There are minds, especially yoga and/or buddhism enthusiasts from the Chinese language background, would think and believe or understand that selflessness (無我) is a state of mind or being or realm (無我境界), that it is a state of highest level of spirituality, or purity, or merit and virtue that is reached or attained after engaging in certain persevered observations and practices, where there are many studying or reading materials about the Dhamma, or the teachings of Buddhism, that are being written in Chinese language, or that are being transcribed into Chinese language by many different minds from different era and location, have been describing, or transcribing, or referring selflessness (無我) in such way, that it is a form of physical, mental, and spiritual development, or transformation, or evolution, or achievement of changing from the contaminated impure state of 'self-ness' to become or return to the original pure state of 'selflessness'.
That is why the highly importance of renunciation, to renounce or move away from all kinds of worldly egoistic learning, ideas, beliefs, values, practices, knowledge, interactions, activities, affairs, communities, or ties and connections, to observe silence in seclusion and solitude, for the mind to be free from the influence of all that, to be quieting the mind effectively, that allows the mind to see the truth of things as it is, upon silence, upon the thinning-out and annihilation of the restless impure egoistic modification of the mind, a.k.a. the veil of ignorance.
Selflessness is also largely being misunderstood as the quality of unselfishness (無私), or a quality that is achievable by and that only belongs to certain minds or beings that are 'good', 'kind', 'generous', 'pure', 'wise', 'sympathetic', 'empathetic', 'meritorious', 'virtuous', 'righteous', 'moral', 'respectable', 'peaceful', or 'enlightened'.
Similarly, compassion is also being misunderstood in such way, that it is a sympathetic and empathetic sentimental quality of unconditional indiscriminate loving kindness that can be presence or absence, that can increase or decrease, that it can be learnt and practiced, that can be developed and empowered, that it is about giving happiness to others and removing unhappiness from others, or that one can be transforming or evolving from non-compassionate or less compassionate, to becoming more compassionate or highly compassionate.
One can be kind to one another. One can help one another. One can support one another. One can guide one another. One can be generous and empathetic towards one another. One can show the path towards wisdom, kindness, and peace to one another, and etc. Or, not at all. But, none can give happiness/realization/liberation to others or remove unhappiness/ignorance/suffering from others.
Compassion, is merely the selfless power of creation/manifestation that enables all kinds of selfless impermanent limited and conditional momentary names and forms to be manifesting, existing, and functioning as what they are, to be arising, changing, and passing away, under the nature's law of cause and effect.
All and everyone and everything cannot exist or function as what they are, if without the selfless power of creation or compassion that exists in all and everyone and everything, regardless of what type of quality that one has or doesn't have.
It is not "I/You/He/She/We/They are selfless and full of compassion, while the others are not selfless and lack of compassion." or "Compassion exists in living beings and not in non-living objects."
All are selfless, and compassion exists in all and everyone and everything, that is the essence which enabling all and everything that are all selfless, impermanent, limited, and conditional to be what they are, to be existing, changing, and ceased existing as they are.
One doesn't (need to) evolve and become selfless. All are selfless, as it is.
All are selfless, regardless of what type of states of mind, or what kind of qualities and achievements that one has and doesn't have, or what type of belief and disbelief, understanding and non-understanding, knowledgeable or non-knowledgeable, talented or non-talented, successful or non-successful, good or bad condition, healthy or unhealthy, good or bad behavior, kind or unkind, pure or impure, selfish or unselfish, generous or non-generous, happy or unhappy, positive or negative, desire and don't desire, peaceful or peaceless, and etc.
Similarly, one doesn't (need to) learn and develop and empower and practice compassion. Compassion exists in all and everything, and it doesn't increase or decrease, regardless of wise or ignorant, kind or unkind, positive or negative, easy or difficult condition, good or bad behavior, constructive or destructive, peaceful or peaceless, living or non-living, conscious or non-conscious, sentient or non-sentient, and so on.
