And you see that there is no thing here..

My very first exposure to the idea that the separate self did not exist came in reading a variation of something I'd later find out was this sutra. 

To reveal the nature of the reality of self, no more than this is needed.

In the seen, there is only the seen,
in the heard, there is only the heard,
in the sensed, there is only the sensed,
in the cognized, there is only the cognized.
Thus you should see that
indeed there is no thing here;
this, Bahiya, is how you should train yourself.
Since, Bahiya, there is for you
in the seen, only the seen,
in the heard, only the heard,
in the sensed, only the sensed,
in the cognized, only the cognized,
and you see that there is no thing here,
you will therefore see that
indeed there is no thing there.
As you see that there is no thing there,
you will see that
you are therefore located neither in the world of this,
nor in the world of that,
nor in any place
betwixt the two.
This alone is the end of suffering.”

Best. Selfie. Ever.

Title This sure beats any “selfie” I’ve done up to now

Released 11/07/2013 11:50 am

Copyright ESA/NASA

Description These images were taken by ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano during his spacewalk, together with NASA's Chris Cassidy, 9 July 2013.
 

Tabula Rasa gets a companion blog

For those interested in personal stories rather than just pointers, you may want to click on over to my new blog.  In it, I tell the story of searching for enlightenment on the internet.  Does it work?  Can facebook really serve as a guru?  Are satsangs, retreats, or teachers actually required for truth realization?  And what about forums like Liberation Unleashed or Ruthless Truth.  Are they worth the hype?:

Let's take a look:

Streaming Enlightenment:  The life an times of an internet-inspired inquiry.

Selfie

Exactly what does a Selfie point to?

 

 

photo credit:  Photograph of the Universe, by bottle-of-love on deviantArt

Liberation Unleashed Best Pointers, a Collection

A simple message.  For YOU. 

From the Guides at LiberationUnleashed.com

 

 

 

 

There is no you. Look.

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...

Look at a chair. Do you see the chair?Look at your self. Do you see a self?

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STOP THINKING!

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Don't think, look.

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When there is no thought, where are you?

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Is there someone investigating this or is investigating happening?

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We're looking to see if there's anything real behind the fear. And if there's really a 'you' there. A real one. Is there one you can really find?LOOK!

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Hear the sound of the traffic. Can you hear the self in the same way?Feel your feet touching the ground. Can you feel the self in the same way?Notice that internal picture. Is it "you" or just a picture?

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Look at a table, look at the components, imagine the table taken apart, where is the table? Is there really such a thing? Could this be the same for a me? If arms and legs are gone is there less of you?

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Close your eyes, think of eating an apple, imagine color shape and size, how it feels holding it, really imagine it as realistic as possible, take a big bite, taste the skin, juices and pulp...............
Now open your eyes, where did your apple go? *poof*
So could it be the same with “I” ?

__________________________________________

"Next, as you move around in your normal activities, check and see if you can find a self moving the body around.Walking, driving, typing, dressing yourself, etc. Is there a WHO living your life? Or are there just thoughts about everything, including a self, seeming to live your life? Big difference. Just look at the evidence. In your daily life, in all your actions, keep returning to this focus on the thoughts as you move around. Keep checking if there is something real, besides a thought, that owns and directs the body."

__________________________________________


your story isn't important in this process. it's not that there's anything wrong with a story, and I am even interested to hear it sometime, but for now it will not be productive

___________________________________________


Nope. You can't get there (to seeing through the illusion of self) from here (logical understanding). If you could, you would be there already.

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There are no words to adequately describe how to see, no maps of how to get there; all I can do is Point to where you should look. This is not a mental exercise; all the thinking you can ever do will never get you there. I will give you clue, because I was also a Thinker. Just before I saw it, I suddenly realised that my guide was telling me to LOOK, not to Think. When I looked, I saw it.What is Looking? It is focusing on your Direct Experience. Seeing with the eyes, hearing with the ears, feeling with the skin, smelling with the nose, tasting with the tongue. Sensation, before it is judged and labeled, is direct experience.

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to get to Direct Experience of it, you will have to step away from Thinking About everything and begin to use your senses.

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Those of us who live in a mental world have much the hardest time letting go of the idea that there is something more to be understood. There isn't. You understand it all; now you just need to shift focus from thinking to directly experiencing.

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You may ask what makes direct experience more effective than intellectualization? Two things, at least: first it takes us out of our Story about what is happening and gets us in touch with what is actually happening; and second it is a peaceful quiet "place" which is always available merely by shifting focus away from thinking and to sensation. It really is a peace which passeth understanding, understanding being stuck in thought.

