Buddhist Practices for Widening the “I:” Taking Other Beings as One’s Body

During the last luncheon colloquium of the school year, Dr. Matthew Vale, a soon-to-be Assistant Professor in the Theology Department here at Boston College, presented a lecture entitled, “Buddhist Practices for Widening the ‘I’: Taking Other Beings as One’s Body.” Vale began his presentation by inviting us to reconsider how we think about our “self,” noting that our conceptions of selfhood are less firm than we realize. To make this point, he argued that our concept of self is built purely on habit. He uses everyday examples such as phantom limbs, phantom phone vibrations, and the rubber hand illusion to show how complex our conception of what is included in our body/self truly is. He also referenced rarer examples of somatic experiences wherein an individual reports feeling an unexplained pain or sensation and later realizes their sensation corresponded to the injury/harm of a loved one. He used these examples to suggest that our sense of “self” is much more expansive than just our own physical bodies. 

After complexifying the idea of the self, Vale examined why this matters to Buddhism and the world on a larger scale. He argued that developing a more profound sense of our connectedness to others can play an important role in recognizing and alleviating others’ suffering. Vale connected this to Jesus’ pronouncement in Matthew’s Gospel about recognizing his presence in others and working to alleviate their suffering: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). Vale noted how St. Maximilian Kolbe, who gave up his life for a fellow concentration camp prisoner during World War II, profoundly embraced Jesus’ message in this action. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session about how expanding the self can benefit one’s conception of the Christian faith and how the call to expand our “self” is an ongoing process.