(To buddhists) If god gave us ego, why are we ment to get rid of it?

Question

http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php?showtopic=44621

Not enough space allowed to write the full post so i posted it elsewhere.

Answer 1

We are not required to be "rid" of our ego. We are required to cease clinging to it. This means to become selfless, what is often misinterpretted and means becoming a selfless being. This is really nothing more complicated than letting go of our selfishness.

To let go of ego means letting go of those desires and attitudes which bind us to ourselves and makes selfishness desireable to us. We see ourselves as fat, we have wrinkles, we are getting older, these attitudes and others bind us to ourselves so that they cause worry and anxiety...to Buddhists this is one form of suffering.

To cease concerning ourselves about these attitudes then will cease the worry ascociated with them. The suffering will cease.

The concern we as Buddhists have is with suffering and its causes. Ego is one such. There are myriads of others. Clinging to our selfish desires, ideas and attitudes will only cause suffering.. we don't "get rid of it"..rather we get rid of the clinging attitudes for and about it....this is the essence of becoming unselfish...

I'm certain your bible will say something similar about becoming unselfish....

Peace from a Buddhist...

Answer 2

God did not give us an ego...we create it.

Think of a baby. At the moment of birth...there is no ego. No sense of I or of even separateness. Then our parents name us...that is the start of the ego and the hanger onto which we hang the rest of our self-image.

~ Eric Putkonen

Answer 3

Buddhism says nothing about God-it says ego is a product of human desire and desire is the root cause of suffering.

Answer 4

God may have very well given us an ego for our soul evolution. Understand that not many people are born with the ability to be in tune with All There Is and make life decisions that flow with the spirit energy. If you flow with the spirit energy, your life will go smoothly. The problems come when we are not aligned with the cosmic spirit energy because we are going in opposite directions. The farther that we are away from the alignment of the spirit energy, the more the perceptions will get distorted. People become disconnected with All There Is and the ego then becomes distorted as well. For the well to do people, they will believe that they are more superior than other living beings and therefore will do harm to another being (being very selfish, abuse people, kill animals, destroy nature).
In Buddhism:
1). In this plane of existence, the distorted ego is the cause of a lot of sufferings and miseries in a person's life (make less money than another person, someone hurt your pride, don't have better cars, not prettier, not skinnier, not smarter, etc). Look at the people in this world, how many of them are truely happy?
2). Life is an illusion meaning that life here on earth is more like a hologram. It's not what we really truly are. This is not our home. We are trapped here and Buddha is telling us to let go of the things that tie us here. Everything here is not what it seems to be.
3). Life is suffering because as long as we live in this plane of existence, we are not able to escape death, illness, diseases, old age, desires, attachments, etc. If we can't have what we need or want (money, house, family, love, food, etc.), we will get depressed, angry, sad, etc,
4). As for the no-self concept, it doesn't literally mean that we don't exist at all. What we are existing right now is not really our true nature. Buddha is telling us to let go of our ego, and pride that we so strongly define ourselves by. Because of the distortion, ego and pride will be an obstruction for our ascension. It impedes us for spiritually progressing to the next level. We can't progress if we can't let go of the things here.
5). Because of many chaos in the existence of life, many people will lose their balance and become frustrated, depressed, angry, etc. Meditation helps a person to remain balance and not let others affect them. During meditation, It helps people to feel connected with All There Is. The monks meditate daily in trying to remove all the negative energy embedded in them. They want to be free from what ties them to this existence of life. They want to spiritually progress to a higher level.
6). To be enlightened means to be able to once again be connected to All There Is after many years of being separated from our true nature. To be enlightened means that we have graduated from the school of life on this earth. It means that we have overcome all our obstacles and evolved. It doesn't mean that people will lose all their individualities and become nothingness. Otherwise, what's the point with life?
Our purpose here on earth may very well be for soul evolution. But in the spiritual journey, many of us are loss and don't know how to get back home. This is where Buddha comes in and guides us.
It is true that if you think positive, then positive things will come to you- like attracts like. But it's easily said than done. How many people can stay positive most of the times? If people can do that, there wouldn't be so many unhappiness in this world. This is why Buddha gives us tools (meditation) to help us to deal with the difficulties in life.

Answer 5

There is no "god" in buddhism, there is just the nature of the universe.

Answer 6

There is no all controlling one god in Buddhism.
Buddhism is all about understanding.

First learn Buddhism.then u will b able 2 answer your question.

Answer 7

First of all, we have no god. Second of all, the ego is a construct of society, we are born egoless...

Answer 8

Buddhists don't have a god... Who is this question directed to?