Non Self Quotes

One's liberation begins once he does the darshan of kashaya-free (absence of inner anger, pride, deceit and greed) Gnani purush [the enlightened one]. Who is considered kashaya-free? The one whose state is that where there was no kashaya, there is no kashaya, and there never will be any. The one who is never in the state of the non-Self. Doing darshan of such a One brings ultimate well being. ~ Dada Bhagwan

The self can only be realized, and the realization can only happen, out of personal experience. ~ Roshan Sharma

One who does not join in with the unfolding karmic effects (karma oodai) is a Gnani (Self-realized), and an agnani (non-Self-realized) cannot indeed refrain from joining in with the unfolding karmic effects. ~ Dada Bhagwan

People lose their powers (siddhi) by nagging; therefore know 'as it is'. Know all these relations as being worldly (laukik, of the non-Self), and do not believe them to be beyond-worldly relations (alaukik, of the Self). Discover that something whereby you experience peace amidst the puzzle. This discovery is indeed within you. ~ Dada Bhagwan

In the event of beauty, a non-self part of my inner space seems to resonate in the colors on the wall, in the sounds pouring into my ears. Hugely amplified, might this resonance actually kill me? "A beautiful way to die" – to be destroyed by vibrations that removed myself from myself. ~ Timothy Morton

No one dies in the language of the Gnani (the Self-realized one) and every one dies in the language of the agnani (non-Self-realized person). The agnani (non-Self-realized person) mourns and grieves, and the Gnani simply 'Sees'. ~ Dada Bhagwan

These are all 'ghosts'. If you are afraid, the ghosts will possess you. If there is inner fear of 'what if they hang me?'; then one should say, 'yes, that is correct'. The Soul can never be hung; nothing [worldly] can touch the Soul. All the doings are that of the pudgal (matter; non-Self). The noose for hanging is pudgal and the one doing hanging (the hangman), is also pudgal. The Soul has never been hung. This [fact] does not fit one's vision and that is why he has fear. But once his vision becomes like the Gnani's [the enlightened one], then it's over! For that, one has to stay in touch with the Gnani [the enlightened one]. ~ Dada Bhagwan

Buddha has said to his disciples: Whenever you meditate, after each meditation, surrender all that you have earned out of meditation, surrender it to the universe. If you are blissful, pour it back into the universe - don't carry it as a treasure. If you are feeling very happy, share it immediately - don't become attached to it, otherwise your meditation itself will become a new process of the self. And the ultimate meditation is not a process of self. The ultimate meditation is a process of getting more and more into un-self, into non-self - it is a disappearance of the self. ~ Rajneesh

Only when there is dharmadhyan (absence of adverse internal state of being that hurts the self and others) in the body, there will be shukladhyan (Internal state that renders the constant awareness of 'I am pure Soul') in the Self (Soul). ~ Dada Bhagwan

True self is non-self, the awareness that the self is made only of non-self elements. There's no separation between self and other, and everything is interconnected. ~ Nhat Hanh

Speaking of Self-realizatio n is a delusion. It is only because people have been under the delusion that the non-Self is the Self and the unreal the Real that they have to be weaned out of it by the other delusion called Self-realizatio n; because actually the Self always is the Self and there is no such thing as realizing it. ~ Ramana Maharshi

We need to learn how to live consciously and, trusting ourselves, purposefully on that inevitable balance point between form and emptiness, relative and absolute, being and non-being, self and non-self, time and eternity, the finite and infinite. It is between all such dichotomies and poles that our life actually flows. ~ Lama Surya Das

Desires are done by the 'Pudgal' (non-self mind-body-complex), so how can they be suppressed? If You (the Self) are the one doing the desiring, then why don't you stop it? But that doesn't happen therefore, desire is a matter pertaining to the Pudgal (non-self mind-body-complex). ~ Dada Bhagwan

