AnswerofQuest

ionno.
2.

Whenwel ookint
othequesti
onofsel
fandident
it
yinspir
it
ualpr
act
ice,
wef
indi
trequi
resust
o
under
standtwodist
inctdi
mensi
onsofnosel
fandtruesel
f.

Whent heBuddhaconf r
ontedthequest i
onofident i
tyont henightofhi senli
ghtenment ,
hecame
tot her adi
caldi scover
yt hatwedonotexi stassepar at
ebei ngs.Hesaw i ntot hehuman
tendencyt oidentifywit
hal imitedsenseofexi stence.Thenhedi scoveredthatt hi
sbel i
efinan
i
ndi vi
dualsmal lselfi
sar ootil
lusi
on.Itcausessuf feri
ngandr emov esusfrom thef reedom and
my stery of li
fe.He descr ibed this asint
er dependent ar i
sing,t he cycli
calpr ocess of
consciousnesscr eat
ingidentit
ybyent eri
ngf orm,r espondingtocont actoft hesenses,t hen
attachi
ngt ocer t
ainforms,feeli
ngs,desi
res,i
mages, andactionstocr eateasenseofsel f.

Whocr eatedt heself?:Int eaching,theBuddhanev erspokeofhumansasper sonsexistingi

n
somef ixedorst ati
cway .Instead,hedescr i
bedusasacol lect
ionoff i
vechangingpr ocesses:
theprocessesoft hephy si
calbody ,offeel
ings,ofperceptions,ofresponses,andoft heflowof
consciousnesst hatexperiencest hem al l
.Oursenseofsel fariseswhenev erwegr aspator
i
dentif
ywi ththesepat t
erns.Thepr ocessofi dent
ifi
cati
on,ofsel ecti
ngpatternstocall“I
,”“me,”
“myself,
”issubt leandusual lyhiddenf rom ourawar eness.Wecani denti
fywi t
hourbody ,
feel
i
ngs, orthoughts;wecani denti
fywithimages, patt
erns, r
oles,andarchety
pes.

Thus,inourcul t
ure, wemi ghtfi
xandi dentif
ywi ththeroleofbei ngawomanoraman, aparent
orachi l
d.Wemi ghttakeourf amilyhistory,ourgenetics,andourher edit
ytobewhowear e.
Somet i
meswei dent i
fywithourdesi r
es:sexual,aesthetic,orspiritual
.Int
hesamewaywecan
focusonouri nt
ellectortakeourast r
ologicalsignasani denti
ty.Wecanchooset hearchetype
ofhero,lover,mother ,
ne’
er -
do-wel
l,adventurer,
clown,ort hiefasouri dent
it
yandliveayearora
wholelif
etimebasedont hat.Totheext entthatwegr aspt hesef alsei
denti
ti
es,wecontinually
havetopr otectanddef endour sel
ves,stri
vet ofulf
il
lwhati slimitedordefici
entinthem,tofear
thei
rloss.

Yet,t
hesearenotourtr
ueident
it
y.Onemasterwi thwhom Istudi
edusedt ol
aughathoweasi l
y
andcommonl ywewouldgraspatnewidenti
ties.Asforhi
snon-sel
f,hewouldsay
,“Iam noneof
that
.Iam notthi
sbody,soIwasneverbor
nandwi l
lneverdi
e.Iam nothi
ngandIam everyt
hing.
Youridenti
ti
esmakeal lyourprobl
ems.Di scoverwhati sbeyondt hem,thedeli
ghtoft he
ti
meless,t
hedeathl
ess.
”

Dif
ferentkindsofsel f:Because t
he question ofidentit
yand sel f
lessnessi ssubjectt o
confusionandmi sunderst
andi
ng,l
etusgoi ntoitmorecarefully.WhenChr i
stiantextsspeakof
l
osingt hesel
finGod,whenTaoi stsandHi ndusspeakofmer gingwit
haTr ueSel fbeyondall
i
dentity
,whenBuddhi st
sspeakofempt inessandofnosel f,whatdot heymean?Empt iness
doesnotmeant hatthingsdon’
texi
st,nordoes“ noself
”meant hatwedon’texi st
.Empt iness
ref
erstot heunderlyi
ngnonsepar
ati
onofl i
feandt hefer
til
egr oundofener gyt hatgivesri
set o
all
formsofl i
fe.Ourwor l
dandsenseofselfisaplayofpatterns.

Anyidenti
tywecangr aspistransient
, t
entat
ive.Thi
sisdi
ff
icul
ttounder
standf
rom wordssuch
asselfl
essnessorempt i
nessofsel f
.Inf act
,myownt eacherMrChahsai d,“I
fy outr
yt o
underst
andi ti
ntel
lect
uall
y,yourheadwi llprobabl
yexpl
ode.”However
,theexperi
enceofno
sel
finpracti
cecanbr i
ngustogr eatfreedom.

Deepmedit
ati
oncanuntangl
ethesenseofi
dent
it
y.Ther
ear e,i
nfact
,manyway sinwhichwe
canreal
i
zetheempt
inessofsel
f.Whenwear
esil
entandatt
entiv
e,wecansensedir
ect
lyhow
wecannev ertr
ulypossessanythi
ngintheworl
d.Clear
lywedonotpossessout erthings.We
areinsomer elati
onshipwithourcars,ourhome,ourf amily
,ourjobs,butwhat everthat
rel
ati
onshi
pis,i
tis“ours”onl
yforashor
tti
me.Intheend,t
hings,peopl
e,ort
asksdi
eorchange
orwelosethem.Nothingisexempt.

WeOwnNot hi
ng:Whenwebr ingat t
ent
iontoanymomentofexperience,wediscov
erthatwe
donotpossessiteither.Aswel ook,wef i
ndthatwenei
theri
nvi
teourthought
snorownt hem.
Wemi ghtevenwi sht hem tost op,butourthought
sseem tothi
nkt hemsel
ves,arisi
ngand
passi
ngaccordi
ngt otheirnat
ure.

Thesamei strueofourf eel

ings.Howmanyofusbel i
ev ewecont r
olourf eel
ings?Aswepay
attent
ion,weseet hattheyaremor eliketheweather-
moodsandf eeli
ngschangeaccor dingto
certai
nconditi
ons,andar eneit
herpossessednordi r
ectedbyourconsci ousnessordesires.Do
weor derhappiness,sadness,i
rrit
ati
on,excitement,orrestl
essnesstocome?Feel i
ngsariseby
themselves,asthebreathbreathesitself
,assoundssoundt hemselves.

Ourbody,t
oo,fol
lowsi t
sownl aws.Thebodywhi chwecarr
yisabagofbonesandf l
uidthat
bel
ongtonoone.I tages,get
ssick,orchangesi
nwayswemi ghtnotwishi
tto,
allaccordi
ngt o
i
tsownnat ur
e.Themor ewel ook,infact,t
hemoredeepl
yweseet hatwepossessnot hing
wit
hinorwi
thout.

Everyt
hingfrom Nothi
ng: Weencount eranotheraspectoft heempt inessofsel fwhenwenot i
ce
howev eryt
hingarisesoutofnot hi
ng,comesoutoft hev oid,returnst othev oid,goesbackt o
nothi
ng.Allourwor dsoft hepastdayhav edi sappeared.Si mil
ar l
y,wher ehast hepastweekor
thepastmont horourchi ldhoodgone?Theyar ose,di
dal i
ttledance, andnowt hey ’
vevanished,
alongwiththe1980s, theni neteenthandei ghteenthcent uri
es, theanci entRomansandGr eeks,
thePharaohs,andsof orth.Al lexperi
encear i
sesi nthepr esent, doesi t
sdance, anddisappears.
Experi
encecomesi nt
obei ngonl ytentati
vely,foral i
ttl
et i
mei nacer tai
nf or
m;t henthatform
endsandanewf ormr eplacesi tmomentbymoment .

Inmedi t
ati
on,preci
seanddeepat t
entionshowsusempt i
nesseverywhere.What
ev ersensation,
thought,whateveraspectofbodyofmi ndwef ocusoncar ef
ull
y,themor espaceandt hel ess
soli
dityweexper i
encethere.Experi
encebecomesl i
ketheparti
clewav esdescr
ibedinmoder n
physics,apatternnotquitesoli
d,ever -
changing.Eventhesenseoft heonewhoi sobser v
ing
changesi nthesameway ,ourperspectivesshifti
ngfrom momentt omomentasmuchasour
senseofour sel
vesshi f
tsfrom childhood t o adol
escenceto old age.Whereverwef ocus
careful
ly,
wef i
ndav eneerofsoli
dit
ythatdi ssolv
esunderourattenti
on.

