xabir2005

You asked me what I am concerned with. I am not even concerned about suffering. Concerning is a form of suffering. See highlighted: When Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was practicing the profound Prajna Paramita, he illuminated the Five Skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty. Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is form. So too are feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness. Shariputra, all Dharmas are empty of characteristics. They are not produced, not destroyed, not defiled, not pure; and they neither increase nor diminish. Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, feeling, cognition, formation, or consciousness; no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, smells, tastes, objects of touch, or Dharmas; no field of the eyes up to and including no field of mind consciousness; and no ignorance or ending of ignorance, up to and including no old age and death or ending of old age and death. There is no suffering, no accumulating, no extinction, and no Way, and no understanding and no attaining. Because nothing is attained, the Bodhisattva through reliance on Prajna Paramita is unimpeded in his mind. Because there is no impediment, he is not afraid, and he leaves distorted dream-thinking far behind. Ultimately Nirvana! All Buddhas of the three periods of time attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi through reliance on Prajna Paramita. Therefore know that Prajna Paramita is a Great Spiritual Mantra, a Great Bright Mantra, a Supreme Mantra, an Unequalled Mantra. It can remove all suffering; it is genuine and not false. That is why the Mantra of Prajna Paramita was spoken. Recite it like this: Gaté Gaté Paragaté Parasamgaté Bodhi Svaha! End of The Heart of Prajna Paramita Sutra Copyright © 1997 Buddhist Text Translation Society, For permission to reproduce in any format whatsoever, contact: The International Translation Institute 1777 Murchison Drive Burlingame, CA USA, 94010-4504 (415) 692-5912 phone (415) 692-5056 fax

Yeah. Thuscomeone didn't quite get what I said.

There is no such permanent background/self. That is an illusion that is seen through for almost a year. I do not cling to any views: I simply state that you need a view, the right view, in order to attain realization, which then dissolves the view. By the way, emptiness has nothing to do with a background... I think you don't quite understand what emptiness means, you should read this: http://www.heartofnow.com/files/emptiness.html

On the contrary, the Buddha clearly states that understanding there is rebirth is part of the right view. No, the Buddha denied there is an atman that can exist, or not exist after death. He does not deny rebirth, which does not require a concept of soul. Right understanding of rebirth (as contrast to the Hindu understanding that posits an atman reincarnating) does not require a soul concept. For example: "What is it, Venerable Sir, that will be reborn?" "A psycho-physical combination (//nama-rupa//), O King." "But how, Venerable Sir? Is it the same psycho-physical combination as this present one?" "No, O King. But the present psycho-physical combination produces kammically wholesome and unwholesome volitional activities, and through such kamma a new psycho-physical combination will be born." ~ Nagasena Belief in karma and rebirth is one of the things in Buddhism that requires faith (until you have meditative experience of recalling past lives and tracing karma, which many people I know have). Take up the right view by faith first until you can verify it.

