I used the word "Higher Self" because in the mid 90's Alex Collier said we were going to "discover the Higher Self".Eelco wrote:ehm As far as I can tell Buddha never talked about higher selves. He did not refer to himself as "a higher self" he referred to himself as The Tathagata which can be translated as:
What I get from this is that they are all humanly attainable states of being. Although we possibly want to deify those qualities. They are allready present.The word's original significance is not known and there has been speculation about it since at least the time of Buddhaghosa, who gives eight interpretations of the word, each with different etymological support, in his commentary on the Digha Nikaya, the Sumangalailasini:[1]
- He who has arrived in such fashion, i.e. who has worked his way upwards to perfection for the world's good in the same fashion as all previous Buddhas.
- He who walked in such fashion, i.e. (a) he who at birth took the seven equal steps in the same fashion as all previous Buddhas or (b) he who in the same way as all previous Buddhas went his way to Buddhahood through the four Jhanas and the Paths.
- He who by the path of knowledge has come at the real essentials of things.
- He who has won Truth.
- He who has discerned Truth.
- He who declares Truth.
- He whose words and deeds accord.
- The great physician whose medicine is all-potent.
No Higher self needed
The definition you posted of "Tathagata" indicates the state of higher self. Tathagata being Truth and Truth being related to the ultimate and underlying consciousness for all phenomena.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tath%C4%81gata" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Tathāgata (Sanskrit: [t̪əˈt̪ʰɑːɡət̪ə]) is a Pali and Sanskrit word; Gautama Buddha uses it when referring to himself in the Pāli Canon. The term is often thought to mean either "one who has thus gone" (tathā-gata) or "one who has thus come" (tathā-āgata). This is interpreted as signifying that the Tathāgata is beyond all coming and going – beyond all transitory phenomena. There are, however, other interpretations and the precise original meaning of the word is not certain.[1]
The Buddha is quoted on numerous occasions in the Pali Canon as referring to himself as the Tathāgata instead of using the pronouns me, I or myself. This may be meant to emphasize by implication that the teaching is uttered by one who has transcended the human condition, one beyond the otherwise endless cycle of rebirth and death, i.e. beyond dukkha.
That which is "beyond all transitory phenomena" and "transcended the human condition" and "beyond the endless cycle of rebirth and death" is we as spirits existing beyond the conditions that give rise to perceivably phenomena.
Here is a good example of what that higher self is. At
3:30 min mark, consciousness is explained as a flow, as a river.
4:00 min mark, your soul could in essence be reincarnated here on Earth as multiple individuals, both human and non human.
12:10 your soul mate is in esense you expresing yourself in a different body.
Twin Flames and Soul Mates (Do they Exist?) - Teal Swan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqrGkQOpmAs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;