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No Self, No Problem: Awakening to Our True Nature
"There are many words we can use to describe what our true nature is. The simplest name in Buddhism for that is 'buddha nature.' The definition of buddha nature is that we are already enlightened. We are perfect as we are. When we realize this, we are perfect. When we do not realize this, we are also perfect."—from No Self, No Problem
This book, based on recent talks given in California, reflects Anam Thubten Rinpoche's understanding of and insight into the universal challenges of being human. Deeply trained in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the author distills his knowledge into simple, clear words of wisdom. He avoids jargon, addressing Western thinkers who may not have any knowledge of Buddhism. His instructions cut through confusion and fixed beliefs, getting straight to the heart of our experience. With humor and ruthless honesty, he generously shares his spiritual insights.
This book, based on recent talks given in California, reflects Anam Thubten Rinpoche's understanding of and insight into the universal challenges of being human. Deeply trained in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the author distills his knowledge into simple, clear words of wisdom. He avoids jargon, addressing Western thinkers who may not have any knowledge of Buddhism. His instructions cut through confusion and fixed beliefs, getting straight to the heart of our experience. With humor and ruthless honesty, he generously shares his spiritual insights.
144 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 2009
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661 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
September 17, 2013
Disappointing.
While the book is well written and often funny, it comes down to one simple fact: Thubten is merely trading one set of baseless delusions for another. He offers no solid reasoning for this exchange, because there is none. He simply states that we are all enlightened spiritual beings, and he knows this because of his own personal experience, which can no more be validated than it can be falsified. If that's not the definition of a delusion, I don't know what is.
To be fair, my own philosophical leanings leave me as a strict materialist, so I do subscribe to a more Japanese, Soto school of Zen thought where thoughts of a spirit or soul are just as unnecessary as of self or ego. In that sense, it's perplexing to me to spend ones life killing the ego only to inflate it with the idea of spiritual enlightenment, which is simply a slightly more subtle appeal to ego. To say we're all enlightened, but only a few special individuals know it, replaces one idea of self with another.
I gave the book 2 stars because it is well written, and even if I ultimately disagree, it's always good to learn about other points of view. And it's a bonus when you don't lose interest.
While the book is well written and often funny, it comes down to one simple fact: Thubten is merely trading one set of baseless delusions for another. He offers no solid reasoning for this exchange, because there is none. He simply states that we are all enlightened spiritual beings, and he knows this because of his own personal experience, which can no more be validated than it can be falsified. If that's not the definition of a delusion, I don't know what is.
To be fair, my own philosophical leanings leave me as a strict materialist, so I do subscribe to a more Japanese, Soto school of Zen thought where thoughts of a spirit or soul are just as unnecessary as of self or ego. In that sense, it's perplexing to me to spend ones life killing the ego only to inflate it with the idea of spiritual enlightenment, which is simply a slightly more subtle appeal to ego. To say we're all enlightened, but only a few special individuals know it, replaces one idea of self with another.
I gave the book 2 stars because it is well written, and even if I ultimately disagree, it's always good to learn about other points of view. And it's a bonus when you don't lose interest.
October 24, 2024
Great little dharma book that clarifies one of Buddhism's most complex subjects.
October 30, 2014
If you meditate or like to sit quietly as a Buddhist practitioner or in any faith, this book is a game changer. It's deepened my understanding of the truth, opened my eyes up to what life is all about. I have a deeper understanding of "what is" in the sweet space between our thoughts. Just within the week or two of reading this, I've opened up a better relationship between the mind, body, and emotional connection. I love my new found practice of allowing my self "to accept everything". I highly recommend this book by such an intelligent and loving teacher.
May 9, 2013
We are living in an age when people are disconnected from their true identity
and this false perception is validated from every angle.
There is the possibility of transcending this identification with our body in each and every moment.
Our body is impermanent but our true nature is not.
When someone manifests their true nature, they live out of love, kindness and joy. Our true essence goes beyond birth and death. Is it like the sky. In Buddhism, this is no self
When your true nature is realized, there is no longer this “I” searching for anything
This opening, this receptivity, is related to our ability to resist arming the ego with concepts and ideas. A true spiritual path transcends all concepts and belief systems.
It is about deconstructing all our illusions without any mercy.
Perhaps our mind is looking for comfort, for validation, for a spiritual high
Self-attachment is very subtle.
Know that this “I” is fictitious in that it is ready to whither away the moment we stop sustaining it
All we have to do is simply pay attention to our breath, allowing ourselves to let go. Then we connect to our inner world.
As we begin to rest and pay attention, we begin to see everything clearly.
We realize everything we believe is nothing but stories
Watching the dissolution of these stories is not painful
What is being destroyed is nothing but false identities. They were never real in the first place
That gap between each thought is the space where there is no “I” -- that’s it
meditation: the art of resting
from time to time, ask: What am I searching for?
Buddha said: I am beyond coming and going
Everything is an illusion
The beautiful illusion that is unfolding right now will soon be lost. There is not one single illusion that we can hold on to forever. We are going to lose everything sooner or later. The sense that it will last is only our mind telling us stories.
Illusions are unreal. Mental projections. They don’t have any concrete or inherent reality. True realization is knowing that everything is an illusion - the goal of the spiritual path is realizing that.
Realization is the heart of inner awakening. Without that there is no freedom. No liberation. Though we think we are transforming, we are just having another spiritual high.
The best thing is simply just rest and relax.
inner contentment: giving up nothing but attachment
contentment is a state of emptiness rather than having everything we have been fantasizing about and longing for
When we let go we see that the space we wanted to create is already there.
There is a big difference between giving up everything and giving up attachment to everything. that’s the key.
We can live a beautiful life
Ever when we encounter emergencies, moments of fear, terror, loneliness or desperation, we don’t completely lose our sense of inner serenity. Serenity is always majestic as a mountain.
Mountains maintains itself in the face of an earthquake, in the face of a storm, in the face of thunder and lightning. In the same way, we stabilize awareness, regardless of all that is happening outside and within our consciousness. We no longer identify ourselves with conditions.
sometimes we are like the weather, our consciousness fluctuating between sorrows and joy. Our mind oscillating between two extremes. There is another state: that of equanimity. This is the divine nature in all of us, sublime as it is.
Our true essence is perfectly sublime and divine. The most sacred entity. Our pure consciousness.
Nirvana is like a sky completely covered by clouds. Even when we don’t see it, the sky is always there. Always present, eternally. The clouds are just temporary, fleeting phenomena. Eventually they disappear and the sky, which has always been there, will clearly be seen.
Whether we believe it or not, we are always in the realm of the truth. The all-pervading reality. Nirvana is the realm of expression of that supreme truth.
The purpose of meditation is to awaken the eternal nirvana in the here and now.
When we pray, we invoke the spirit of devotion. Devotion is about no longer resisting anything. Self collapses and dissolves in each and every moment.
When we meditate, have the attitude to dissolve the self.
It’s bliss. Based on awareness. “No self, no problem.”
The peaceful warrior is the spiritual hero who conquers inner adversaries by the force of pure consciousness.