No, the realization of emptiness is not a view. The view must be distinguished from the realization, and from the practice. I wish you guys could read the very long Chinese article (which I wrote to my local and Taiwanese dharma teacher - it is an article about my recent realization of emptiness) which explains all these in details... but I don't have the time to translate so I will write in short a few points. View, realization, practice. View: understand dependent origination, emptiness. An indispensible factor that leads to realization. Do not think 'viewless view is highest, therefore I should abandon all views' - view that leads to realization itself will be abandoned by the realization. In other words, before you ride the raft to the other shore, don't jump into the river or abandon ship. But when you reach the shore, it is natural that you would abandon the raft. But not prematurely. Realization: realizing everything as being like an illusion but not an illusion. More later. Practice: if everything is like an illusion but not an illusion, there is nothing to grasp, since nothing to grasp, there is nothing to abandon, nothing to cling and abandon... this is the 'practice'. About the realization of emptiness: emptiness is twofold. (glossary) "Two emptinesses (二空) include (1) emptiness of self, the ātman, the soul, in a person composed of the five aggregates, constantly changing with causes and conditions; and (2) emptiness of selves in all dharmas—each of the five aggregates, each of the twelve fields, and each of the eighteen spheres, as well as everything else with no independent existence. No-self in any dharma implies no-self in a person, but the latter is separated out in the first category. Realization of the emptiness of self in a person will lead to attainment of Arhatship or Pratyekabuddhahood. Bodhisattvas who have realized both emptinesses ascend to the First Ground on their Way to Buddhahood." How does emptiness of dharmas help, you ask? They are necessary for deepening liberation. You said: only emptiness of self is necessary for liberation. Yes this is true, BUT Emptiness of Dharma IS the Emptiness of Self, it is the same insight but taken a lot further - Bodhisattvas apply the wisdom of emptiness in all aspects of life and daily encounters so they remain liberated while fully engaged in samsara. They realize the emptiness not only of selves but of all dharmas and phenomena. Bodhisattvas do not seek a Nirvana over samsara, they remain and return to samsara and yet remain liberated engaging and liberating others. They abide in the Nirvana of non-abiding, neither steering towards the Arhat's cessation nor towards clinging of samsara. Master Shen Kai (my Mahayana master) writes: "Bodhisattvas enter the world to save beings as their appointment. They require the four (entering-world) patience: 1) The patience of birthless dharma, 2) The patience of cessation-less dharma, 3) The patience of obtaining causes and conditions, 4) The patience of non-abiding. All dharmas, it's nature is empty and quiescent, originally it is without birth; since it is without birth, there is no cessation; all dharmas, depend on the aggregation of causes and conditions for its arising, and depends on the meeting of causes and conditions for its cessation; Bodhisattvas live in the world of arising and subsiding dharmas, transforming beings according to conditions, saving them from sufferings and difficulties, saving the world and its beings, not abiding in any dharmas, therefore it is called non-abiding. Bodhisattvas are able to attain the four patience dharmas, therefore they are also able to transcend all breaking of precepts and transgressions, therefore this is called 'liberate beings dharma patience." Because the nature of samsara is birthless, deathless, empty and quiescent, samsara is nirvana when rightly seen. This is the nirvana of bodhisattvas, not the cessation of feelings and perceptions (nirodha samapatti) that arhats enter after death. Now, about the realization of emptiness, I set up a new section in my e-book dedicated to the realization of emptiness... recently. http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-e-booke-journal.html Realization is not view. Loppon Namdrol: At base, the main fetter of self-grasping is predicated upon naive reification of existence and non-existence. Dependent origination is what allows us to see into the non-arising nature of dependently originated phenomena, i.e. the self-nature of our aggregates. Thus, right view is the direct seeing, in meditative equipoise, of this this non-arising nature of all phenomena. As such, it is not a "view" in the sense that is something we hold as concept, it is rather a wisdom which "flows" into our post-equipoise and causes us to truly perceive the world in the following way in Nagarjuna's Bodhicittavivarana: "Form is similar to a foam, Feeling is like water bubbles, Ideation is equivalent with a mirage, Formations are similar with a banana tree, Consciousness is like an illusion." ... "In other words, right view is the beginning of the noble path. It is certainly the case that dependent origination is "correct view"; when one analyzes a bit deeper, one discovers that in the case "view" means being free from views. The teaching of dependent origination is what permits this freedom from views. The teaching of dependent origination is what permits this freedom from views." Thusness: The real purpose is the ‘freedom’ from ‘inherent’ view and then releases itself from any forming of ‘views’ so that the magic of functioning can be realized and directly experienced. However during the journey, there is always attachment here and there… therefore the ‘emptying of emptiness’. We go through step by step in dissolving the knot of ‘inherency’ till we see that ‘mind’ is the full embodiment of the immediate marvelous activity. Just eating, seeing, sensing, tasting, thinking...simply sound, thoughts, scenery and scents. Nothing within and without, only this spontaneous miraculous functioning, an interplay of dharma. When we entertain conceptual