What is the true reality of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness?

The true nature of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness is impermanent, subject to change, unstable, empty, and suffering; it is not self, not different from self (na m’eso attâ ti), and not inherent within self. Since there is no self, how can one say "I am superior," "I am inferior," or "I am no worse than others"? There is no self, and there are no such dharmas as "two selves" or "many selves," no such dharmas as "two empties" or "many empties," no such dharmas as "two sufferings" or "many sufferings," no such dharmas as "two unrealities" or "many unrealities"—how could any comparison be made? How could one say which is higher and which is lower, or that they are equal? Empty dharmas, unreal dharmas—how could they be taken and compared? How could one compare the length of a rabbit's horns? How could one compare whether a turtle's hair is beautiful or not? How could one say "I am stronger than you, you are weaker than me"? How could one say "I am as healthy and wealthy as you"? Worldly people, deluded by ignorance and inverted in their views, have long since grown accustomed to this and take it as natural, not knowing that what is said has no real meaning at all—it is all mere idle talk. Even language and sound are empty and insubstantial.

When two people hurl abuse at each other, has anyone actually been scolded? Was the aggregate of form (rūpa) scolded, or the aggregate of feeling (vedanā), or the aggregate of perception (saṃjñā), or the aggregate of formations (saṃskāra), or the aggregate of consciousness (vijñāna)? Where did the sound of the scolding go? The one being scolded feels uncomfortable—what is it that feels uncomfortable? Which dharma feels uncomfortable? What is called "uncomfortable"? Do such dharmas as "comfortable" and "uncomfortable" actually exist? The one doing the scolding feels pleased and vented—what is it that feels vented? Is there such a dharma as "venting one's anger"?

Contemplate and practice contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) upon these dharmas within deep meditative concentration (samādhi); when a certain point is reached, the mind will empty away these dharmas, and body and mind will drop away. This too is a kind of feeling, and it too is unreal. Yet it is liberation. Without meditative concentration, even if one understands these dharmas, no matter how many books one writes, it is all empty talk—deceiving oneself and misleading others.