Deciding on Your Own

I study Chinese thought in the Sui, Tang, and the Five Dynasties periods (approximately from 7th to 10th century A.D.) with a focus on Chan Buddhism.
Incidentally, I am not the type of person who checks the weather before going out and then wears an extra layer or takes an umbrella just in case. As a child, I often lost my temper when Mother started nagging me about that.
- It is cold – you must wear a jacket! What about the other children in your class? What a shame!
- How can you tell that I’m cold? Those children in my class are just a nameless crowd for you! And it is you who are ashamed, not me!
Mother was exasperated.
But now that I remember it, that fight followed the principles of Chan Buddhism to the letter. Chan Buddhists strive to achieve enlightenment in order to practice and embody principles laid down by dogmatics. I can imagine someone yelling: “So you can decide for yourself?! But if you question the nature of Buddhism, why don’t you question the nature of self?!” But no one in a Chan training hall would ridicule the decision to think for oneself as childish.