knowledge and seek unchanging Awareness or Self, the marvelous ‘interconnectedness’ of functioning is being misunderstood as ‘something’ being transformed into ‘something’ as if ‘winter’ has been transformed into ‘spring’. It is also important to take note not to ascribe the functioning to a ‘higher’ power. That is because of ‘a thought of personality’ that creates the confusion. If there is no attachment to a self, identity, personality, then the functioning itself is marvellous without reification, or any form of personification. Also, to truly get into this ‘magic’ of functioning, the doing away of the ‘how’ is also important. It arises when we penetrate and look deeply the where-about of anything. Just magical appearances. My description of the realization: http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2011/06/unborn-dharma.html I should say the realization of the unborn dharma (from shunyata) arose the day after you sent me this PM - the details of which can be found in the last ten to twenty pages of my ebook - new materials just added on sunday, in a new chapter called "shunyata". The realization arose spontaneously while simultaneously reading and contemplating an article from a highly experienced mahamudra practitioner/blogger, Chodpa, owner of the blog luminous emptiness. The realization of unborn from the perspective of emptiness is the realization that everything experienced - thoughts and sensate perceptions are utterly unlocatable, ungraspable, empty. In investigation where did thought arise from, where is thought currently located, and where will thought go to, it is discovered that thoughts are indeed like a magician's trick! No source can be located, no destination can be found, and the thought is located nowhere at all - it is unfindable, ungraspable... Yet "it" magically and vividly appears! Out of nowhere, in nowhere, to nowhere, dependently originated and empty... A magical apparition appears, vividly luminously yet empty. When this is seen, there is an amazement, wonder, and great bliss arising out of direct cognition of the magic of empty luminosity. So how is this linked to unborn? It is realized that everything is literally an appearance, a display, a function, and this display is nowhere inherent or located anywhere - so like a dream, like a tv show, characters of the show may vividly appear to suffer birth and death and yet we know it is simply a show - it's undeniably there (vividly appearing) yet it's not really there. It has no actual birth, death, place of origin, place of abidance, place of destination, ground, core, substance. ... Lankavatara Sutra: Mahamati: How did the Bodhisattvas and Mahasattvas abandon the view of an absolute arising, dwelling, or dissolving? [buddha]: They abandoned it in this manner. They cognized that all phenomena are like an ephemeral illusion and dream, that they are detached from the duality of self and others, and that they are therefore unborn [emptiness.] They focused on the mind's manifestations and cognized external reality as unreal. By perceiving the unreality of phenomena, they brought about the cessation of the outflowing sensory consciousness. Because they cognized the unreality of their psychosomatic aggregates and the interacting conditions of the three planes of cosmic existence as originating from their deluded mind, they saw external and internal phenomena as devoid of any inherent nature and as transcending all concepts. Having abandoned the view of an absolute arising [of phenomena,] they realized the illusory nature and thereby attained insight into the unborn Dharma [expanse of emptiness.] The text further states that by abandoning the view of arising, dwelling or dissolving through the realization, you attain the first (or even to the eighth) bhumi's patience of the birthlessness of dharma. .... Emptiness... emptiness.... In normal, everyday life, when someone uses the word “emptiness”, it usually has a negative connotion. Like a 'lack of something'... like as if life is lacking something (e.g. "life feels so empty nowadays"). If anything, things lack ‘inherent, unchanging, independent existence’… yet they are wondrously, intensely vividly luminous and apparent! Unfortunately, the teaching of 'emptiness', along with other teachings of Buddha (including the most common misperception of Buddha's teaching as 'Life is Suffering' which is certainly NOT what he said!*) gives the misconception of Buddhism as having a life-denying, pessimistic view of the world. But this is NOT the Buddhist understanding of Emptiness! Form is emptiness, emptiness IS form! Emptiness IS Fullness! I can assure you when you realize emptiness, you will marvel, be amazed, at the whole universe as a magical apparition... it's like Whoa, the universe is magic, luminous and empty, clearly manifest yet no-thing 'there'! No place of origin, place of abidance, and destination - to thoughts, to sensate experiences... just a clear display of luminous apparitions. Shunyata is a wonder. This is a wonderful truth... This is nothing dreadful... and is nothing short of Great Bliss. The luminous and empty universe is spontaneously perfected, lacking nothing, amazing! *The Buddha taught that suffering is a part and parcel of life, or to put it more simply, 'there is suffering in life', and that there is a way to end suffering. He did NOT say "Life is Suffering" or "Life can only be suffering" even though sadly, this is what many teachers are promoting - their own distortion of Buddha's original words. For more info see this well-written article: Life Isn't Just Suffering by Thanissaro Bhikkhu (update) p.s. found something from a great article, http://www.ktgrinpoche.org/KTGR%20Buddhadharm%20Flashing%20Lances.pdf "When you put the two truths together in this way, you get Milarepa’s two lines: E ma, the phenomena of the three realms of samsara, While not existing, they appear – how incredibly amazing! The three realms of samsara are dreamlike – while not existing they appear, while appearing they are empty of inherent nature, and so they are miraculous."

