CONTEMPLATE THE DHARMA AS DEVOID OF SELF
Master Jun Hong Lu: Let me tell you about: “To contemplate the dharma as devoid of Self”. The word ‘dharma’ in this context refers to the dharma realm. To “contemplate the dharma as devoid of Self” means we should hold the view that “I do not exist in any of the phenomena in this dharma realm”. For example, do you see yourself being in this room now? Or when you see delicious food, do you think of yourself?
Spiritual cultivation is about learning to forget about the notion of ‘self’ in the midst of our many desires. The principle here is, it is through forgetting the ‘self’ that one finds their true self.
Let me quote you a simple example. A fight broke out among several children. The parents arrived. If the parents believed that their child had always been good and would never pick a fight with others, they would not even be looking out for their child among the group of squabbling kids.
On the same token, in this dharma realm, if we do not view ourselves as victims of this realm, only then can we be liberated from this dharma realm.
Going back to the example above, if we don’t see ourselves as someone who will fight and contend with others, we will always be apart from this “fighting crowd”. This is because we think of ourselves as good people and hence, we don’t belong to the evil group of people. Conversely, if you think of yourself as a bad hat, you will never be able to find yourself among the good people.
In this dharma realm, people have so much greed, hatred and ignorance. Everyone lives in their world of desires. Do you wish to find yourself among the many bad people in this dharma realm? Therefore, we have to contemplate there is no “self” in this dharma realm. Do you understand?
When you “contemplate the dharma as devoid of Self”, you have liberated yourself from the human realm. When you can’t see yourself in the dharma realm, don’t you think this is an elevation in your level of spirituality? You have attained the state-of-mind of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms, Volume 6 Chapter 45
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