Besides the Self [Soul], what is everything else? It is all worldly interactions (vyavahar). And worldly interaction is dependent on the non-Self (parashrit). Because people believe the non-Self dependent state (parashrit) to be Self-dependent (swashrit); you too believe it to be so. How can a disease leave once it has set in? This worldly disease has increased into a chronic disease! How can one become free from it? If one attains the 'science', he can be free! ~ Dada Bhagwan

There is a lot of work ahead of us, as we endeavor to rescue the planet from ourselves, and we are likely to be at this work for a very long time. Perhaps we could come at it from the wisdom of the non-self perspective, rather than the passions of the "world is mine" point of view. ~ Andrew Olendzki

Is it wrong worldly interaction (avyavahar) when someone insults you? It is (correct) worldly interaction (vyavahar). Gnani (Self-realized person) will be pleased that he has become free from karma bondage, when someone insults Him; while a non Self-realized person will fight back. ~ Dada Bhagwan

In the cosmos of time, there's not a cocksucker in this room who is more than a fart in the wind! ~ Daniel S. Pena

If we think we monopolize the truth and we still organize a dialogue, it is not authentic. We have to believe that by engaging in dialogue with the other person, we have the possibility of making a change within ourselves, that we can become deeper. Dialogue is not a means for assimilation in the sense that one side expands and incorporates the other into its "self." Dialogue must be practiced on the basis of "non-self." We have to allow what is good, beautiful, and meaningful in the other's tradition to transform us. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

A true bodhisattva is one who sees no demarcations between organic and non-organic, self and non-self, living beings and non-living beings, bodhisattvas and non-bodhisattvas. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Misery is vitamin for the Soul (The Real-Self), and happiness is vitamin for the body (The Non-Self). ~ Dada Bhagwan

A complete life may be one ending in so full identification with the non-self that there is no self to die. ~ Bernard Berenson

God has been pushed aside by the non-Self complex. Vibrations have arisen from vibrations. 'We' now give you the Knowledge of how to stop the vibrations. ~ Dada Bhagwan

The demands of our reality function require that we adapt to reality, that we constitute ourselves as a reality and that we manufacture works which are realities. But doesn't reverie, by its very essence, liberate us from the reality function? From the moment it is considered in all its simplicity, it is perfectly evident that reverie bears witness to a normal useful irreality function which keeps the human psyche on the fringe of all the brutality of a hostile and foreign non-self. ~ Gaston Bachelard

Chances are if you find yourself caught up in a political foofaraw at work, or in some family squabble at home, it's because someone else is succeeding in convincing you that his problem is your problem. The non-self-destructor recognizes this and as soon as possible, gives the sleepless night back to the person to whom it belongs. ~ Jason Seiden

Impermanence and non-self are not negative. They are the doors that open to the true nature of reality. They are not the causes of our pain. It is our delusion that causes us to suffer. Regarding something that is impermanent as permanent, holding to something that is without self as having a self, we suffer. Impermanence is the same as non-self. Since phenomena are impermanent, they do not possess a permanent identity. Non-self is also emptiness. Emptiness of what? Empty of a permanent self. Non-self means also interbeing. Because everything is made of everything else, nothing can be by itself alone. Non-self is also interpenetration, because everything contains everything else. Non-self is also interdependence, because this is made of that. Each thing depends on all other things to be. That is interdependence. Nothing can be by itself alone. It has to inter-be with all other things. This is non-self. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

An easy, non-self-denying life will never be one of power. ~ Hudson Taylor

People are afraid to concentrate because they are afraid of losing themselves if they are too absorbed in another person, in an idea, in an event. The less strong their self, the greater the fear of losing themselves in the act of concentration on the non-self. ~ Erich Fromm

It is said that "there is a self," but "non-self" too is taught. The buddhas also teach there is nothing which is "neither self nor non-self." Everything is real, not real; both real and not real; neither not real nor real: this is the teaching of the Buddha. ~ Nagarjun