Ego is a real fiction. An actual self cannot be found, but there is a mental conjuration of a self. Like the dream of unicorn is undeniable, but the unicorn does not exist as such. It is a real fiction and exists only in imagination. The ego is not a thing as such, it is not an actual entity but a process of mentally conjuring a mental fiction of a personal (or even impersonal) self and attributes this self to being a controller or agent of actions, thoughts, experiences. In reality there is no thinker - thoughts simply occur. There is no doer, actions simply occur. There is no seer - the sight is itself the seeing happening without seer. But due to self-view, we infer that a previous experience is "seen by me" - it always infers and references a previous experience to the mentally conjured "self" which in actuality cannot be found, much less have any control over reality. Once we wake up from this mental fiction by the realisation that there is no actual self that is the agent of experience, life goes on as usual but with much greater clarity, freedom, wonder and delight. Seeing is still happening, thinking is still happening, actions still happen, but it is seen that there is no agent behind those experiences. Everything becomes luminous and a fairy-tale like paradise, and you see that to bring yourself forward to experience the myriad things is delusion... Awakening is that the myriad things comes forth and experiences itself, and life is just "tripping" on ordinary seeing and hearing/Life itself delighting, tripping on life... And there is actual intimacy with all things (due to the lack of a self at the center separate from the world) Seeing through the illusion of self, speaking from experience, certainly does not result in one's being reduced to a state of a baby, as the accumulated knowledge, memories, experiences of a lifetime has not been diminished or adversely affected in the least from this waking up. Furthermore our habits, traits, behaviours conditioned from young (commonly defined as personality though these are actually simply impersonal conditionings) may or may not be changed... Much of them wouldn't - especially the harmless ones (but afflictive emotions and behaviours stemming from craving, anger, fear, sorrow, conceit, ignorance etc will be gradually reduced and ultimately eliminated). But there is no refering these actions to a central agent. All these behaviours happen via dependent origination, via latent tendencies and conditioning. Lastly having a healthy ego (self-image) is certainly better comparatively than having an unhealthy one. For example having a confident self-image is better than having a low self-esteem due to poor self image. However if you are liberated from self image then you will discover a kind of fearlessness and security that far transcends any "good ego". It is the security of not having self (to protect its interests), birth, death. That is why waking up transcends whatever psychotherapy you are doing to build a good self-image... It overcomes the same problems (for example, fear and insecurity) not by replacing one self image with another but by seeing through and letting go the illusion entirely so the problem does not even have a basis to begin with. For example low self esteem is not overcome by pride, but rather the base illusion of "self" is seen through and so both pride and low self-esteem has no basis at all.

