New Year, Old Self

A new year invites us to make a fresh start. We make resolutions to better ourselves and our lives. We want to lose weight, to stop smoking, to learn something new. Sometimes we find ourselves making the same resolutions a year later.

There's nothing wrong with trying to be a better person. But as Buddhists we recognize that thinking of ourselves as a flawed, autonomous entity in need of fixing is missing who we really are. The Buddha taught that the true self is perfect and complete. But because we don't know who we are, we re-build the small, needy, imperfect self over and over again.

The 13th century Ch'an master Zhijian asked his student, Rujing, "How can you purify what has never been defiled?" Rujing later said, "There has never been defilement -- what would you purify? If you can get out of your old nest you will find a way."

Let's add to our lists of resolutions, "Get out of my old nest."