Bwddho-Taoist and Western Metaphysics ofthe Self' 85

counter; but it can be a success only if we are open and flexible enough to
bring into play dimensions of being that touch the very structure of our ex-
periences, though unrecognized in ordinary perception. This calls for a
novel metaphysics that might be forbidding for the westerner; but at any
rate, the difierence here between the East and West is shown especially in
tcrrns of the crucial concept of the self as tbe pivot of all experiences,
The concepts of being and becoming, in the East as well as the West, are
basic m our perception and understanding. They are in short fEle pillar meta-
physical concepts in which our modes of perception are framed. Yet, inter-
estingly enough, many in the West are unaware that these concepts d o not
exhaust the categories in which we structure the basis of our epistemology.
One of the basic reasons for the limitcd maaphysical orientation in being
and becomislg may be traced back to the Greek tradition wbereby Plato ar-
gued cogently for the absolute status of things in epistemology. In so doing,
Plato, by design, separat-ed being and becoming and made the turmer more
real than the latter. His argumentation was quite cogent and persuasive; in-
deed, anyone would be enthralled by the characteristics of permanence and
absolutism over impermanence and relativism. So, from the outset, a mcta-
physics based on the concept of being became the guide and suppon of all
empirical, rational, and logical understanding. Meanwhile, the concept of be-
coming or change (impermanence) was relegated to a secondary position be-
cause of its relative and dependent nature. In consequence, the bifurcation of
nature in terms of being and becoming or, more precisely, bring over becorn-
k g 3 began early in the Western tradition and has continued to the present
without arousing serious questions concerning its function and value.'
Along the way, thinkers were given free rein to concentrate on the perma-
nent and mduring entities with which the ernyirico-rational modes of per-
ception function most effectively. The results have been dramatic in all disci-
plines, but especially so in the scientific and related fields.
It. is interesting to note that, on tl-re whole, we still think and act Platoni-
cally owing to the fact that Plato's metaphysics lends itself readily to the em-
pirical and rational scheme of things. But time moves on. The modern period
began with the g x a t cosmologieal shift from Ptolernaic theory to Copcrni-
can theory and the subsequent development of Newtonian physics, which,
in turn, opened up further doors. And at the turn of this century, another
momentous devefopmcnt occurred in the form of Einsteinian physics, The
movement from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics is not only remarkable
but dramatic in the sense that it now required a real shift in our perceptual
orientation, Gom the nature of being to becoming or from absolutism to rel-
ativity. Although Einsteinian phys&s opened t i e way to a truly dynamic
wortd, cosmologically as well as experientially, fEle public, ironically, was ill-
prepared to accept it, much less to accommodate its nafurc of things. Indeed,
paradoxically and anachronistically, most of our ordinary perception of
fkixlgs is still anchored in a Newtonian world, That is to say, we still perceive