as above... 清水祖師

Ah ok.. found out some info. Was curious as my birth is related to this deity who is worshipped in many Taoist temples. Didn't know he is a Buddhist monk... as he isn't usually seen in Buddhist temples... ................... Black-Faced Sect Founder Tuesday, 26 October 2010 06:13 administrator Mahayana Buddhism crossed the Hindukush into China from India at the beginning of the Common Era(CE). At first, all the “deities,” particularly the bodhisattvas, were imports from India. As Buddhism was popularized, new deities were added to the pantheon, but they had to be apotheosized by emperors, who, like the popes in Catholicism, “canonized” Chinese Buddhist as well as Taoist “saints.” One of the relatively new additions is Crystal-Water Sect Founder or Qinshui Zushi (清水祖師), whose following was localized in Minnan or southern part of the province of Fujian and Taiwan, as most of the Hoklo immigrants on the island after its occupation by the Dutch were from that part of southeast China. There are more than three score Buddhist temples dedicated to the sect founder in Taiwan. Of them, two are best known and each of them has plenty of faithful, who call him Zushi-gong (祖師公), or Lord Sect Founder. One is in Tamsui, a once prosperous seaport only 12 miles almost due north of Taipei. The other is located in Wanhua or Banka, the old trading center of Taipei. The sect founder has two other aliases: Wumien-Zhu (烏面祖) because his face is black and Luopi-Zhu (落鼻祖) because his nose habitually falls when he is angry or tries to warn his faithful of a disaster. Legend and myth about Black-Faced Sect Founder abound. We are relatively sure that the black-faced Buddhist monk was born at Xiaoku in the county of Yungchun in Fujian Province (福建省永春縣小姑鄉) on the sixth day of the first moon of the fourth year of Qingli under the reign of the Emperor Renzhong of the Song Dynasty (宋仁宗慶曆元月六日), which corresponds to 1044 CE His family name was Chen (陳). Chao-ying (昭應) was his given name and his Buddhist name was Puzhu (普足) or Common Satisfaction. He was given over to the Dayun-shi (大雲寺) or Great Cloud Temple in his tender age for training as a child novice. After he grew up, he left the temple and went alone to Mount Gaotai (高台山) to practice asceticism. He was a very strict ascetic, but could not attend enlightenment without a guru coaching him. After years of self-training, he went to Mount Grant Tranquility or Dajing-shan (大靜山) to study under a Zen master named Mingsong (明松禪師) or Clear Pine. Three years of study under the Zen master led to satori (悟), or “small” enlightenment, and his master anointed him as the heir. As he assumed the mantle of Clear Pine, the master told his heir the greatest merit a Buddhist priest could earn is to commonly dispense with benevolence. “It is therefore incumbent on you to do what he can to help the people,” the great master intoned. The heir vowed to obey the last instruction from his mentor. He then returned to Mount Gaotai, where his hermit’s lair fell into disrepairs in the three years of his absence and was no longer livable. He moved to nearby Macao (麻草), which literally means Hemp Grass, to start practice medicine. ................... Black-Faced Sect Founder II Tuesday, 26 October 2010 06:14 administrator Because Crystal Water Sect Founder (清水祖師) started practicing medicine in Hemp Grass or Macao (麻草), he is also known as Macao Shangren (麻草上人) or Saint Hemp Grass. He was almost like Aesculapius, the son of Apollo, who was taught medicine by Chiron the Centaur, who could cure any sick man, woman or child. In 1083, or the sixth year of Yuanfeng, under the reign of the Emperor Shenzhong of the Song Dynasty (宋神宗元禮元年), Qingxi (清溪), a county now known as Anxi (安溪) in the province of Fujian suffered a long drought. The people of Qingxi, or Clear River, called on Saint Hemp Grass for help. The universal benefactor couldn’t refuse, so he became a rainmaker. As he prayed before an altar at Qingxi, rain poured. More than enough rain fell to end the drought, and the thankful people of Qingxi wanted to build a temple for their benefactor. When he first came to Qingxi, the Chinese Aesculapius was given accommodation at a house at the foot of nearby Mount Penglai (蓬萊山). There is a clear-water lake, named Yangyue (映月) or (Lake) Reflecting the Moon, in the vicinity. When the temple was erected on a little rocky hill there, the people called it Qingshui-yan or Clear-Water Rock (清水巖). That gave the saint his best-known name of Clear-Water Sect Founder. As he lived at the foot of the mountain, he also came to be known as Penglai Da-zhu (蓬萊大祖) or Great Sect Founder of Penglai. The Buddhist saint decided to stay at Clear-Water Rock. He stayed there for 19 years to continue practicing medicine and asceticism required of a Buddhist monk. He also raised funds for charity and built roads and bridges, the shortcut to earning merit to become a bodhisattva. As a result, he secured a large following in Zhangzhou (漳州) and Dingzhou (汀州), two prefectures in the province of Fujian. Whenever there was a natural disaster, such as famine or drought, the people turned to him for help. His timely help, often in the form of supplication for divine succor, often wrought wonders. He died on the thirteenth day of the fifth moon of the ninth year of Daguan under the reign of the Huizhong emperor of the Song Dynasty (宋徽宗大觀三年), which corresponds to 1109. He told his disciples on the day of his death that he would pass away, sat down in meditation, and died. He was 65 sui (years). (There is a difference in counting age between China and the Westerners. A Chinese baby is one year old when it was born. Such a baby in the West is just one day old.) One biography of the sect founder says he died on that day in the ninth year of Jianzhong jingguo (建中靖口), but that reign of the Huizhong emperor’s lasted only two years. The Buddhist saint’s birthday, according to another biography, is the sixth day of the fifth moon rather than sixth day of the first moon. His faithful in Tamsui celebrate the birthday on the former date.

