Meditation on Non-self. Plain and Simple

From an Edited Talk

One important aspect of meditation, and a difficult one for many, includes understanding the Buddha's concept of non-self (anatta) through direct experience. The concept of non-self in Dharma practice often confuses people. Most people find the concept challenging.  

Today, teaching and practice focuses on non-self. It's important to recognize that sometimes, when listening, the teachings might go over our heads, without even reaching intellectual comprehension. That's okay. Other times, you may arrive at an intellectual understanding. The next step translates comprehension into practice, experience and leading to transformation. For a few, the act of listening might lead to immediate clarity, insights and transformation.

What is the key takeaway with non-self? It is a practical tool to free us from clinging, holding onto or grasping. All clinging implies the 'self' meaning 'I' and ‘my.' You can't have clinging without the clinger, or holding onto without the holder, grasping without the grasper. When speaking of non-self, it's inherently about non-clinging, non-holding, and non-grasping – freedom from being trapped in a problematic condition of 'I' and 'my.'

The application of this principle can begin with the body. It is easier to start there because the body is tangible – we can touch it and feel it as sensations. Meditation shows the way to a shift in view from the notion of 'I am the body' or ‘my body' to a subtle but significant change.

We often say, "I am sitting," "I am walking," or "I am breathing." This can reinforce the identification with the body. The self identifies with the body. But through Dharma practice, we learn to let the I drop out of that narrative. Then, the observation shifts from "I am sitting" to "the body is sitting."

There is seeing the body as a collection of elements, an expression of biology, DNA, energy, evolutionary process, a formation in nature, dependently arising rather than as "me."

By repeatedly seeing deeply, the body in this impersonal way an understanding of non-self emerges. The body is not a personal identity or possession. The body lacks a creator, possessor or owner of this composition of elements. If we had created our bodies, we could say, "This is me because I made it like this." But we didn't.

There's no evidence we own our body and we can do as we wish with it. If we had such control over the body, we would stop once and for all the experiences of sickness, pain and death.

When consciousness meets the body, there is often a friction. The friction triggers the arising of I. In sickness, pain, or feelings of notion of specialness, this friction easily intensifies the sense of self. Through sustained meditation, there is the cultivation of a relationship with the body as natural formations, not as me. We develop a capacity to handle changes in the physical presence and treat the body with care and respect, as a primary object of interest. An object is not our self.

This understanding of non-self brings a harmonious, relaxed relationship with life. The more we hold on to the body, the more fear we experience – such as fear of sickness, aging, and death. If we let go of clinging, the less fear we have, and the more at peace we are with the living process. The Buddha did not teach detachment from the body but gave teachings and practices on seeing 'body as body' rather than grasping onto the body as I or my.

The same principle of non-self applies to feelings and thoughts, although they appear more changeable and insubstantial than the body. Just as we observe the body without clinging to it, we can observe our inner life. There is the arising and passing of feeling tones, emotions, thoughts and states of mind. When we refrain from clinging through I and my, this reduces suffering due to clinging.

Clarity and insights can manifest even in moments of intense drama. Sometimes, when we're caught up in powerful emotions, the sense of "I" and "my" dominates. That sense can suddenly or gradually drop away, and the whole drama collapses, leaving an unexpected calm. The friction of "I" and "my" in the experience sustained the drama. Without the obsessing self, there is inner peace.

The Buddha taught that our possessiveness and identification with self changes. Sometimes the self lands on the body, sometimes on thoughts, feeling tones, emotions, perceptions, consciousness or mindfulness. But this shifting I, shifting self, makes it clear there is no permanent self, no substantial, unchanging self wherever it lands.

• The body is an object of mindfulness/awareness/attention/interest.

• Feelings, views are an object of interest.

• An object is not me, not myself, not who I am.

Right now, your attention has landed on this Substack post. The post is an object of interest. You do not take up the view I am this post or This post is my post.

Body, feelings, perceptions, thoughts, states of mind are objects of interest. These objects of interest are also non-self.

The I lands in the subject – mindfulness, awareness, consciousness of…such as “I am mindful, I am aware of…”

When the I lands in the subject, it is not in the object and vice versa. I is a phenomenon, unstable, and appearing and passing according to conditions in being awake or asleep. I and my does not stay permanently in the subject either.

The practice does not seek to destroy the self or cling to an ideology of non-self or no-self. We can still use the language of I in daily life, but we understand that I is not truly I. It is a phenomenon.

I and my functions as a convenient way to communicate, nothing to make a fuss about. "I am sitting here talking to you," summarises "this posture of a physical form, made up of elements and consciousness, sits here talking to you."

Through the wisdom that accompanies understanding of non-self, much of the holding onto fear and egotism dissolves. We understand what it means to live without friction or, at least, with a soft friction that doesn't cause suffering.

The wisdom of non-self liberates entrapment in subject-object dynamics knowing a fulfilled way of living. The benefit of such wisdom goes in all directions.

Let's take a quiet minute or two.

Thank you.