Tag: not self

gold buddha figurine lot
Student's Question

Not Self – If the Self doesn’t exist what would motive people to meditate?

A student writes: If the self is non-existent, what motivates people to meditate and do things such as this training course? Lama Shenpen responds: Do I ever say that the self is non-existent? What the Buddha always taught was that what was impermanent, unsatisfactory and not as we wanted it, could not be the Self. The Self, in this context, is the one who wants … Continue reading Not Self – If the Self doesn’t exist what would motive people to meditate?

Awakened Heart Sangha
young asian female looking at reflection
Student's Question

Who is experiencing this present experience? Which ‘I’ am I?

We have a strong sense of self all the time but a vague idea about what it really is. Then we panic and grab onto what is not self as self and it lets us down every time – it lets ‘us’ down – we still have a very strong sense of self and we need to have – otherwise what kind of being would we be? Continue reading Who is experiencing this present experience? Which ‘I’ am I?

Awakened Heart Sangha
Student's Question

If you awaken fully, do you disappear?

A Student writes: If you ‘Awaken’ fully do you disappear? Lama Shenpen replies: This is a very interesting question. I think the answer is maybe but not necessarily – and I believe there is an element of choice involved in this too.  I am reading a book called ‘Rainbow Body and Resurrection – Spiritual Attainment, the Dissolution of the Material Body and the Case of … Continue reading If you awaken fully, do you disappear?

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How does our experience of Dukkha – unsatisfactoriness & Suffering – connect to our innate quality of Sensitivity?

The essence of the actual feeling of suffering or pain (beyond all the conditioned thoughts and feelings that are associated with it) is nothing other than the fundamental quality of sensitivity that is the Indestructible Heart Essence.  When we touch this we touch something that is profoundly sacred. Continue reading How does our experience of Dukkha – unsatisfactoriness & Suffering – connect to our innate quality of Sensitivity?

Loshi
Tibetan Buddhist meditation
Article, Lama Shenpen Teaching

Article: Five Uses of the Term Self in Buddhism

The question is whether ‘self’ has any meaning in Buddhism, since it speaks so much of ‘not-self’, which is a realization of the emptiness of the notion of self as we normally understand it. There could be an infinite number of layers to our sense of self, each of which would be a different kind of self. The coherent self that is the knower, the actor, the controller of a being is like the kernal of its associated personality, which supports and is supported by it. It is like a hard central core, which changes, depending on how deep into its nature one has gone. Each level of insight causes a collapse into a deeper, subtler, and more strongly held sense of self. Each level of insight brings one closer to what that self is in itself. Continue reading Article: Five Uses of the Term Self in Buddhism

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