Paasbaas

Im a teacher myself, and have for a few years now studied zen buddhism.

Now, I will not claim to be an expert, merely a dabbler. But I would say that self-awareness and detachment are not the same. In order to see distinctions, you must look from both sides ie. see things subjectively aswell aswell as objectively. To do anything else will leave an incomplete picture, or in other words, emotions and ideas are as 'real' as say a chair or my whiteboard.

The explanation here, if it can even be called such, is ofcourse in reply to Nimetics post. I /think/ your question about detachment is really a question about objectivity vs. subjectivity in a direct relation to your circumstances (but please corrent me if I misunderstood - english is my second language).

I live in the world, not outside of it. I cannot exist outside the world. However, as my mind can percieve this world as a whole, or perhaps an ilusion of it (Nobody is aware of EVERYthing, when I say world here I mean my world, all I know of it, all that affects me, all that I see) it might be said to be outside of it. When looking at the world I do not see my mind. This leads to an entirely diffrent debate along the way, of the division between mind and nature, or body, but wether THAT division is an illusion or not is, well, sidetracking and I'm doing enough of that already.

As always with Zen debates, however, I find it hard to bring my view of things into words. Instead, I'd like to qoute a short story. You'll forgive me any errors in translation, I'm sure.

"Hogen, who was a chinese Zen teacher, lived alone in a small temple in the countryside. One evening, a travelling group of four monks arrived at his temple and requested permission to build a fire in his compound to warm themselves. While they built the fire (implying permission was readily granted) Hogen heard them argue about objectivity and subjectivity. He went to them and said: 'There lies a large rock. Do you consider it to exist within or without your mind? (perhaps I should say "inside or outside".)' One of the monks replied: 'Everything is an embodiment of my mind. Therefore, that rock exists in my mind.' To wich Hogen replied: 'Your head must feel very heavy, if you carry a rock like that around in your mind'."

EDIT: Oh look. Its on the page of stories aswell (stories, not koans). 76. The Stone Mind. Perhaps a more accurate rendition than my rough translation.