As long as we build defense mechanisms, transformation is exiled to the realm of improbability. Wearing a spiritual mask, we have no responsibilities. Sooner or later, however, we encounter its limitations.
The spiritual path doesn’t fix all our problems, or them get easier. If we hang on to that, we often run into disappointment, which is a huge obstacle to inner awakening. It just requires losing our investment in illusion. Growth can be painful.
Be careful what you wish for.
Be prepared to run into challenges and difficulties. This includes: doubt, anger, depression, etc.
How do we deal with outer conditions? Acceptance
Accept the way things are to love everything and everybody.
Lack of acceptance is conflict. Conflict is pain. Spiritual illusion. When our hearts are tormented by pain, we don’t have strength to give our heart to anything. Enlightenment is just another name for boundless love.
lovingkindness and compassion
If our heart is tormented because we cannot accept things the way they are, we cannot open our heart. We cannot let go of our defenses and embrace others. Therefore we need to practice and deepen our awareness, and remind ourselves to accept things as they are.
Today my practice is to accept the way things are
Today my practice is to love everybody
I’m not going to get angry
I’m going to be thankful for everything
Amazing utter devotion to spiritual practice
Just a tiny problem, when you don’t accept it, can completely destroy your inner peace
When we accept not just the small, but also the big problems, they become very easy to handle. We can celebrate challenge when they visit us. Look, this is an opportunity to practice how to accept what I don’t like.
I can transcend all my fear, all my insecurities.
A friend used to say: This is AFOG: another f-cking opportunity to grow.
People talk of demons of anger, doubt, loneliness, boredom. These demons are unreal. It’s a state of mind. Your beliefs, thoughts, pain.
True meditation is nothing but the art of abiding, without effort. Where you don’t try to get rid of anything.
Nondoing. Just observe and watch... like waves rising and going back into the water. They all dissolve.
A true spiritual path is about not letting ourselves get lost in life. Not knowing who we are.
We usually cling to something about our persona, the roles that we play. The prospect of losing them gives us a shiver. But sooner or later, we lose them all. We never want to admit that we don’t know who we are, so we always pretend that we do. That pretense comes at a very high cost. The price we pay is that we cling to all kinds of false identifications and associations.
The skill is to use these identities without becomes attached to them.
Who am I? helps us undo all the layers of our persona
As human beings we are deeply insecure and don’t know who we truly are
This sense that I am separate is the foundation of our sense of self. It is challenging to deconstruct this illusion.
Whenever we inquire into the nature of who we really are, we are on the path to true freedom.
Anatman or no self = one has seen through the false sense of self. It is just a mask, not the truth.
Inner fulfillment is lacking as long as we grab onto this flimsy and fleeting false identity. We are not in touch with our true nature.
Buddha’s way is the way of inquiry. Truth can be discovered by inquiry. The ability to inquire is one of the most amazing gifts human beings have. When deep inquiry is not a regular part of our spiritual practice, then we just get stuck with whatever trip we are on.
It is about eradicating all concepts about who we are ~ to challenge our usual way of thinking.
If we are able to get into deep inquiry, we see all concepts about who we are are fundamentally erroneous. They are forms of lies told to us by others and by ourselves. Most of the time we hardly get a chance to question those lies. Even if we begin to question, we often stop before we finish the process because a part of us really doesn’t want to die. This part is the old version of self. The “I” that believes it is inextricably bound to conditions.
It is powerful to inquire to look into our consciousness and see whether we are really living a life that is in harmony with a true spiritual path.
If so, treat ourselves kindly. If not, pray.
Prayer is powerful and heart opening when we make a true prayer in which our resistance is transcended. We pray to the truth and ask, “May I overcome this delusion. May I transcend this delusion.”
When we transcend delusion, we see the nature of truth as well as the nature of illusion.
Just trust in what is. What is is always perfect.
We are either loved or hated by others. No matter. We are always perfect in what is.
True prayer wakes us up from the world of fantasy and brings us in touch with truth in the highest spiritual union, what we call enlightenment. This union is total integration with reality, not some mystical la-la land.
When we realized that everything is a fantasy, things change. From the perspective of this truth, we are no longer lost in agony or grief. But when we are not in that mind, when something we were counting on turns out to be a fantasy, we experience disappointment and anger. Just don’t block your consciousness.
When we meditate, we realize that not even one phenomenon in life is a concrete reality. Each and every condition is a fantasy. The self is a fantasy, too. Perhaps the worst thing you can say to someone is, “Hey, it’s your fantasy.” It’s easy to be offended when somebody says that. However, that is exactly what the truth is telling us.
When we feel like we’re suffering, it’s our fantasy. Yet we allow our mind to become one with the truth that everything is a fantasy.
Nothing secret about it.
Ego is always looking for security, but security is an illusion. As soon as we encounter a crisis, our sense of security is shattered. But we don’t allow ourselves to remain in a state of unknowing. We latch on to the next thing, whatever promises security. We’re like a monkey jumping off one branch of a tree and immediately jumping onto another.
Enlightenment is not security. It is freedom from both security and insecurity.
Sooner or later we give up security. This is our assignment. We give up any illusion of security. Youth is sometimes very comforting when we are living in unenlightened realms. But youth is an illusion because it doesn’t last forever. Eventually we all age. Sometimes it’s powerful to visualize ourselves getting older. There’s a whole set of meditation practices where we visualize ourselves being very old, very sick, and eventually dying. We visualize our body being burning in a fire or chopped into tiny pieces and fed to hungry vultures like in Tibet. It is a very powerful visualization in terms of accentuating all unreasonable attachment to youth and being young. And a way to cut through attachment to this quest for security and permanence.
Think about security in terms of relationships, between women and men, between groups, countries. These relationships are impermanent. Ultimately, there is no security in relationships. Think about money, success, career. Things are always changing. Everything is appearing and disappearing. Everything in this existence is the miraculous dance of divine truth. The truth is always dancing. It never takes a break. The truth is dancing day and night, eternally from the beginning without any end. Everything is manifested in this dance. The dance is not static. Constantly in motion, appearing and disappearing. Always in motion, changeable, always transient. If we are not ready to accept the truth about this existence, we have a big problem. We have a problem not just with ourselves but with the truth. You know sometimes people say, “I have a problem with my neighbor.” That is nothing compared to having a problem with the truth. People have problems with their car or with the president. That’s okay. Imagine that we have a problem with reality. Now we really have a big problem.
If we look carefully into our mind from this perspective, we realize that we have a serious problem with the truth. We do not accept the transient quality of existence. We do not accept it all. Most often we see change as the ultimate state of danger. Ego is constantly trying to escape from accepting and embracing that eternal dancelike transient quality of existence. Ego doesn’t like that dance. Ego loves things that exist and become solid like a rock. Not just a rock but an eternal, unchangeable rock. No changes. everything secure.
On the spiritual path, first we inquire. We look and begin to see the very nature of our suffering. Where has suffering originated? Where does suffering come from? Is it from the outside, from physical situations like birth, sickness, old age, and death? Is it from not getting what we want? Or is it generated from within our own consciousness? Through the lens of introspection we come to realize all our suffering originates from unenlightened consciousness. From the fact that we do not accept the nature of existence.
