#no-self
The emperor of China asked a renowned Buddhist master if it would be possible to illustrate the nature of self in a visible way. In response, the master had a sixteen-sided room appointed with floor-to-ceiling mirrors that faced one another exactly. In the center he hung a candle aflame. When the emperor entered he could see the individual candle flame in thousands of forms, each of the mirrors extending it far into the distance. Then the master replaced the candle with a small crystal. The emperor could see the small crystal reflected again in every direction. When the master pointed closely at the crystal, the emperor could see the whole room of thousands of crystals reflected in each tiny facet of the crystal in the center. The master showed how the smallest particle contains the whole universe.
True emptiness is not empty, but contains all things. The mysterious and pregnant void creates and reflects all possibilities. From it arises our individuality, which can be discovered and developed, although never possessed or fixed. The self is held in no-self, as the candle flame is held in great emptiness.
-Jack Kornfield
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“You have to get away from all that madness for a while because we become insane, we get confused with our roles, as being who we really are. Man is not his role. Man is something deeper than that. So, go into the forest or some place ALONE in nature, all by yourself, and find out who you really are! And when you no longer confuse yourself with your particular temporary body, but identify with the entire process of nature and the whole cosmos… When death comes, what a funny thing that will happen. Death comes, and will find no one to kill.”— Alan Watts
The central problem is not that
you think to highly
of yourself
nor is it that
you think too lowly
instead, it is that
you think constantly
of yourself.—Wu Hsin
The central problem is not that
you think to highly
of yourself
nor is it that
you think too lowly
instead, it is that
you think constantly
of yourself.
—Wu Hsin
