1.2 Dismantling the Scaffolding of "Self": From Story Back to Awareness

1.2 Dismantling the Scaffolding of "Self": From Story Back to Awareness

【Sharp Reflection】
The "self" is a complex story built from memories, evaluations, and social roles. We cling to this story like a drowning person clutching a piece of driftwood, thinking it is a life‑preserver. Little do we know that true safety is to let go and discover that we are already the ocean that carries everything.

【The Function of the Deep Sea】
Engage in the contemplation "I am not...":

• I am not my profession. If I resign, who remains?

• I am not my possessions. If I lose them, who remains?

• I am not my body. If there is pain, who knows the pain?

• I am not my thoughts. If thoughts stop, who remains?

Layer after layer falls away, leaving that which cannot be denied, cannot be stripped off---the pure "presence" or "knowing." That is you.
That is the body of No‑Mind.

【Ultimate Guidance】
Recognizing this nature that "depends on nothing external," you gain true security. Not from bank accounts, not from others' opinions, but from a certainty: No matter how turbulent the story, the awareness‑background in which the story is told remains unmoved.

【Immediate Liberation】
Right now, take a deep breath in, then slowly exhale.

Right now, stop thinking.

Cease awareness of the body; let go of attention to the world.

Thoughts need no gap---they cease, right here, right now.

In that utterly thought-free instant, the wave recognizes: it is the ocean itself.

Closing of Chapter
You are not the hero or victim in the story---
You are the wordless, thought‑free silence in which the story is told.