Egolessness

Some teachers are so clear and to the point…

Egolessness by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

“The effort to secure our happiness, to maintain ourselves in relation to something else, is a process of ego. But this effort is futile because there are continual gaps in our seemingly solid world, continual cycles of birth, death and rebirth: constant change. The sense of continuity and solidity of self is an illusion. There is really no such thing as ego, soul, or atman. It is a succession of confusion that creates ego. The process that is ego actually consists of a flicker of confusion, a flicker of aggression, a flicker of grasping – all of which exist only in the moment. Since we cannot hold on to the present moment, we cannot hold on to me and mine and make them solid things.

“The experience of oneself relating to other things is actually a momentary discrimination, a fleeting thought. If we generate these fleeting thoughts fast enough, we can create the illusion of continuity and solidity. It is like watching a movie; the individual film frames are played so quickly that they generate the illusion of continual movement. So we build up an idea, a preconception, that self and other are solid and continuous. And once we have this idea, we manipulate our thoughts to confirm it, and are afraid of any contrary evidence. It is this fear of exposure, this denial of impermanence, that imprisons us. It is only by acknowledging impermanence that there is a chance to die, and the space to be reborn – and the possibility of appreciating life as a creative process…

“…We are never trapped in life because there is a constant opportunity for creativity, challenges for improvisation. Ironically, by seeing clearly and acknowledging our egolessness, we may discover that suffering contains bliss, impermanence contains continuity or eternity, and egolessness contains the earth quality of solid being. But this transcendental bliss, continuity, and beingness is not based on fantasy, ideas, or fears.”