Using Non-Self to Let Go ~ AJAHN BRAHM

Using Non-Self to Let Go
~ AJAHN BRAHM

When we go into the world of the mind and that is much harder to let go because we have more attachment to the world of the mind than even to the world of the body and it's five external senses. In particular we have this thing which we call "thought". Why is thought so hard to give up? Again because we think it's me thinking. It's my thoughts. If you could actually look upon thoughts as being irrelevant chatter, if you could imagine all this thought is like coming from this little demon inside of you who's managed to creep in through your ear-hole when you were asleep and it's getting into a stupid conversation with another demon who's gone in your other ear-hole at night and they're having this conversation with each other and it's completely stupid, you would then realise that it's not yours. It's just two little devils inside your head speaking with one another. Even that imagination should be enough to realise this is not your thoughts. It's not your conversation, just don't listen to it. You don't give it importance. 

You realise it's not your responsibility. You don't need to listen to that commentary. You can let it go only when you realise it's not yours. That inner commentary is what we call the doer because if you listen to that commentary just so often - it's giving advice, giving criticism, very rarely give praise but sometimes it does that as well - you would see that it always gives orders. 

This is what we're talking about, the doer. This is how the doer manifests. This is the order, the speech. This is how the doer governs you. You think something and then you follow those thoughts. An order is given and you do that. This doer, this is what we call "will", "choice". You can actually see it happening. 

Not "will" and "choice" as an idea but "will" and "choice" as an experience which you can view happening in your mind. You can actually see the mind moving into thought and from that thought an action following very often. This is how there's a governing of your actions of body and speech and mind. This is how volition appears to you. 

You can actually see it happening and that's what I was saying is conditioned. That's what I was saying you can see the causes for two little demons who've crawled in your ears. Not you, nothing to do with you. 

Not coming from a me. In particular, nothing belonging to me. This is not your orders. These are words, thoughts, ideas completely conditioned. Why do you think those thoughts and not other thoughts? Why do you do these things and not other things? If you look very closely you can see the connections, how one thought leads to another, how inclinations sort of lead to another. In particular the Buddha actually taught to really understand how thinking works and how thinking especially is full of delusion. We're taught these vipallasas, the working of delusion. It's the physics of it, the mechanics of it. Where does thought come from? You start to see, if you look carefully, that thought is built up of your perceptions.

... See if you can practice by suggesting, just for a few moments,  non-self, not mine, on this thing, the doer, which is manifesting as your thought. Nothing to do with me. Not mine. Not my business. And you'll find it's much easier to let go when you don't own it. When it's not your responsibility, you don't mind people taking it away. Somebody, if you heard, like a thief breaks into the carpark and steals a car. If you went out there and find "Oh, it's not my car", would you feel the same as if you went out there and found it was your car? You can see how ownership causes a problem. We don't allow things to disappear. We can't let go of them when we think we really own them, that they're mine. So if you do a little bit of anatta practice here, called anatta sanna, just the perception of non-self, then you'll find that it's easy to let go of the thinking, easy to let go of the thoughts. Also, anatta means that there is no-one in here, so you don't do the meditation. How can you do the meditation? Who can do the meditation? This meditation just becomes a natural process. Not you doing it, but meditation happens when you let go of you and allow things to disappear and to get quiet.”

Source: Using Non-Self to Let Go

~ AJAHN BRAHM

http://www.dhammatalks.net/Books/Ajahn_Brahm_Using_NonSelf_to_Let_Go.htm