Most of us love a non-self, or something extrinsic and apart from our inner life; but a mother's love during the time she is a flesh-and-blood ciborium is not for a non-self but for one that is her very self, a perfect example of charity and love which hardly perceives a separation. Motherhood then becomes a kind of priesthood. She brings God to man by preparing the flesh in which the soul will be implanted; she brings man to God in offering the child back again to the Creator. ~ Fulton J. Sheen

I think we have to prepare the mind in one way or another to accept the great uprush or downrush, whichever you like to call it, of the greater non-self. ~ Aldous Huxley

Even as our world is being daily transformed by breathtaking innovations in science and technology, many people continue to imagine that math and science are mostly a matter of memorizing formulas to get "the right answer." Even engineering, which is in fact the process of creating something from scratch or putting things together in novel and non-self-evident ways, is perplexingly viewed as a mechanical or rote subject. This viewpoint, frankly, could only be held by people who never truly learned math or science, who are stubbornly installed on one side of the so-called Two Culture divide. The truth is that anything significant that happens in math, science, or engineering is the result of heightened intuition and creativity. This is art by another name, and it's something that tests are not very good at identifying or measuring. The skills and knowledge that tests can measure are merely warm-up exercises. ~ Salman Khan

There is not a single person in this world who has any control over circumstances. ~ Dada Bhagwan

Ignorance is the failure to discriminate between the permanent and the impermanent, the pure and the impure, bliss and suffering, the Self and the non-Self. ~ Patanjali

The lion is king of the beasts. When he leaves his den, he stretches and gazes out over all the directions. Before seeking his prey, he lets forth a mighty roar that causes the other creatures to tremble and flee.
- Birds fly high, crocodiles dive beneath the water, foxes slip into their holes. Even village elephants, decked in fancy belts and ornaments and shaded by golden parasols, run away at the sound of that roar.
-Community, the proclamation of the Way of Enlightenment is like that lion's roar! …..False doctrines fear and tremble. When Impermanence, Non-self, and Dependent Co-arising are proclaimed, all those who have long sought false security in ignorance and forgetfulness must awaken, celestial beings as well as human beings. When a person sees the dazzling truth, he exclaims, 'We embraced dangerous views for so long, taking the impermanent to be permanent, and believing in the existence of a separate self. We took suffering to be pleasure and look at the temporary as if it were eternal. We mistook the false for the true. Now the time has come to tear down all the walls of forgetfulness and false views. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Of all the nouns we use to disguise the hollowness of the human condition, none is more influential than "myself". It consists of a collage of still images - name, gender, nationality, profession, enthusiasms, relationships - which are renovated from time to time, but otherwise are each a relic from one particular experience or another. The defining teaching of the Buddhist tradition, that of non-self, is merely pointing out the limitations of this reflexive view we hold of ourselves. It's not that the self does not exist, but that it is as cobbled together and transient as everything else. [With] the practice of meditation, ... we can begin to see how each artifact of the mind is raised and lowered to view, like so many flashcards. But we can also glimpse, once in a while, the sleight-of-hand shuffling the card and pulling them off the deck. Behind the objects lies a process. Self is a process. Self is a verb. ~ Andrew Olendzki

If you like happiness, then worship that wherein happiness is inherent. Happiness is in God. God is an abode of infinite bliss. If you worship the inanimate (the non-Self, [Jad]), then you will have pain because there is only pain in the inanimate. ~ Dada Bhagwan

Afterwards, over drinks, one of the barbarians asked me what I dreamt of. I, of course, was taken aback. They say barbarians don't dream. But I told him ... "I dream of tangible nothing," I said.
"So you mean nothing as something, then?" the barbarian replied over the rim of his gin-and-tonic.
"I mean unity, dissolving into non-self," I said, just to be confusing. ~ James Curcio

If you have the insight of non-self, if you have the insight of impermanence, you should make that insight into a concentration that you keep alive throughout the day. Then what you say, what you think, and what you do will then be in the light of that wisdom and you will avoid making mistakes and creating suffering. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh