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From: Keith (d207-216-60-167.bchsia.telus.net)
In Reply to: no self and dieties question posted by Claudine on June 8, 2005 at 1:10 pm:
"No-self" means that no phenomena exist independently of causes and conditions. Every object is an assembly of parts, each of which can be considered a cause for the object. Whatever process brought them together is also a cause. As long as the conditions are suitable for the parts to remain together, the object exists, but as soon as those conditions are no longer suitable, it will fall apart. Note that the constituent parts themselves are objects and exist in dependence on their own causes and conditions. In other words, no object has a self-nature: nothing exists without cause, and nothing lasts forever. This is distinctly different from Western religions, in which some phenomena (notably God) exist permanently and without cause. Meditational deities are one of the distinct features of Vajrayana Buddhism, of which the Tibetan tradition is the best known. (I think there is at least one Chinese Vajrayana sect, but I don't know anything about them.) They are used as the focus of various meditations, and can be thought of as personifications of various aspects of one's own personality, such as compassion, wisdom, etc. Keith
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