‘It requires a deep willingness to let go of our most cherished assumptions about who we are. The self, though an illusion, feels very real, and its dissolution can evoke fear and resistance.’
Everyday Buddhism
Buddha as Experience
Morning meditation — We can experience pain, joy, love, and loss, but these experiences are no longer seen as happening to a self.
‘We can experience pain, joy, love, and loss, but these experiences are no longer seen as happening to a self. They are simply the play of phenomena arising and dissolving in awareness.’
Everyday Buddhism
Morning meditation — In realising clear awareness, we are not attaining something new or extraordinary.
‘In realising clear awareness, we are not attaining something new or extraordinary. Rather, we are returning to our natural state — a state in which the illusion of self has been seen through, and the world is experienced as it truly is.’
Everyday Buddhism
Morning meditation — The boundaries between self and the world blur.
‘The boundaries between self and the world blur, and we come to realise that the world is not something outside of us, but is, in fact, an inseparable aspect of our experience.’
Everyday Buddhism
Morning meditation — The duality between self and no-self, self and other dissolves.
‘The duality between self and no-self, self and other dissolves, not in the sense that the world vanishes, but in the sense that our identification with a fixed self vanishes.’
Everyday Buddhism
Morning meditation — It is important to note that clear awareness.
‘It is important to note that clear awareness is not a rejection of the relative world in which we live. The insight into emptiness and not-self does not negate the reality of our everyday experiences.’
Everyday Buddhism
Morning meditation — When we transcend the illusion of self.
‘When we transcend the illusion of self, we begin to embody this Buddha-nature, which is characterised by wisdom, compassion, and boundless awareness.’
Everyday Buddhism
Morning meditation — This attachment to a fixed self generates suffering, for it is the basis of our fears, desires, and conflicts.
‘This attachment to a fixed self generates suffering, for it is the basis of our fears, desires, and conflicts. As long as we see ourselves as separate, we are bound by the duality of subject and object, self and other, inside and outside.’
Everyday Buddhism
Buddhism now 