When I went to this place years ago... I thought this would be a perfect place to meditate. But too bad it's become a tourist attraction. http://www.google.com.sg/search?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=YRbWTevvDYKisAO-g_iwBw&ved=0CDYQBSgA&q=jiuzhaigou&spell=1&biw=1920&bih=1040

http://www.buddhism.org/Sutras/3/glossary.html

RT doesn't tell you to dissolve self, or spirit, or anything like that. Nothing in your experience is denied... only the false perception of your experience is corrected.

Emptiness of self is not the final realization. It is Thusness Stage 5. There is a further insight about emptiness of objects (Thusness Stage 6)... but without first having deep experiential realization of Emptiness of Self, the Emptiness of Objects cannot be truly and deeply penetrated. (Buddhist glossary) Two emptinesses (二空) include (1) emptiness of self, the ātman, the soul, in a person composed of the five aggregates, constantly changing with causes and conditions; and (2) emptiness of selves in all dharmas—each of the five aggregates, each of the twelve fields, and each of the eighteen spheres, as well as everything else with no independent existence. No-self in any dharma implies no-self in a person, but the latter is separated out in the first category. Realization of the emptiness of self in a person will lead to attainment of Arhatship or Pratyekabuddhahood. Bodhisattvas who have realized both emptinesses ascend to the First Ground on their Way to Buddhahood. Of course, even after the initial realizing the twofold emptiness, you are still on the first bhumi to Buddhahood. There are ten. But that's a very vital start.

If you cannot overcome the idea of an observer... Then you might look into how sound never was separate from consciousness. Consciousness arises as sound. At this point, the observer and the observed are seen to be inseparable and subject-object dichotomy collapes into one Naked Awareness. This is the realization of One Mind. After even that Awareness is forgotten and there is just scenery, sound, sight, that is No Mind (abbot slaps... etc) But No Mind experience is not the same as insight into Anatta. The insight that hearing occurs, no hearer.

I see... So far so good.. The vocation I got into after BMT was not as tough as I expected. If you're interesting in this direct form of investigation, you might want to engage those people in RuthlessTruth. p.s. I thought I replied your post but when I searched I couldn't find it. Strange.

