Beyond ‘self’.
The expression that 'there is no self' is a strongly held and profoundly misunderstood statement and should never be used. There is a 'self', but the lifespan of this 'self' lasts only a moment and then is superseded by the next moment of being. A new self, conditioned by the old one. This happens a thousand times in a moment.
So we have the conventional reality of self, manifesting as ‘I was in the past, I am now, I will be in the future’, and the moment-to-moment endless flow of a fixed idea of who and what we are, a self-identity.
A good example I think is that of a river.
When we use the word river, we all know what is meant, a body of water, something fixed in time and space and easy to identify.
However, river of course is only a concept, and the reality is that every part of this concept is in an endless state of change. The water moves, animals and fish in the water move and interact, insects on the surface of the water play their part and then there is the natural erosion due to time and the seasons.
So it seems that the river is one fixed thing but actually it is an endless stream of change.
'Self' is like this.
This moment of 'self' conditions the next and the next and so on and so on.
Added to this flow of self is Kamma and Vipaka.
Beingness, is simply the understanding of this and the moment the habitual attachment to a self-identity with all its fears and desires falls away, there is peace.
No more grasping and no more rejecting, only responding to life with love and compassion.
Once transcended it cannot re-establish itself. This is why Awakening is understood as letting go completely, rather that acquiring a new identity or ability.
Who will transcend the notion of self and the world of birth and death?
Who will investigate the pure Dhamma Path with as much care
as an expert garland maker selects their flowers?
(Dhammapada Vs 44)
May all beings be happy.
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