Date: 12/06/2025 12/07/2025
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Sitting Meditation
Experiencing “No-Self” During Meditation
“No-self” does not mean that life doesn’t exist or that the individual should be erased. It means recognizing that the “self” we cling to is not a solid entity, but a collection of thoughts, sensations, emotions, and memories. Meditation provides the ideal setting to observe how the sense of self arises and how it dissolves.
1. What Is No-Self? No Fixed Entity, Only Changing Processes
1. The self is not a solid thing
It cannot be located or defined.
2. The self is a temporary combination of conditions
Thoughts, habits, sensations, and emotions.
3. The self is a process
Changing moment to moment.
2. Why Meditation Makes No-Self Easier to Experience
1. Thoughts slow down in stillness
Less distraction allows clearer observation.
2. Awareness becomes sharper
Sensations and emotions are seen as they are.
3. A gap forms between observer and mental activity
You begin to see that “I am not my thoughts.”
3. The Core of No-Self Experience: Seeing How “I” Is Constructed
1. Thoughts arise and the mind automatically claims them
Like “I am sad” or “I am angry.”
2. When thoughts are seen clearly, they lose power
They simply come and go.
3. When no thought is present, the self also disappears
But awareness remains.
4. Three Key Processes Leading to No-Self Experience
1. Seeing thoughts arise and pass
There is no thinker behind them.
2. Seeing changing sensations
Pain and tingling are events, not identity.
3. Seeing emotions as weather patterns
They arise due to conditions, not because of “me.”
5. Possible No-Self States: Lightness, Clarity, Effortlessness
1. A sense of bodily lightness
The boundary of the body may feel unclear.
2. A bright, clear mind
Awareness becomes steady and vivid.
3. Absence of the experiencer
Only experience remains, without “me experiencing it.”
6. Common Misunderstandings: No-Self Is Not Numbness or Nonexistence
1. Not dullness
Dullness lacks awareness; no-self is heightened awareness.
2. Not lack of emotion
Emotions arise but no longer dominate.
3. Not denial of existence
It simply denies a permanent, independent self.
7. The Value of No-Self Experience: Freedom Through Non-Clinging
1. Less suffering
There is no “self” to defend or protect.
2. Less interpersonal conflict
Others are seen as conditioned beings.
3. Greater inner freedom
The mind becomes less reactive and more spacious.
Conclusion
No-self is not a philosophy but a direct experience.When thoughts, sensations, and emotions are clearly observed,the illusion of a solid “I” naturally dissolves.Meditation reveals that awareness continues without an owner,and true freedom comes from letting go of the illusion of self.