DiscoverI nt
erconnectedness:Ther ealworldisbeyondourt hought
sandi deas;weseei t
throught henetofourdesi res,di
vi
dedint
opleasur
eandpain,ri
ghtandwrong,innerandout
er.
Toseet heuniverseasi ti
s,youmuststepbeyondthenet
.Itisnothardtodoso,f ort
heneti
s
ful
l ofholes— SriNisargadatt
a

Asweopenandempt yoursel
ves,wecomet oexperi
enceani nt
erconnect
edness,t
hereal
izat
ion
thatallt
hingsar
ejoinedandcondi ti
onedinani nt
erdependentarisi
ng.Eachexper
ienceand
eventcontai
nsal
lot
hers.Theteacherdependsonthestudent,t
heairpl
anedependsonthesky .

Whenabellri
ngs,isitthebel
lwehear
,theair
,thesoundonourcar
s,ori
sitourbrai
nthatri
ngs?
Iti
salloft
heset hings.AstheTaoi
stssay,“Thebetweenisr
ingi
ng.
”Thesoundoft hebellis
heretoheheardev erywher
e—int
heey esofev er
ypersonwemeet,i
neverytreeandinsect,i
n
everybr
eat
hwet ake…
Whenwet r
ulysensethi
si nt
erconnectednessandt heempt i
nessoutofwhichal lbeingsarise,
wef ind li
berati
onand aspaci ousj oy.Discover
ing emptinessbringsal i
ghtnessofhear t,
fl
exi
bili
ty,andaneaset hatrestsinallthi
ngs.Themor esolidl
ywegr aspouridentit
y ,t
hemor e
sol
idourpr oblemsbecome.OnceIaskedadel ight
fuloldSriLankanmedit
ati
onmast ertoteach
met heessenceofBuddhi sm.Hej ustl
aughedandsai dthr
eet i
mes, “
Noself
,nopr oblem.”

No sel fisnotApat hy:Mi sconcept ionsabout“ no self”andempt i

nessabound.Andsuch
confusionsunder minegenui nespi r
itualdev el
opment .Somepeopl ebel ievethattheycancome
toself l
essnessbyst ruggli
ngt ogetr idoft heirego-centeredself.Ot hersconfuset henoti
onof
empt inesswi t
hi nnerf eeli
ngsofapat hy,unwor thiness,ormeani nglessnessthatt heyhav e
carr
iedf rom apai nf
ulpasti nt
ospi ritualpracti
ce.Somest udent
suseempt inessasanexcuse
forawi thdrawalfrom li
fe,sayi
ngi tisal li
l
lusion,tryi
ngt omakea“ spiri
tualbypass”aroundlif
e’s
problems.Buteachoft hesediseasesofempt inessmi ssest het
ruemeani ngofempt i
nessand
i
tsliberati
ngf r
eedom.

Tot r
ytogetridofthesel
f,t
opuri
fy,r
ootout,ort
ranscendall
desire,anger,andcenteredness,t
o
vanquishaselfthati
s“bad,
”isanoldrel
igi
ousidea.Thisnot
ionunder l
iestheasceticpracti
ces,
suchaswear inghai
rshirt
s,ext
remef ast
ing,andself-mor
tif
icati
on,t hatarefoundi nmany
tradi
ti
ons.Somet i
messuchpract
icesareusedskil
lf
ull
y,toi
nducealteredst at
es,
butmor eoft
en
theyonlyrei
nforceav
ersi
on

Wor se,whatcomeswi ththem isthenotionthatourbody ,ourmi nd,our“ego,”i

ssomehow
sinful,di
rt
y,anddeluded.“I(t
hegoodpar tofme)mustuset heset echni
quest ogetridofthe
self(thelower,
badpar tofme).”Butt
hiscannev erwor k.I
tcannev erworkbecauset hereisno
selftogetr i
dof!Wear eachangingprocess,notaf ixedbeing.Thereneverwasasel f-onl
your
i
dent ifi
cat
ionmakesust hinkso.Sowhi l
epur i
ficati
on,kindness,andat t
enti
oncancer t
ainly
i
mpr oveourhabit
s,noamountofsel f
-denialorself-
tort
urecanr i
dusofasel f
,fori
twasnev er
there.