[I take issue with this -- some things are structural, and can be changed.]
When we realize this war is happening ~ this lack of peace in our mind ~ we fight to maintain a sense of security... distracting our mind through enjoying sensual pleasures, keeping busy, fantasizing about beautiful futures ~ we don’t have to fight so much. We don’t have to try to change or control things. We don’t have to perform this huge feng shui on the universe. We try to rearrange everything -- sun here, moon there... I’m at the center.
Eventually we realize the truth:
Things are impermanent. Things are not under our control.
“This is the truth. Accept it.”
The more we meditate the stronger awareness becomes.
That’s the power of sincere inquiry.
Alignment with truth is inner liberation. Great bliss. freedom from self-imposed prison of ignorance.
Become aware of our motives. Wrong motivation often leads to undesired results.
What happens if we just let go? Nothing except inner liberation.
We have an irrational fear and think we must be in control. This originates from our belief that there is something fundamentally wrong with reality.
[and sometimes there is :) like in an abusive situation.]
We are always secure and we are already secure.
Look at the measure of love and compassion we express in life.
If our heart is becoming bitter, angry, arrogant, we create unnecessary separation between ourselves and others, something is not working with our spiritual practice. Good to double-check. When our heart is hardened by judgment and separation, then pray. Pray to the truth. Pray for our heart to be bless and opened.
Truth is always residing in us, day and night, in each and every moment. Our heart is the hidden paradise. We find the golden key, and wander endlessly. The land of bliss.
When we hide under the shell of ego, afraid the rain will destroy all our illusions, we hide. We don’t have to go anywhere. We are being blessed in each and every moment. All we have to do is come out of that shell. And take a break. Then we experience our true nature: compassion and loving-kindness.
Life is very short. Don’t hate anybody. Ask: How am I going to spend my life from here on?
Nothing to gain, nothing to lose. No enemies, no friends. No “I”
All that matters is to live from compassion, awareness, wisdom.
Then we live in bliss.
Love is our ability to see everybody as divine.
Love is devotion. Total acceptance of all things.
As human beings, we are truth, love and beauty.
When we are free from inner conditioning and awakened, we see we are all utterly divine.
Two realms we can reside in: Nirvana - enlightenment or Samsara - unenlightened world
The most liberating awareness to experience is that “I” is a lie.
Our true nature is perfect. It doesn’t have to improve; never needs to be changed.
This is the moment to let go of doubt and fear.
Fall in love with truth, that eternal freedom
Prayer is surrendering the self. dissolution of our imaginary self.
meditating is a little challenging in the beginning b/c it is challenging to pause everything
our mind is trained and habituated to do something, construct this world of illusion.
meditation is pausing. stop rolling that snowball.
When we look into consciousness, we find lots of old buddies. There’s hatred: Hey, it’s good to see you again. Hello, pride, good to see you, too. Fear, guilt. Relax, don’t worry, I am waiting for you.
Surrender to wisdom.
Who are you?
I am awake.
Our true nature is a beautiful, kind lover who wants to be with us.
But we have turned down that invitation out of fear of opening our heart.
Even at this moment, our divine nature is inviting us to be one with it.
Realize who we are.
WItness this amazing union right now.
Just stop searching.
Then we’ll witness the union right where we are.
It’s meditation without meditation.
We don’t need new illusions.
It’s painful to lose things.
We have great memories attached to them
For these reasons, dissolving illusions can be very painful.
Dogma may bind us to more dualism. Serving some wird authority.
What is transcendent wisdom?
Direct experience. Momentary. A realization of losing everything ~ not in a painful way
Sometimes it’s good to lose everything. Liberating
You have to be a little crazy to love the truth. It’s a beautiful love. It doesn’t make sense to the rest of the mind. It’s pretty challenging to open your heart and love the truth. No mental image you can hold on to. Neither existence nor nonexistence. It’s beyond everything. Beyond all labels. Buddhists call this: Suchness to describe this highest truth.
To love the truth is to love suchness, to love what is.
Suchness or emptiness goes beyond mental images and therefore you have to be a little bit or sometimes very crazy to love suchness. To have to be crazy to love emptiness because it’s totally irrational. It doesn’t give us anything. Emptiness doesn’t give us anything. It is just suchness. It is just what is.
The most beautiful love that we can experience is to be in love with truth. It is challenging. It is easier to be in love with mental images or concepts.
Wisdom sees the way things are. Like a person walking with eyes wide open.
All we lose is all our misery. We find inexpressible bliss within. Our heart and mind are united in a realm of boundless compassion and fierce intelligence. We live having fun every day. Vast as the sky. Nothing confines us. We’re not tied up in all sorts of beliefs from realizing the realm of supreme perfection.
and this false perception is validated from every angle.
There is the possibility of transcending this identification with our body in each and every moment.
Our body is impermanent but our true nature is not.
When someone manifests their true nature, they live out of love, kindness and joy. Our true essence goes beyond birth and death. Is it like the sky. In Buddhism, this is no self
When your true nature is realized, there is no longer this “I” searching for anything
This opening, this receptivity, is related to our ability to resist arming the ego with concepts and ideas. A true spiritual path transcends all concepts and belief systems.
It is about deconstructing all our illusions without any mercy.
Perhaps our mind is looking for comfort, for validation, for a spiritual high
Self-attachment is very subtle.
Know that this “I” is fictitious in that it is ready to whither away the moment we stop sustaining it
All we have to do is simply pay attention to our breath, allowing ourselves to let go. Then we connect to our inner world.
As we begin to rest and pay attention, we begin to see everything clearly.
We realize everything we believe is nothing but stories
Watching the dissolution of these stories is not painful
What is being destroyed is nothing but false identities. They were never real in the first place
That gap between each thought is the space where there is no “I” -- that’s it
meditation: the art of resting
from time to time, ask: What am I searching for?
Buddha said: I am beyond coming and going
Everything is an illusion
The beautiful illusion that is unfolding right now will soon be lost. There is not one single illusion that we can hold on to forever. We are going to lose everything sooner or later. The sense that it will last is only our mind telling us stories.
Illusions are unreal. Mental projections. They don’t have any concrete or inherent reality. True realization is knowing that everything is an illusion - the goal of the spiritual path is realizing that.
Realization is the heart of inner awakening. Without that there is no freedom. No liberation. Though we think we are transforming, we are just having another spiritual high.
The best thing is simply just rest and relax.
inner contentment: giving up nothing but attachment
contentment is a state of emptiness rather than having everything we have been fantasizing about and longing for
When we let go we see that the space we wanted to create is already there.
There is a big difference between giving up everything and giving up attachment to everything. that’s the key.
We can live a beautiful life
Ever when we encounter emergencies, moments of fear, terror, loneliness or desperation, we don’t completely lose our sense of inner serenity. Serenity is always majestic as a mountain.
Mountains maintains itself in the face of an earthquake, in the face of a storm, in the face of thunder and lightning. In the same way, we stabilize awareness, regardless of all that is happening outside and within our consciousness. We no longer identify ourselves with conditions.
sometimes we are like the weather, our consciousness fluctuating between sorrows and joy. Our mind oscillating between two extremes. There is another state: that of equanimity. This is the divine nature in all of us, sublime as it is.
