Pulling the rug from under the Self-View

Recorded live during retreat this talk encourages people to have compassion towards suffering, while also being determined to investigate and undo it's causes.

Transcript

The self view is a habitual way of grasping,

A habitual way of seeing things.

As with many of our habits,

When we get used to things,

We tend to think that's the only way.

And it's as if we have this assumption that it's a friend or something to rely on.

And halfway through the retreat now it's good to reflect on this a little bit.

Self view actually causes us a lot of pain.

We get disappointed,

We get hurt.

I feel hurt,

I feel disappointed,

I feel offended,

I feel angry.

And so we think it's a friend,

We think the self view helps us navigate life,

But the self is always reacting,

Liking not liking.

The self view is very vulnerable to being blown around by the worldly winds.

With praise it feels happy,

Criticism feels dejected.

Similarly with pleasure and with pain,

A lot of pleasure,

Happy,

A lot of pain,

Depression,

Anger,

Good reputation,

Happy for a while,

Criticized,

Fairly or unfairly,

Mine gets sad.

I have good fortune,

Some gain,

Again happiness,

Loss,

Sadness.

With mindfulness and wisdom we understand that praise will turn into blame,

Gain will become loss.

Pleasure becomes pain.

When you're praised you'll be criticized.

Even Lord Buddha had his detractors as impeccable as he was.

So I think it's really valuable to get interested in learning how to identify less thoughts and feelings in the body and learning how to see these worldly winds as what they are,

Phenomena that change and phenomena that are unavoidable and trying not to grasp.

If we don't grasp at the praise,

If we don't become elated,

Then we're not as depressed when we're blamed.

It's just this much.

Praise is just this much.

Pain is just this much.

Pleasure is just this much.

Pain is just this much.

Arising and ceasing,

Arising and ceasing,

Understanding the nature of conditions.

Something worth investigating.

The degree to which you suffer is the degree to which you think you're a self.

We can try to work within the self view,

Try to make it happy.

The metta practice is very helpful for this.

The metta is extremely valuable and skillful because it leads into spacious awareness where there isn't a big sense of an ego.

It leads to a refined peacefulness which is expansive.

So it starts with,

May I be well,

May I be happy.

And it just becomes a pure feeling of love when you maintain that.

At a certain point,

A gross sense of self falls away and all that is left is a feeling of warm loving kindness.

And that can then be expanded to include many other beings.

So it doesn't become a self-cherishing,

Special love that you just hold onto for yourself.

It becomes something that you expand to include more and more beings,

Eventually all beings.

So this is a very powerful method for relaxing the way we grasp and expanding our capacity and identifying less with our own desires and developing a genuine empathy for more and more people and goodwill to more and more people.

This is a very important,

Valuable,

Useful foundation,

A resilient sense of well-being that comes from being able to hold the metta in the mind.

It's very important to expand it to include more and more beings.

We don't take ourselves as seriously and we don't get lost in our suffering as much.

We become aware that suffering is a universal shared experience.

All beings not yet liberated have their own sad stories,

10,

000 joys,

10,

000 sorrows,

Developing empathy for their universality and dropping the sense of specialness,

My suffering,

Becomes our suffering.

Some of the masters of Thailand begin their Dharma talks with friends in aging,

Suffering and death,

And then they begin their talk to their friends.

The metta is the samatha and the breath meditation can be samatha,

Calming,

Ventilating,

Bringing space and coolness into the mind.

But another very important aspect of practice is the investigation,

The sense of self causing so much misery.

So,

Try to find it.

We can investigate in many different ways.

Is it in the sense basis?

So just have a look.

Is it in the eyes?

Is it in the ears?

We have to be sincere,

We have to have a look.

Is it in the mouth?

Where is this self?

You have a sincere look,

You can't find it in the sense basis.

Okay,

Have a look in the area of the heart where all the emotions roll around and bang around.

Have a clear,

Direct look with mindfulness.

Is there a self there?

Where is it?

If you can't find it in the sense basis,

How about the body parts?

Is it in the fingernails?

Have a close look.

Where is this self?

Is it in the teeth?

Is it the skin?