Thusness of things does not necessarily imply there is truly some thing-ness there. Thusness does not imply a self. The process IS. Another name for Buddha, the Tathagata means 'Thus come one'. Thus come, thus gone. In the first ever thread created by Thusness in my Buddhist forum, he said: "Thusness is just so. http://www.buddhaboard.com/ " Which I think is very in accord with Taoism which talks a lot about 'tracelessness'

There is a koan... Richard Herman: Yes, it is the absolute "elimination of the background" without remainder. It is the affirmation of multiplicity, not dispersion, but multiplicity. The world references nothing but the world. Each thing is radiant expression of itself. There is no support, no ground. No awareness. No awareness. "All dharmas are resolved in One Mind. One Mind resolves into...." There is the radiant world. just the radiant world. No awareness. That is the Abbott slapping floor with his hand. The red floor is red. Spontaneous function.

There is no problem putting a label to collate the various parts as long as you see that it is not findable as a thing, controller, doer... For example car is merely a label collating the various parts - engine, window, wheels, etc etc The engine doesn't actually 'control' the driving... the wheels doesn't... the steering wheel doesn't, either Cos it is only via the coming together of these parts that the function 'driving' happens. There is no central controller, no central 'car' Similarly there is no central 'self' controller and perceiving things Just the five aggregates coming together, giving rise to various functions, including doing, knowing... For convenience I say 'I', I put names, but I know there isn't really any Thingness there... like the word 'weather' is really mere label for everchanging clouds, wind, etc

No... by the thought. Thought by what? Another thought. Thought after thought. No controller... just conditions giving rise to _____ YOU are just an idea pasted on the process.

Self implies: permanent, intimate (no separation - no distance - not apart), controller, perceiver, etc If you can find such a thing, then it is Self. Whatever you find, is actually more sensations and perceptions... intimate, yes, but not a real entity or self. Actually many people do think they found the true Self... those self-realized persons, which includes me during one period... where it appears I have found my true identity to be pure formless Consciousness. It is a non-dual, intimate experience of consciousness... being falsely reified into an ultimate identity. Well, that is a true experience, but what I didn't know then is that every sensation, thought, feeling, perception, are equally intimate, without separation. Does that mean that I am everything? No... there is nothing permanent and identifiable that I could call 'me'. Identity means there is something graspable, permanent, that I can call me... if there is only the transiency of experiences, there is no me. This thought is not the same as that thought. This sound is not the same as another moment of sound. No two moments are anything the same... only activities, processes... no 'I' or anything that links them! Each moment, gone. Nothing is permanent even formless consciousness. Formless consciousness is simply mind in its quiescent non-conceptual mode.

It is not 'I know' but there is only knowing... there is only seeing... there is only hearing... If in hearing there is only sound, in seeing only seen, any notions of a self, seer, is an illusion. It is like the word 'weather' is a mere label collating all kinds of phenomena (rain, snow, wind, etc) but you cannot pin down an object called 'weather'. As a convenient label, fine, it has its purpose. But as an actual thing? No! There is just... rain, snow, wind, lightning.. Just as there are just various flickering sensations... bodily, mental, visual, etc etc.. the five aggregates Whatever sensations, experience there is... that you think is you, is actually more flickering sensations and experiences. NOT an experiencer... Even that sense of an observer, is upon investigation just more sensations, feelings, perceptions, thoughts, mental construct. Whatever you find in the looking... is an arising. Whatever you look for... is more experience. Even that looking... is itself more activities, no looker.

Indeed... Only those courageous, open, and wise can see this.

No. What the Buddha did not teach is: 1) I do not exist 2) I exist. What he teach is: There is no 'I' that can be pinned down as a reality in the first place, that could exist or not exist. Existence and non-existence are based on a false predicate that there is a findable "I" as a real entity (which could exist, not exist, both, or neither). As Buddha himself said in http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.086.than.html "And so, Anuradha — when you can't pin down the Tathagata as a truth or reality even in the present life — is it proper for you to declare, 'Friends, the Tathagata — the supreme man, the superlative man, attainer of the superlative attainment — being described, is described otherwise than with these four positions: The Tathagata exists after death, does not exist after death, both does & does not exist after death, neither exists nor does not exist after death'?" Look, there is no you that can be pinned down in or outside of the five skandhas to begin with... so how can you say that you exist or become non-existent?