Our true essence is perfectly sublime and divine. The most sacred entity. Our pure consciousness.
Nirvana is like a sky completely covered by clouds. Even when we don’t see it, the sky is always there. Always present, eternally. The clouds are just temporary, fleeting phenomena. Eventually they disappear and the sky, which has always been there, will clearly be seen.
Whether we believe it or not, we are always in the realm of the truth. The all-pervading reality. Nirvana is the realm of expression of that supreme truth.
The purpose of meditation is to awaken the eternal nirvana in the here and now.
When we pray, we invoke the spirit of devotion. Devotion is about no longer resisting anything. Self collapses and dissolves in each and every moment.
When we meditate, have the attitude to dissolve the self.
It’s bliss. Based on awareness. “No self, no problem.”
The peaceful warrior is the spiritual hero who conquers inner adversaries by the force of pure consciousness.
As long as we build defense mechanisms, transformation is exiled to the realm of improbability. Wearing a spiritual mask, we have no responsibilities. Sooner or later, however, we encounter its limitations.
The spiritual path doesn’t fix all our problems, or them get easier. If we hang on to that, we often run into disappointment, which is a huge obstacle to inner awakening. It just requires losing our investment in illusion. Growth can be painful.
Be careful what you wish for.
Be prepared to run into challenges and difficulties. This includes: doubt, anger, depression, etc.
How do we deal with outer conditions? Acceptance
Accept the way things are to love everything and everybody.
Lack of acceptance is conflict. Conflict is pain. Spiritual illusion. When our hearts are tormented by pain, we don’t have strength to give our heart to anything. Enlightenment is just another name for boundless love.
lovingkindness and compassion
If our heart is tormented because we cannot accept things the way they are, we cannot open our heart. We cannot let go of our defenses and embrace others. Therefore we need to practice and deepen our awareness, and remind ourselves to accept things as they are.
Today my practice is to accept the way things are
Today my practice is to love everybody
I’m not going to get angry
I’m going to be thankful for everything
Amazing utter devotion to spiritual practice
Just a tiny problem, when you don’t accept it, can completely destroy your inner peace
When we accept not just the small, but also the big problems, they become very easy to handle. We can celebrate challenge when they visit us. Look, this is an opportunity to practice how to accept what I don’t like.
I can transcend all my fear, all my insecurities.
A friend used to say: This is AFOG: another f-cking opportunity to grow.
People talk of demons of anger, doubt, loneliness, boredom. These demons are unreal. It’s a state of mind. Your beliefs, thoughts, pain.
True meditation is nothing but the art of abiding, without effort. Where you don’t try to get rid of anything.
Nondoing. Just observe and watch... like waves rising and going back into the water. They all dissolve.
A true spiritual path is about not letting ourselves get lost in life. Not knowing who we are.
We usually cling to something about our persona, the roles that we play. The prospect of losing them gives us a shiver. But sooner or later, we lose them all. We never want to admit that we don’t know who we are, so we always pretend that we do. That pretense comes at a very high cost. The price we pay is that we cling to all kinds of false identifications and associations.
The skill is to use these identities without becomes attached to them.
Who am I? helps us undo all the layers of our persona
As human beings we are deeply insecure and don’t know who we truly are
This sense that I am separate is the foundation of our sense of self. It is challenging to deconstruct this illusion.
Whenever we inquire into the nature of who we really are, we are on the path to true freedom.
Anatman or no self = one has seen through the false sense of self. It is just a mask, not the truth.
Inner fulfillment is lacking as long as we grab onto this flimsy and fleeting false identity. We are not in touch with our true nature.
Buddha’s way is the way of inquiry. Truth can be discovered by inquiry. The ability to inquire is one of the most amazing gifts human beings have. When deep inquiry is not a regular part of our spiritual practice, then we just get stuck with whatever trip we are on.
It is about eradicating all concepts about who we are ~ to challenge our usual way of thinking.
If we are able to get into deep inquiry, we see all concepts about who we are are fundamentally erroneous. They are forms of lies told to us by others and by ourselves. Most of the time we hardly get a chance to question those lies. Even if we begin to question, we often stop before we finish the process because a part of us really doesn’t want to die. This part is the old version of self. The “I” that believes it is inextricably bound to conditions.
It is powerful to inquire to look into our consciousness and see whether we are really living a life that is in harmony with a true spiritual path.
If so, treat ourselves kindly. If not, pray.
Prayer is powerful and heart opening when we make a true prayer in which our resistance is transcended. We pray to the truth and ask, “May I overcome this delusion. May I transcend this delusion.”
When we transcend delusion, we see the nature of truth as well as the nature of illusion.
Just trust in what is. What is is always perfect.
We are either loved or hated by others. No matter. We are always perfect in what is.
True prayer wakes us up from the world of fantasy and brings us in touch with truth in the highest spiritual union, what we call enlightenment. This union is total integration with reality, not some mystical la-la land.
When we realized that everything is a fantasy, things change. From the perspective of this truth, we are no longer lost in agony or grief. But when we are not in that mind, when something we were counting on turns out to be a fantasy, we experience disappointment and anger. Just don’t block your consciousness.
When we meditate, we realize that not even one phenomenon in life is a concrete reality. Each and every condition is a fantasy. The self is a fantasy, too. Perhaps the worst thing you can say to someone is, “Hey, it’s your fantasy.” It’s easy to be offended when somebody says that. However, that is exactly what the truth is telling us.
When we feel like we’re suffering, it’s our fantasy. Yet we allow our mind to become one with the truth that everything is a fantasy.
Nothing secret about it.
Ego is always looking for security, but security is an illusion. As soon as we encounter a crisis, our sense of security is shattered. But we don’t allow ourselves to remain in a state of unknowing. We latch on to the next thing, whatever promises security. We’re like a monkey jumping off one branch of a tree and immediately jumping onto another.
Enlightenment is not security. It is freedom from both security and insecurity.
Sooner or later we give up security. This is our assignment. We give up any illusion of security. Youth is sometimes very comforting when we are living in unenlightened realms. But youth is an illusion because it doesn’t last forever. Eventually we all age. Sometimes it’s powerful to visualize ourselves getting older. There’s a whole set of meditation practices where we visualize ourselves being very old, very sick, and eventually dying. We visualize our body being burning in a fire or chopped into tiny pieces and fed to hungry vultures like in Tibet. It is a very powerful visualization in terms of accentuating all unreasonable attachment to youth and being young. And a way to cut through attachment to this quest for security and permanence.
Think about security in terms of relationships, between women and men, between groups, countries. These relationships are impermanent. Ultimately, there is no security in relationships. Think about money, success, career. Things are always changing. Everything is appearing and disappearing. Everything in this existence is the miraculous dance of divine truth. The truth is always dancing. It never takes a break. The truth is dancing day and night, eternally from the beginning without any end. Everything is manifested in this dance. The dance is not static. Constantly in motion, appearing and disappearing. Always in motion, changeable, always transient. If we are not ready to accept the truth about this existence, we have a big problem. We have a problem not just with ourselves but with the truth. You know sometimes people say, “I have a problem with my neighbor.” That is nothing compared to having a problem with the truth. People have problems with their car or with the president. That’s okay. Imagine that we have a problem with reality. Now we really have a big problem.