Going deeper,

Blood,

Bones.

How about the brain?

Just looking with direct awareness and direct investigation in the brain area,

Is there a self there?

Where is it?

Do these investigations sincerely and the sense of self can just fall away.

The latent grasping that we're so habituated to can fall away and there's an awareness of a body just as a body,

Feelings just as feelings,

No thoughts.

We identify so much with the thoughts and when the thoughts fall away,

We experience a body and a mind without thoughts.

The whole thing becomes much more spacious and we understand the teachings that the mind has a nature of emptiness.

The objects arise and cease,

Arise and cease in awareness,

Empty awareness.

And then without understanding,

Look at the feelings arising and ceasing,

Look at the body constantly changing,

Destined for death.

These things are also empty in nature.

So combining some calm with investigation and trying to really look at this self that pushes us around so much,

It loves itself,

It hates itself,

It's offended,

It's hurt,

It's pleased,

It's exhausting if we're dragged around by these feelings.

So we have to steward the healthy functioning of the personality,

We have to have good seela,

It's appropriate to be generous,

We have loving kindness,

We have empathy for suffering.

But we shouldn't empathize with delusion.

We have to get fierce about wrestling with delusion.

If you can pull the rug from under the self view and experience the body and mind as not being a self,

What is there to love,

What is there to hate?

It's a phantom.

It's a misapprehension.

Sokaya diti is a view,

It's a habitual way of perceiving things,

It's an assumption.

And it's not the truth.

And the more we can see things according to deeper truth,

Thoughts really are just thoughts,

Opinions really are opinions and they're not self.

The body is just a body,

Nearly seven billion human bodies in the world of its time.

All of them made of the four elements,

All of them destined to change,

To stop breathing,

All of them destined to return to the four elements,

Which one of those seven billion beings is a real self.

We have four elements,

Earth,

Water,

Wind,

Fire.

We have space,

All of these things arising and changing and transforming within space.

Then you have consciousness and no solid,

Enduring,

Unchanging self in any of it.

And so in training,

Don't identify,

Don't pick it up,

Don't hold it so tightly.

If you do hold it tightly,

Try to relax it,

It's not sure.

You understand that the more it's an act of compassion,

The more you can see that the body and mind is not self,

The more peaceful you'll feel.

There's no one to love,

There's no one to hate.

You can experience the mind in equipoise.

Then what is equanimity,

Deep serenity,

Deep tranquility coming from wisdom and samadhi?

So we have a very good opportunity and we should practice a lot,

Investigate sincerely.

And the less that we grasp it all as being myself,

The more contentment and the more satisfaction,

The more well-being we'll experience.

Reviews

Thank you for the encouragement and inspiration
🙏🙏🙏

Much to contemplate here … meaningful and profound truths. ❤️

Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Anan can be heard in this talk. It is a blessing that I have been following Ajahn Achalo for quite some time.

One of my favorites

Wonderful clarity. These are points I need to remind myself of constantly.

I was feeling sad this morning and it started to grow and you just snap me out of it with this talk🙏🏿 Thank you Ajahn🙏🏿

I liked this talk about using compassion and loving kindness as skillful practices to identify unpleasant mental and physical states and show that they are not the pure awareness. Thank you🙏🕉

I needed that reminder...that body and mind is not self!

So on point about everything in this talk. A wonderful reminder to come back to again, and again.

Not so much myself type thinking/grasping will lead to contentment......I like his talks!

Ajahn Achalo’s explanation of this challenging concept is so much more approachable than what I have heard from other Buddhist teachers. This is such a profound and potentially powerful idea that he presents. I just keep coming back to this one every month or so and I think I am finally beginning to see the light. Sadhu Tan Ajahn. Thank you.🙏🏻

Very interesting and profound food for thought - thank you! 😊 ❤️

Incredibly wise!

When you pull the rug from under self, whats left there to love or to hate. Brilliant! Thank you for sharing this!

Excellent material, lovely session.

eye-opening as always 🙏✨

Beautiful and all true

Self and no self ... The more I trust the unspoken...the more there seems of truth. TY!

A very good Dhamma talk on anatta.

Superb teachings always ❤️