Letting Go of the Small Self, Liberated and at Ease

Worldly disputes leave everyone exhausted in body and mind. Stop arguing—let go of the self! When you are well and I am well, everyone is well—how delightful! Why must it be that you alone are well while others are not? Why? The "I" in each person's mind is as heavy as a boulder, so heavy that one can hardly breathe. Day after day, month after month, year after year, life after life, existence is arduous, exhausting, and burdensome. From now on, we should learn to use the tool of no-self to chip away at this massive boulder of self, bit by bit—turning the great rock into small stones, the small stones into gravel, and letting the gravel gradually leave the mind and disappear. Then the mind becomes light, free of heaviness; the mind becomes liberated and at ease; the mind becomes joyful, happy, and peaceful.

So many people go around saying that the great Way is utterly simple. Where is the simplicity? It is right here: as long as you let go of the self and remove the self, you reach no-self. But putting it into practice is not simple at all. Why? Because habitual tendencies are deeply rooted, and the obstructions within one's own mind are so severe that it is very hard to let go of the self—even seeing through the self is that difficult, let alone letting it go.

The goal of studying Buddhism and cultivating practice is to realize no-self and liberation. So why should we still pursue our own personal self-interest? Does this not run directly counter to our original aspiration? The reason one cannot realize the fruit of no-self in studying Buddhism is that there is an "I" in the mind, which does not accord with no-self. The self is a stumbling block and an obstacle in the road—why not remove it as quickly as possible?

Those who have wisdom should not, on the one hand, pursue the fruit of no-self while, on the other, remaining self-centered, defending and shielding the various forms of self, and pursuing the private gain of the small self—thus going against and contradicting the Path. That would not be wise. How could one be so contradictory? Is it not caused by the afflictive habits of self-grasping accumulated over beginningless kalpas? If one does not know of or observe this defiled affliction within one's own mind, does not seek ways to counteract it, and always follows along with one's own mind and self-nature, then when will one ever attain the liberation of no-self? Which is more at ease and comfortable: liberation and freedom, or self-bondage? Comparing the two, which would you choose? So many people think clearly but act confusedly, and that is why they cannot realize the principle of no-self and cannot obtain the fruit of liberation.