If we look carefully into our mind from this perspective, we realize that we have a serious problem with the truth. We do not accept the transient quality of existence. We do not accept it all. Most often we see change as the ultimate state of danger. Ego is constantly trying to escape from accepting and embracing that eternal dancelike transient quality of existence. Ego doesn’t like that dance. Ego loves things that exist and become solid like a rock. Not just a rock but an eternal, unchangeable rock. No changes. everything secure.
On the spiritual path, first we inquire. We look and begin to see the very nature of our suffering. Where has suffering originated? Where does suffering come from? Is it from the outside, from physical situations like birth, sickness, old age, and death? Is it from not getting what we want? Or is it generated from within our own consciousness? Through the lens of introspection we come to realize all our suffering originates from unenlightened consciousness. From the fact that we do not accept the nature of existence.
[I take issue with this -- some things are structural, and can be changed.]
When we realize this war is happening ~ this lack of peace in our mind ~ we fight to maintain a sense of security... distracting our mind through enjoying sensual pleasures, keeping busy, fantasizing about beautiful futures ~ we don’t have to fight so much. We don’t have to try to change or control things. We don’t have to perform this huge feng shui on the universe. We try to rearrange everything -- sun here, moon there... I’m at the center.
Eventually we realize the truth:
Things are impermanent. Things are not under our control.
“This is the truth. Accept it.”
The more we meditate the stronger awareness becomes.
That’s the power of sincere inquiry.
Alignment with truth is inner liberation. Great bliss. freedom from self-imposed prison of ignorance.
Become aware of our motives. Wrong motivation often leads to undesired results.
What happens if we just let go? Nothing except inner liberation.
We have an irrational fear and think we must be in control. This originates from our belief that there is something fundamentally wrong with reality.
[and sometimes there is :) like in an abusive situation.]
We are always secure and we are already secure.
Look at the measure of love and compassion we express in life.
If our heart is becoming bitter, angry, arrogant, we create unnecessary separation between ourselves and others, something is not working with our spiritual practice. Good to double-check. When our heart is hardened by judgment and separation, then pray. Pray to the truth. Pray for our heart to be bless and opened.
Truth is always residing in us, day and night, in each and every moment. Our heart is the hidden paradise. We find the golden key, and wander endlessly. The land of bliss.
When we hide under the shell of ego, afraid the rain will destroy all our illusions, we hide. We don’t have to go anywhere. We are being blessed in each and every moment. All we have to do is come out of that shell. And take a break. Then we experience our true nature: compassion and loving-kindness.
Life is very short. Don’t hate anybody. Ask: How am I going to spend my life from here on?
Nothing to gain, nothing to lose. No enemies, no friends. No “I”
All that matters is to live from compassion, awareness, wisdom.
Then we live in bliss.
Love is our ability to see everybody as divine.
Love is devotion. Total acceptance of all things.
As human beings, we are truth, love and beauty.
When we are free from inner conditioning and awakened, we see we are all utterly divine.
Two realms we can reside in: Nirvana - enlightenment or Samsara - unenlightened world
The most liberating awareness to experience is that “I” is a lie.
Our true nature is perfect. It doesn’t have to improve; never needs to be changed.
This is the moment to let go of doubt and fear.
Fall in love with truth, that eternal freedom
Prayer is surrendering the self. dissolution of our imaginary self.
meditating is a little challenging in the beginning b/c it is challenging to pause everything
our mind is trained and habituated to do something, construct this world of illusion.
meditation is pausing. stop rolling that snowball.
When we look into consciousness, we find lots of old buddies. There’s hatred: Hey, it’s good to see you again. Hello, pride, good to see you, too. Fear, guilt. Relax, don’t worry, I am waiting for you.
Surrender to wisdom.
Who are you?
I am awake.
Our true nature is a beautiful, kind lover who wants to be with us.
But we have turned down that invitation out of fear of opening our heart.
Even at this moment, our divine nature is inviting us to be one with it.
Realize who we are.
WItness this amazing union right now.
Just stop searching.
Then we’ll witness the union right where we are.
It’s meditation without meditation.
We don’t need new illusions.
It’s painful to lose things.
We have great memories attached to them
For these reasons, dissolving illusions can be very painful.
Dogma may bind us to more dualism. Serving some wird authority.
What is transcendent wisdom?
Direct experience. Momentary. A realization of losing everything ~ not in a painful way
Sometimes it’s good to lose everything. Liberating
You have to be a little crazy to love the truth. It’s a beautiful love. It doesn’t make sense to the rest of the mind. It’s pretty challenging to open your heart and love the truth. No mental image you can hold on to. Neither existence nor nonexistence. It’s beyond everything. Beyond all labels. Buddhists call this: Suchness to describe this highest truth.
To love the truth is to love suchness, to love what is.
Suchness or emptiness goes beyond mental images and therefore you have to be a little bit or sometimes very crazy to love suchness. To have to be crazy to love emptiness because it’s totally irrational. It doesn’t give us anything. Emptiness doesn’t give us anything. It is just suchness. It is just what is.
The most beautiful love that we can experience is to be in love with truth. It is challenging. It is easier to be in love with mental images or concepts.
Wisdom sees the way things are. Like a person walking with eyes wide open.
All we lose is all our misery. We find inexpressible bliss within. Our heart and mind are united in a realm of boundless compassion and fierce intelligence. We live having fun every day. Vast as the sky. Nothing confines us. We’re not tied up in all sorts of beliefs from realizing the realm of supreme perfection.
November 30, 2015
I am non-attached to this book.
February 6, 2017
No self (ananatta) is one of the more difficult Buddhist concepts to understand. Thubten writes in a jargon free, clear and conversational and brings this central concept down to earth. Vert good dharma, indeed. Highly recommended.
July 9, 2022
'I remember seeing a bumper sticker that said, “I believe in life before death.” To me this means that we don’t have to imagine a future paradise. Paradise can happen right here, right now, while we’re in this human incarnation. The choice is ours.'
For a guy intent on convincing us that the self doesn't exist he uses the terms 'I' and 'me' a lot.
I'm just fooling about really... this was an enjoyable read. It didn't provide much except for an overview of the seemingly contrarian nature of the Buddhist teachings. That whole 'there is no problem because there is no you to have a problem' thang.
It reminds me of that meme of various stages of enlightenment attached to seemingly ever more ridiculous statements. 'Expanding Brain meme', had to look that up... That's it. Google it. Amusing. Anyway.
I call it the theological dodge. Turtles all the way down.
Nothing wrong with it really. It gives you the illusion of wisdom to boil everything down to a concentrated cognitive dissonance. The I which searches will only find less evidence for itself. The same way you can go much further with philosophy than I think therefore etc..
The mirror image suggests just as clear a vision of reality but proves just as impractical.
It didn't provide any instruction or new insight beyond what I already knew. It was a kōan of a book really. But that got me thinking, which was valuable.
