Below are ten talks and a guided meditation that explore the third level of delusion, particularly the part about not clearly understand not-self — one of the three characteristics of reality.
This is part of a bigger 51-talk series exploring the root afflictions of craving, aversion, and delusion.
Week One
Resources on Not-self
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- From Joseph Goldstein, this is my favorite brief overview of the terrain. If you’re particularly interested in the view that the self is awareness, he addresses that in this talk.
- From Thanissaro Bhikkhu, this 25-page essay is a bit dense, but it’s a phenomenal read that has greatly informed my understanding of how the Buddha actually spoke about self, including self and not-self as strategies, how the Buddha largely instructed putting aside the question of self in favor of asking about clinging / the noble truths, and much more!
- From Rob Burbea, chapter 14 on “anatta” provides some of the best practical instructions I’ve found on not-self.
- Fom Sayadaw U Tejaniya, the section on “Right View: The Mind Is Nature, Not Me” from Relax & Be Aware. I didn’t directly quote from this section this week, but his teachings are the way I learned how to directly experience not-self in a real-time, transformational way.
- I’m a huge fan of Gil Fronsdal, and here’s a brief article of his on anatta, that adds something valuable to understanding.
- On Thursday, I shared the NEST meditation (recording here), though a more traditional option to deconstruct the self would have been to explore the sense of (not) self via the five aggregates. Here’s an excellent talk by Guy Armstrong on how the five aggregates are not self.
Suttas I drew upon in the above series:
- The Bahiya sutta, especially the line that says, “This is how you should train yourself. When for you there is in what is seen only the seen, in what is heard only the heard, in what is sensed only the sensed, in what is cognized only the cognized, then Bahiya, there is no you in connection with what is seen, heard, sensed or cognized. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor there nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of suffering.”
- The Simile of the Snake, particularly the section towards the bottom called “Not Yours,” which compares the five aggregates to sticks, leaves, and branches in a grove.
- The All the Taints sutta. where the Buddha instructs us to put aside the question of what am I? in favor of investigating suffering and the end of suffering.