HadutheEarthdog
First off is the idea of impermanece. Don''t get me wrong as I am fully aware of what it means by impermance but how exactly does that apply with your relationship to others close to you?
I began the Buddhist path several months before I dated by last boyfriend. He would ask me curious questions about Buddhism and eventually the notion of impermanence and non-attachment came up. He asked me, "If you strive for non-attachment, then does that mean that you can't love me?"
I said to him, "I can and do love you. If I had attachment, I would be so caught up in trying to keep you, in trying to hang onto that feeling of love that I would never rest in it. I would never be able to simply love without the fear of loss or the pain that comes with your absence. Non-attachment is essential liberation from all the trappings of suffering, but with all the benefits of happiness and their causes."
Soon after that he became a Taoist.
xd HadutheEarthdog
Also the idea of Ego and non-self do not make sense to me as well. Does this imply that I have to act as plain as day and stay straightforward in my life never expressing myself for who I am?
No, not at all. Buddhism simply would not work if we were all required to become automatons. The Buddha himself said that Enlightenment for everyone is different, because we are all different people. Yes, we all have the capacity for Buddhahood, but that doesn't mean that we reach nirvana in the same boat.
If anything, dissolving the wanting/hating/ignorant ego allows you to be more like yourself than you could be with it in the way. The ego wants itself to be permanent and fixed, it wants to be exalted, it wants, it wants, it wants. It's so busy wanting that it can't be bothered to simply "be" as it is. When your ego settles down, you are given the opportunity to be yourself, perfectly, and unafraid. The genuine, immaculate you. With all of your perfect and wonderful faults and strengths.
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