So I wouldn't recommend this to anyone wanting a text about Buddhist teaching. But I would recommend it for a break. A little relaxing read that lifts off the everyday weight and allows a little moment of mindfulness.
By the end I was just a little jealous that the guy could just monk about, while I have to tackle work, bills and relationships. Nevermind.
One absolutely sensational tool though. I'm going to paraphrase here for brevity. He tells the story of a woman who has a demon and it is constantly telling her evil things. It says they are truthful things. She believes it when it tells her she is stupid and ugly and people hate her. So a teacher tells her that next time it appears, grab a handful of rice and ask it how many grains there are. See, the demon is of her own making. If she asks it a question that she herself doesn't have an answer for... It is defeated.
I liked that a lot. Very clever. I think we all need reminding that the demon is us.
For a guy intent on convincing us that the self doesn't exist he uses the terms 'I' and 'me' a lot.
I'm just fooling about really... this was an enjoyable read. It didn't provide much except for an overview of the seemingly contrarian nature of the Buddhist teachings. That whole 'there is no problem because there is no you to have a problem' thang.
It reminds me of that meme of various stages of enlightenment attached to seemingly ever more ridiculous statements. 'Expanding Brain meme', had to look that up... That's it. Google it. Amusing. Anyway.
I call it the theological dodge. Turtles all the way down.
Nothing wrong with it really. It gives you the illusion of wisdom to boil everything down to a concentrated cognitive dissonance. The I which searches will only find less evidence for itself. The same way you can go much further with philosophy than I think therefore etc..
The mirror image suggests just as clear a vision of reality but proves just as impractical.
It didn't provide any instruction or new insight beyond what I already knew. It was a kōan of a book really. But that got me thinking, which was valuable.
So I wouldn't recommend this to anyone wanting a text about Buddhist teaching. But I would recommend it for a break. A little relaxing read that lifts off the everyday weight and allows a little moment of mindfulness.
By the end I was just a little jealous that the guy could just monk about, while I have to tackle work, bills and relationships. Nevermind.
One absolutely sensational tool though. I'm going to paraphrase here for brevity. He tells the story of a woman who has a demon and it is constantly telling her evil things. It says they are truthful things. She believes it when it tells her she is stupid and ugly and people hate her. So a teacher tells her that next time it appears, grab a handful of rice and ask it how many grains there are. See, the demon is of her own making. If she asks it a question that she herself doesn't have an answer for... It is defeated.
I liked that a lot. Very clever. I think we all need reminding that the demon is us.
August 8, 2021
This is the best Buddhism book I've read so far—a concise, thought-provoking exposition of the Buddhist doctrine of anatta or "no self." Anatta is similar to Hume's view that people have no self that persists through time, but Buddhism adds a moral dimension: the false self we believe in is the "work of the devil" (as Thubten jokingly puts it). Suffering can be reduced by letting the self wither away. This charming story sums it up nicely:
My gut feeling is that the modern self arose symbiotically with psychoanalytic techniques of advertising. See for example, Adam Curtis' fascinating documentary The Century of the Self. Or the famous Torches of Freedom campaign, where corporate PR specialists persuaded women to addict themselves to tobacco as a signal of their self-determination and freedom. In children, psychological research indicates the self doesn't arise spontaneously from within. It develops in response to social pressures. One wonders: How would society respond to heretics who categorically denied the existence of the self? Is doubting the selves of specific, individual people allowed? My guess: In most cases it isn't! Like the Buddhists say, the self is a powerful attachment. We cling to it like a drowning person grips a log. How are you going to respond if somebody tries to take your log?
Another quote that hit home:
Thubten often speaks of the need to transcend duality. I understood this in Taoist terms: the ultimate ground of reality (the Tao) transcends all pairs of opposites. The Tao isn't "One" because One vs. Many is just another duality. The Tao is deeper than words and concepts, in part because words and concepts can be negated (and thus form dualities). I agree with Thubten that duality and the self are by-products of language. It recalls William S. Burroughs' conception of language as a virus:
According to Thubten, when we let go of words/concepts and the dualism/self they generate, we come to see that "everything is perfect as it is." It's a beautiful vision, reminiscent of Heraclitus: "To God, everything is beautiful, good, and just; humans however think some things are good and others are not."
But there's an underlying tension—both in Thubten's thought and Buddhism in general. On the one hand, Thubten says we must transcend dualism to realize the truth. On the other hand, Thubten (like all modern Buddhists, I believe) is eager to declare a sort of Christian/Manichean allegiance to the side of goodness and love. But aren't goodness and love just one side of yet another duality? Isn't the dualism of good and evil the most pernicious religious dualism of them all? So which is it? Is Buddhism devoted to the transcendent, nameless source beyond dualism? Or is Buddhism devoted to the Christian/Manichean dichotomy of good and evil? The idea that "everything is perfect as it is" (the deepest anti-dualistic idea) directly contradicts the idea that "there is good and evil." Do we reject dualism while sitting in meditation, and passionately take it up again when we stop? That seems pretty conflicted.
Although our first reflex is to align with love, a good case can be made that love is the primary culprit in the trashing of the earth. Isn't humanity just another, bigger self? Yet another dualism, i.e., human beings (top priority) vs. plants, animals, and nature (low priority)? Of course people say: We can value all human beings AND the environment, but the stark reality is that we usually can't. Case in point: the "holy" Ganges is toxic and polluted beyond belief. What happened there? To cite the old cliche: human beings are like a cancerous tumor, guzzling the earth's resources to sustain ever higher densities of human flesh. Love for humanity becomes, in the end, just another dualistic attachment, another cul de sac of narcissism. We're like kindhearted cancer cells, so proud of our altruistic devotion to the flourishing and well-being of our cancer brethren.
There's too much love for people; that's why we live in the anthropocene. So no-self isn't mere altruism (as a Christian or progressive might interpret it). It's closer to the "everything is perfect as it is" side of Buddhism.
"A while ago I was giving a weekend meditation retreat and a middle-aged lady approached me during one of the breaks. "Are you asking us to die?" I answered, "Absolutely!" while joining my palms and bowing toward her in reverence. "You got the message, that's it. There is nothing more to learn." When I looked up, I saw her face lighting up in a beautiful smile. No doubt she knew the way to liberation at that moment."Buddhism is famous for being laid-back, but if you reflect on it, it's surprising how subversive anatta is. The 21st century is a narcissistic era, obsessed with self-expression. We're all socialized to "find ourselves" and "be who we really are." We're encouraged to express a performative identity through products, brands, music, opinions, hashtags, selfies, fashions, sexualities, body modifications, etc. etc. Anatta is an axe aimed at the root of this tree (although of course it isn't usually conceived that way). Trying to find or be your "true self" is a delusion if the self doesn't exist.
My gut feeling is that the modern self arose symbiotically with psychoanalytic techniques of advertising. See for example, Adam Curtis' fascinating documentary The Century of the Self. Or the famous Torches of Freedom campaign, where corporate PR specialists persuaded women to addict themselves to tobacco as a signal of their self-determination and freedom. In children, psychological research indicates the self doesn't arise spontaneously from within. It develops in response to social pressures. One wonders: How would society respond to heretics who categorically denied the existence of the self? Is doubting the selves of specific, individual people allowed? My guess: In most cases it isn't! Like the Buddhists say, the self is a powerful attachment. We cling to it like a drowning person grips a log. How are you going to respond if somebody tries to take your log?
