The No-self Simile: Just a
camera without any 'photographer':
That there is a camera, an object and images are generated
does not in itself imply
that anyone is looking in the camera or is operating behind the camera!
That there is an eye, an object and visual experience are generated,
does not in itself
imply that any 'self-subject' is the 'the observer' of whatever is seen by this
eye!
There is an object and the process of seeing, but no 'seer-subject'
is involved thereby.
There is no one who senses, even though the process of sensing
naturally occurs!
Seeing is just a selfless event of contact between eye,
object & visual consciousness.
No ‘person’ or ‘onlooker’ is involved there! No subject or ‘I’ is
inherently created thereby,
just because there is an object, or just because there occurs
the process of seeing …
The fact that there is an image projected,
does not per se imply, in or by itself, that
any-one actually is
‘looking in’ or ‘is behind’ the camera …
‘By that’ perception no ‘perceiver’
is thereby present or created …
So the ‘personal entity’ we assume, suppose, deduce,
expect &
believe to enjoy the experience is merely a mental construct,
an idea, a concept,
& not a reality … The passive impersonal process of sensing, perception and
experiencing
cannot thereby be ‘instrumental’ for neither creating nor inferring any ‘being
in existence’!
The fact of this fundamental ‘selflessness’ is an essential
core of the Buddha-Dhamma.
This core teaching is utmost , yet
subtle, counter-intuitive & thereby difficult & somewhat
‘nasty’ to comprehend. Keep trying, since this central Anatta doctrine is an
ultimate opener,
releaser & freer of any mind. Being hopelessly in love
with an imagination of ‘I’ is both fatal,
tragic & sardonically comic …
Hehehe : - ]
The Buddha explained this subtle yet liberating impersonality
like this:
So have I heard:
When the Blessed One, on repeated requests from the
Venerable Bahiya instructed him, standing in the street,
in what were Venerable Bahiya’s
last minutes of life,
the result was that he, Venerable Bahiya, a bark-clothed sage
attained final Nibbana right after that!
This direct, clear-cut & express explanation was cut exactly so:
In the seen is merely the process of seeing & what is seen.
In the heard is merely hearing & what is heard.
In the sensed is merely sensing & what is sensed.
In the thought is merely thinking & what is thought.
So knowing, you will not be connected ‘with that’.
So disconnected you will not be absorbed ‘in that’.
So neither
‘with that’ nor ‘in that’ you are! not ‘by that’ sensation.
When there is no ‘you’ inferred or conjectured by that sensation,
then ‘you’ are neither ‘here’, ‘there’, ‘both’, ‘beyond’ nor ‘in between’…
Udana – Inspiration: I – 10
The Ego Tunnel - Prof. Dr. Thomas
Metzinger TED video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFjY1fAcESs
