What concept was the most difficult to let go for Thay?

Thay answers questions on 21 June 2014. Question 8

(Bell)

In your Dharma talks you said
what Enlightenment was

and that Enlightenment
was to be free of all notions.

That really resonated with me.

My question is:

What was the biggest notion so far
in your life that you have overcome?

Thank you.

(Sr Pine) Dear Thay, our friend said
that in Thay's Dharma talk,

Thay explained that Enlightenment
is to be free of all notions.

And she would like to know:

What is the biggest notion
that Thay has freed himself of.

The biggest one is 'I am'.

(Laughter)

'I am as a separate entity.'

'I have a self.'

Because the belief in a separate self
can be the root of a lot of suffering.

And that is why 'to meditate' means
to look into the nature of everything

and...

to touch the truth of Interbeing.

You cannot be by yourself alone,
you have to 'inter-be' with everyone else.

And you have to see yourself
not as a permanent entity,

always remaining the same,

going out of one body and
going in another body,

the notion of transmigration,
the notion of reincarnation.

You believe that we
are made of body and soul.

And the body is impermanent,

the body can be disintegrated,
but the soul remains always the same.

And after the body dies,
the soul always survives

and goes to heaven or to hell
or reincarnates into another body.

That is the idea people have
of reincarnation or rebirth,

which is not the Buddhist understanding
of transmigration, rebirth or Samsara,

because in the Buddha's teaching,
there is nothing that always remains the same.

Our feelings, our mental formations,
our perceptions are always changing,

every moment!

There is nothing like that,

no permanent soul, no permanent self.

And we learn to see that
what we call 'the self',

is very concrete things
that change all the time.

I am made of body, feelings, perceptions,
mental formations and consciousness.

I know that these five elements
are changing all the time.

There is always input and output.

I am like a river, water
always comes in at the source,

And the river can dispense
its water to the fields,

to the area where it goes through.

And some of the water in the river
is evaporating in order to become cloud.

So we have to see the input
and the output of the river.

The same is true with a cloud.

A cloud is changing all the time.

There are many little clouds
or water vapor joining in.

And there is always some part
of the cloud becoming something else

like rain or snow and so on.

So what we call 'self' is just
the manifestation of these five elements.

There is the sitting,
there is the breathing,

there is the walking.

There is the calm, there is the peace,
there is the happiness, there is the joy,

generated with the walking.

All these things do exist and
you can recognize them.

And that is all that is,
and you are this.

There is no you outside of
these five elements.

You are these five elements.

And these five elements change
and produce joy, peace and happiness

and you are that.

So there is a gatha:

"Buddha is breathing, Buddha is smiling,
I am breathing, I am smiling."

And the next one is:

"Buddha is the breathing,
Buddha is the smiling,"

"I am the breathing, I am the smiling."

"There is only the breathing,
there is only the smiling,"

"there is no breather,
there is no smiler."

And you go slowly like that
to touch the nature of no self.

And there is not a permanent self
that is seeking Nirvana.

Nirvana is something
that exists, that is there,

the Nature of No Birth and No Death.

And all of us, including
the river and the cloud,

are well established in Nirvana.

Our nature is the Nature of
No Birth and No Death.

And that is the subject
of our Dharma talk tomorrow.

(Bell)