Another quote that hit home:
"One of our biggest problems is the idea of death. Even that doesn't exist because there has never been anyone there to die in the first place."What a refreshing idea! I found myself imagining the self as a helium balloon—letting it go and watching it float away with a sense of relief.
Thubten often speaks of the need to transcend duality. I understood this in Taoist terms: the ultimate ground of reality (the Tao) transcends all pairs of opposites. The Tao isn't "One" because One vs. Many is just another duality. The Tao is deeper than words and concepts, in part because words and concepts can be negated (and thus form dualities). I agree with Thubten that duality and the self are by-products of language. It recalls William S. Burroughs' conception of language as a virus:
"The word is now a virus. The flu virus may have once been a healthy lung cell. It is now a parasitic organism that invades and damages the central nervous system. Modern man has lost the option of silence. Try halting sub-vocal speech. Try to achieve even ten seconds of inner silence. You will encounter a resisting organism that forces you to talk. That organism is the word [i.e., the self]." (my remark in square brackets)Applying Thubten and Burroughs to 21st century media is a bit disturbing. If thoughts, opinions, and concepts are the disease—viral generators of self and thus of suffering—then today's media and Internet are the virulent stage of what we might call the "self plague."
According to Thubten, when we let go of words/concepts and the dualism/self they generate, we come to see that "everything is perfect as it is." It's a beautiful vision, reminiscent of Heraclitus: "To God, everything is beautiful, good, and just; humans however think some things are good and others are not."
But there's an underlying tension—both in Thubten's thought and Buddhism in general. On the one hand, Thubten says we must transcend dualism to realize the truth. On the other hand, Thubten (like all modern Buddhists, I believe) is eager to declare a sort of Christian/Manichean allegiance to the side of goodness and love. But aren't goodness and love just one side of yet another duality? Isn't the dualism of good and evil the most pernicious religious dualism of them all? So which is it? Is Buddhism devoted to the transcendent, nameless source beyond dualism? Or is Buddhism devoted to the Christian/Manichean dichotomy of good and evil? The idea that "everything is perfect as it is" (the deepest anti-dualistic idea) directly contradicts the idea that "there is good and evil." Do we reject dualism while sitting in meditation, and passionately take it up again when we stop? That seems pretty conflicted.
Although our first reflex is to align with love, a good case can be made that love is the primary culprit in the trashing of the earth. Isn't humanity just another, bigger self? Yet another dualism, i.e., human beings (top priority) vs. plants, animals, and nature (low priority)? Of course people say: We can value all human beings AND the environment, but the stark reality is that we usually can't. Case in point: the "holy" Ganges is toxic and polluted beyond belief. What happened there? To cite the old cliche: human beings are like a cancerous tumor, guzzling the earth's resources to sustain ever higher densities of human flesh. Love for humanity becomes, in the end, just another dualistic attachment, another cul de sac of narcissism. We're like kindhearted cancer cells, so proud of our altruistic devotion to the flourishing and well-being of our cancer brethren.
There's too much love for people; that's why we live in the anthropocene. So no-self isn't mere altruism (as a Christian or progressive might interpret it). It's closer to the "everything is perfect as it is" side of Buddhism.
June 8, 2018
Finished listening to this beautiful book yesterday. I savored every line of it. Here’s a summary of my key learnings from this book:
When you let go of the concept of “I” (I am good or I am bad or I am intelligent or something else), then and only then are we on the path to discovering the real truth. Ego is the cause of many problems in our lives so it makes sense to me that letting go of ego is the path to inner peace.
The highest form of prayer involves a true offering of thoughts. When we offer our thoughts whole heartedly then we get rid of the layers of conditioning and beliefs accumulated in our minds and get in touch with our true nature.
Worship the divine inside you which is your true nature. Your true nature is always compassionate, loving, accepting and happy.
Karma is nothing but thoughts. Samsara is nothing but thoughts. By being aware of your thoughts and sitting with them without reacting one can break the cycle of karma.
Aspire to meditate 108 times in a day. If that is hard to accomplish start with 2 times a day and build it up slowly. The point is to pause and reflect constantly in our daily lives.
Spiritual highs can be attained by visiting a place of worship or performing rituals, etc. but they come and go, they don’t last forever. Transcendant Wisdom (prajna paramita) can only by obtained by getting rid of all illusions.
Being in a spiritual path involves inquiring within on a regular basis. It means not accepting anything without true inquiry into our consciousness. It is liberating. It is enlightening.
I already started listening to Anam Thubten’s “Magic of Awareness”. I got it for $1.99 on Audible. I will read every book that this man has ever written because my heart leaps with joy when I listen to his teachings.
When you let go of the concept of “I” (I am good or I am bad or I am intelligent or something else), then and only then are we on the path to discovering the real truth. Ego is the cause of many problems in our lives so it makes sense to me that letting go of ego is the path to inner peace.
The highest form of prayer involves a true offering of thoughts. When we offer our thoughts whole heartedly then we get rid of the layers of conditioning and beliefs accumulated in our minds and get in touch with our true nature.
Worship the divine inside you which is your true nature. Your true nature is always compassionate, loving, accepting and happy.
Karma is nothing but thoughts. Samsara is nothing but thoughts. By being aware of your thoughts and sitting with them without reacting one can break the cycle of karma.
Aspire to meditate 108 times in a day. If that is hard to accomplish start with 2 times a day and build it up slowly. The point is to pause and reflect constantly in our daily lives.
Spiritual highs can be attained by visiting a place of worship or performing rituals, etc. but they come and go, they don’t last forever. Transcendant Wisdom (prajna paramita) can only by obtained by getting rid of all illusions.
Being in a spiritual path involves inquiring within on a regular basis. It means not accepting anything without true inquiry into our consciousness. It is liberating. It is enlightening.
I already started listening to Anam Thubten’s “Magic of Awareness”. I got it for $1.99 on Audible. I will read every book that this man has ever written because my heart leaps with joy when I listen to his teachings.
May 8, 2016
This is not a step-by-step guide to enlightenment but a plainly worded, sweetly spoken unveiling of truths.
In the spirit of "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" this book is a wonderful summation of Buddhist principles, a fantastic introduction and starting place for new practitioners and a great refresher for devotees looking for a new perspective or a retelling of lessons.
Some reviewers have disagreed with the philosophy, but even if you think it false it's still interesting to examine an opposing view point.
I found myself racing through this book, guzzling pages like a thirsty man given a fresh glass of water. I had to consciously slow down and stop to reflect after each chapter, I was so excited to move ahead. And that, I have to say, is an indicator of a 5 star book.
In the spirit of "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" this book is a wonderful summation of Buddhist principles, a fantastic introduction and starting place for new practitioners and a great refresher for devotees looking for a new perspective or a retelling of lessons.
Some reviewers have disagreed with the philosophy, but even if you think it false it's still interesting to examine an opposing view point.