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There is no goal here. I just point to the fact that there is no actual entity self/I/me, and if you genuinely search for one everywhere in your direct experience, you will SEE that it is an illusion created by language and supported by nearly everyone around you. I cannot give this experience to you; you will have to SEE it for yourself.

___________________________________________


I have recently experienced ear infections that left me deaf as a post. My husband heard the door buzzer, the microwave beep, the noisy football supporters celebrating in the street. But those sounds were unheard by me, and so do not make up part of my direct experience.

___________________________________________


Beware of any sentence with a therefore in it; it is probably a deduction rather than an observation.

___________________________________________


If you wanted to SEE the Eiffel Tower with the eyes in your head, I would direct you to Paris, not to a picture-postcard stand. Same here. If you want to SEE through the illusion that you are or have a separate self that has some control over an individual slice of Life, you must go to direct experience, for that is where this can be SEEN.

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Try not to Think this all through so much. It only makes thought tangles that prevent you from experiencing directly the fact of the matter: "I" is a label. There is no "I" outside of thought/language. No hypothetical I can ever assist you in directly experiencing the fact of the non-existence of an actual entity "I".

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Write for me what you are experiencing right now using the words I and me. Get right to the point, no past or future fantasy, just plain description of here now. Like this: I am lying in bed. I am hearing rain. I am typing these words. Do this for 10 minutes. Watch the body; what physical sensations are happening? Then for the next 10 minutes write what you are experiencing without the words I and me. Just describe the experience as it is happening in the moment, using verbs: Waiting for next thought, typing, breathing, blinking, hearing rain. Again watch what is happening in the body. Now compare these two ways to label experience. What do you notice?

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Stop playing with "no self" as a concept! You've seen the illusion mechanism but now you're indulging in thinking about it.

Take it inside! Let it really sink in. Absorb the implications!

There is no you.
Is it true?
LOOK!
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"Liberation is not a thought, a feeling or a state.
Its really so ordinary that we have almost totally missed it.
I can't convince you of it, in fact the only way I can help is to point you
in the right direction to look so you can see it for yourself.
You have to do the seeing. We call it LOOKING.
it is through direct experience that it is seen.
Its like we want you to look with fresh eyes at the truth of common everyday experience.
Like a child sees... without any bias.
Its not hidden. Its just a shift in perspective.
Do not expect fireworks. they may not happen. Each person is different.
Our life situation does not magically turn to constant bliss.
All of the emotions we have had in the past are still here..
it just seems there is much less stickiness to them."

 

Self Phone Logic

If I asked about the whereabouts of your cell phone, you'd mentally check your pocket or purse and give a response based upon experience.  If you weren't so confident as to your phone's location, you'd place a hand to your pocket, or maybe root around in your handbag, then likely feel a sense of assurance once the phone had been safely located. 

When I ask that you check reality for a self, I'm asking that you look for it as you would a cell phone.  And if your search ends without that self turning up, I'd tell you that the reason it's not there is not because it's some nebulous thing with the ability to hide better than anything ever hidden itself in the history of mankind.  (I DO mean history of all mankind, too.  There's not one individual whose been able to check for a self and present one).

There's a reason for this absence.

Someone once told me that though they couldn't locate a self, they weren't yet convinced that one didn't exist somewhere out there. Maybe in another dimension.  That they hadn't yet found it wasn't proof that it didn't exist.

Let's test that.

If it's located somewhere out there, it's obviously completely disconnected from experience because otherwise it would easily be located.  If it's disconnected, how is it a YOU? 

And if you insist that this entity IS experienced through emotion or just plain feeling, to WHOM would that experience happen?

That last bit of circular logic usually goes undetected.  It also the source of the confusion.


photo credit:  Empty Pocket I by boproductions on deviantArt

Magical Disappearing Act

If there's a Me/ a Self/ an I, seeing the words in this post, where is that I right now?  Where?  In the eyes?  In the head?  The Body?

If there's a Me/ a Self/ an I, hearing the voice in the head speaking these words, where is that I? In the ears?  In the head? The Body?

What about the Me/ Self/ I that feels the keyboard?  Is it located in the fingers?  The whole hand?  The body?  The mind?

But you still feel a self?  Where?  In the body?  Which part would you remove in order to show me the self?  The heart?  If you need a heart transplant, do you then get a new self?

Is it in the mind then?  Yes?  Where is the mind?

In the brain?

Good.

Then reach into the brain and grab your self.




photo credit:  Your brain is in my hands, by Bianca0323 on DeviantArt