the net. It’s here https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Hara.pdf

if anyone is interested. I’ve read a few books, that touch on the subject: Zen and the Ways, Zen Training, the Hagakura, A Second Zen Reader, but they’re all either vague, or difficult to follow. Hopefully I’ll be able to follow this one.

THANKS for this. ….. john

Hi Helcat,

Well, I’m very fortunate to be married to an excellent cook, who makes her own bread, with the minimum of salt, to keep my blood pressure under control; so I imagine that the old ways of perserving food (with salt) would probably have killed me before now. So, if I’m not good to her, I will probably notice a marked increase in the saltiness of my food ;- )

……. john