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

The true nature of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness is impermanent, subject to change, unstable, empty, and suffering; it is not self, not different from self, and not located within or apart from 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, no dharma of "two" or "many," no dharmas of emptiness in twos or multiples, no dharmas of suffering in twos or multiples, no unreal dharmas in twos or multiples—how can they be compared? How can one say which is higher and which is lower, or that they are equal? Empty dharmas, unreal dharmas—how can they be taken and compared? How can one compare whether a rabbit's horns are long or short? How can one compare whether a turtle's fur is beautiful or not? How can one say "I am stronger than you, you are weaker than me"? How can one say "I am as healthy and wealthy as you"? Worldly people, deluded by ignorance, 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 idle jest. Even language and sounds are empty and insubstantial.

When two people hurl abuse at each other, has anyone actually been struck by the abuse? Did it strike the aggregate of form, or the aggregate of feeling, or the aggregate of perception, or the aggregate of volitional formations, or the aggregate of consciousness? Where did the sound of the abuse fall? The one being abused feels uncomfortable—what is it that feels uncomfortable? Which dharma feels uncomfortable? What is meant by "uncomfortable"? Do dharmas called "comfort" and "discomfort" actually exist? The one hurling abuse 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); at a certain point, the mind will empty these dharmas away, and body and mind will drop off. This too is a kind of feeling, and it too is unreal. Yet it is liberation. Without meditative concentration, merely understanding these dharmas—no matter how many books you write—is all empty talk, misleading yourself and misleading others.