I found myself racing through this book, guzzling pages like a thirsty man given a fresh glass of water. I had to consciously slow down and stop to reflect after each chapter, I was so excited to move ahead. And that, I have to say, is an indicator of a 5 star book.
May 29, 2012
A sweet book in daily language about buddhism, meditation, enlightenment, etc. It is very unpretentious and warm. Most important of all, it gives the right message very explicitly: Awakening is not a complicated business. A good book to read when you've been away from spiritual concerns for a while and want to get in that frame of mind again. I imagine it would also be a good book for younger people (teenagers) due to how accessible the writing is.
June 24, 2012
Simply brilliant! Direct, clear, open...this book is a straightforward series of short lectures on what the core tasks are for becoming an enlightened being. They are simple but, as we all know not so easy because of the beliefs we have about ourselves and the world around us. No fancy rituals here, just working with the foundation of our problems, our habitual mind.
April 26, 2022
A lot of repeated information…was mostly bored.
February 4, 2026
A fine little book, though it is very repetitive. Basically it boils down to the concept of “to be a Buddhist (or Buddha?) is to be a nobody.” Samsara is the ego (our own desires and understanding); nirvana is killing the ego (seeing reality as it is free from our own desires and understanding).,Which is true and Buddhists across countries and traditions have been saying the same basic thing for over 2,000 years.
I don’t think I’d recommend for someone who isn’t already slightly familiar with the Buddhist notion of non-self. I think someone who has a basic foundation would appreciate it more.
I do appreciate how he called out the “spiritual” movement that uses Buddhist meditation to find peace and so on. There’s nothing wrong with peace, but fundamentally meditation, in his view, and I think he is correct, is supposed to non-purposive.
I don’t think I’d recommend for someone who isn’t already slightly familiar with the Buddhist notion of non-self. I think someone who has a basic foundation would appreciate it more.
I do appreciate how he called out the “spiritual” movement that uses Buddhist meditation to find peace and so on. There’s nothing wrong with peace, but fundamentally meditation, in his view, and I think he is correct, is supposed to non-purposive.
December 12, 2020
Ego is a separate sense of self, in conceptual form. An idea detached from reality. Attachment or identification with objects sustains ego’s existence and re-emerging sense of self. The mental world is the source of duality, the enfolded concept-object. Our search for a sense of security is our most significant form of neurosis. All desires for security are understandably illusory, as the only permanence in life is truth. Thoughts are the ultimate source of propaganda because they reshape and color all personal experiences. Without challenge or change, nothing happens in consciousness. Ego neurons continuously sustain the sense of ego, like a virus fighting to sustain itself through perpetual external and internal reinforcement.
June 13, 2020
Like many books that seem to be compiled based on transcriptions of talks as opposed to being created originally in written form, this is a wonderful book but is repetitive and a bit disjointed. This is a quick read, and a wonderful exploration of Buddhist concepts and how to attain a more calm state of being that is connected to our natural state. It does not have many to-dos or actions (aside from espousing the virtues of meditation), instead discusses the various hindrances and also truths regarding the quest for enlightenment. Spoiler alert, we are all already enlightened but have forgotten!
March 1, 2023
This is one of the very best and most clear books on the subject of striving to be free, or finding your true nature. Anam Thubten discusses in all chapters (12) what is your true nature and he does it very well. He also sort of tell you in the book:WAKE UP NOW! Se the world as it is it won't be worse than lying to your self.
To his help making the book "flow" Anam Thubten has an excellent editor Sharon Roe who does a fantastic job in writing exactly what Anam says but in western words.
I think you should buy the book and do the thing Anam talks about, then you'll be free from your ego and ready for your true nature although it may take som time to establish.
Best regards to you all
Mac
To his help making the book "flow" Anam Thubten has an excellent editor Sharon Roe who does a fantastic job in writing exactly what Anam says but in western words.
I think you should buy the book and do the thing Anam talks about, then you'll be free from your ego and ready for your true nature although it may take som time to establish.
Best regards to you all
Mac
August 12, 2023
One of the most lucid, down to earth, practical books from the Dzogchen view of the path to Enlightenment that I have ever read. For me, this book is similar to a Zen koan that immediately reoriented my approach to the path. I would recommend this book to people who have decades of experience practicing the Buddhist path and to newcomers alike - and to those seeking truth without labels such as "spiritual practitioner" or "Buddhist."
January 31, 2026
The book is about giving up attachments, about ego, samsara, meditation and the quest of enlightenment.
A random quote:
Meditation is simply the art of resting and relaxing. It is so simple that we sometimes feel that it cannot be the ultimate discipline. We feel that there must be more.
I am speaking about a deep rest, an inner rest, a rest in which we let go all form's of mind's effort, including minds effort to maintain this illusory self.
A random quote:
Meditation is simply the art of resting and relaxing. It is so simple that we sometimes feel that it cannot be the ultimate discipline. We feel that there must be more.
I am speaking about a deep rest, an inner rest, a rest in which we let go all form's of mind's effort, including minds effort to maintain this illusory self.
Read
August 20, 2020I really love this man!
I hate it, (love it), when I finish a chapter, turn the page.......and, the book is done.....I'm done with the book!
That, my fellow travellers, is what I call a good book.....
Only a few more of this gentle genius's books left.......then, start over!!
Happy Trails! Blessed Trails!
I hate it, (love it), when I finish a chapter, turn the page.......and, the book is done.....I'm done with the book!
That, my fellow travellers, is what I call a good book.....
Only a few more of this gentle genius's books left.......then, start over!!
Happy Trails! Blessed Trails!
June 5, 2022
A lovely series of Dharma talks by such a lovely human—such clarity, grace, humor and wisdom. :)
I love his poem in the front of the book:
Sky is free.
Ocean is blissful.
Trees are divine.
Rocks are enlightened.
So are we.
Who is still searching...
for what?
I love his poem in the front of the book:
Sky is free.
Ocean is blissful.
Trees are divine.
Rocks are enlightened.
So are we.
Who is still searching...
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September 17, 2022
Explained in a simple language and addresses some common questions that a person on the path would have. A book that very effectively cuts through the delusions and points at the simple and elegant truth. Extremely grateful for the wisdom it imparts.
April 18, 2023
For me, this book helps to show that the ideas of Buddhism and Christianity can coexist in our minds.
If you want to know how to let go and be present in each and every moment, this is a book that can show you how.
If you want to know how to let go and be present in each and every moment, this is a book that can show you how.
August 23, 2024
Definitely worth reading, along with the workbook! I purchased both and really enjoyed them! A must read for people who tend to take their mind created stories and thoughts to seriously! Halfway through the work book now, and really enjoying it!
September 5, 2017
Very inspirationsl
March 10, 2018
Simplistic in a good way. A good reminder of a pursuit that's easily forgotten and neglected.
July 26, 2019
As with the other books of Anam, informative and inspirational. Based on oral teaching, a good format for reading a chapter a day.
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June 18, 2021It was a life changing novel
August 1, 2021
This book outlines many aspects of Buddhism and provides some insight into what it is and more so, what it is not. A good read for those who may be new to it. Definitely worth it.
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