Selflessness is not a practice, or an achievement, or a theory.
Meanwhile, ego-lessness, or 'I'-lessness, or the annihilation of the ego or the idea of 'I' and egoism - to be consciously transforming or evolving from the state of egoistic modification of the mind under the presence of the ego or the idea of 'I' to the state of non-egoistic modification of the mind under the absence of the ego or the idea of 'I', is a practice, or transformation, or evolution, or achievement.
Selflessness - There is no permanent independent infinite immortal existence of self/I (individual existence of an individual identity/consciousness/soul/spirit) existing in all kinds of names and forms, regardless of living organisms or non-living objects, to be undergoing the impermanent selfless process of coming into existence, forming, existing, functioning, changing/transitioning, developing/strengthening/weakening, different qualities, different names and forms, different appearances, different states of consciousness, different states of mind, different internal and external conditions, different causes and effects, decaying, disintegrating, ceased functioning, and ceased existing.
Egolessness/'I'lessness - The absence of the ego, or the idea of 'I', or the conscious notion/acknowledgement/awareness of 'I' in the form of a continuous stream of countless thought/idea arising and passing away in the restless modification of the mind under the presence of conscious awareness in the state of consciousness and semi-consciousness (the ego doesn't exist in the state of unconsciousness - there is no notion/acknowledgement/awareness of "I am unconscious" in the state of unconsciousness, under the absence of conscious awareness), that doesn't have a real or solid or independent or permanent existence, that only exists dependently and impermanently within the selfless impermanent limited and conditional existence and function of the modification of the perceptive cognitive thinking and acting mind under the presence of the selfless support and influence of energy and different elements.
The ego attached onto and identifying/non-identifying and desiring/non-desiring towards the conscious mind perception/cognition/recognition/experience towards the selfless impermanent limited and conditional qualities of names and forms, of all kinds of identities, possessions, ties and connections, relationships, communities, interactions, activities, affairs, experiences, memories, wild imaginations, conditions, situations, family/communal/tribal/social/cultural/spiritual/religious/political/national/commercial/philosophical ideas, beliefs, values, and practices, knowing, learning, understanding and non-understanding, development and non-development, birth place, living area, logistic, genetic inheritance, gender, specie, sexual orientation, characteristic, personality, physical appearance, intelligence, states of mind, happiness and unhappiness, abilities and disabilities, limitations and non-limitations, actions/inactions and the consequences of actions/inactions, achievements and non-achievements, success and failure, social status, financial status, family status, marital status, religious/spiritual status, cultural status, lifestyle status, behavior status, health and fitness status, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, inspirations and aspirations, visions and ambitions, impermanent changes, strengthening and weakening process, decaying and disintegrating process, and so on, as "I am this or that, and I am not this or that," while takes pride and superiority in the identification and possession of higher superior qualities, and takes shame and inferiority in the identification and possession of lower inferior qualities.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Selflessness is what all and everything are. It is a direct realization or understanding of the mind towards the truth of all and everything, upon silence, or the annihilation of the veil of ignorance, a.k.a. the absence of the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness.
Regardless of whether the mind realizes or doesn't realize selflessness, all and everything are selfless.
The truth of selflessness, as well as impermanence, limitation, conditional, and non-self in all and everything doesn't change into something else, regardless of what/who/when/how/where, regardless of whether the mind knows/understands or doesn't know/understand.
Upon the direct self realization towards the truth of selflessness, all kinds of violence, upset, unhappiness, resentment, bitterness, hurt, anger, hatred, argument, debate, distress, unrest, disturbance, conflict, justification, clinging, longing, insecurity, discontentment, greed, possessiveness, offensiveness, defensiveness, interference, fear, guilt, regret, shame, pride, mourning, grief, painful sorrow, expectation, wishful thinking, hopefulness, all kinds of duality, and so on, disappear from the mind.
There is nothing wrong or negative that there are many minds are still functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism, even if the minds might be ceaselessly generating hurtful ideas/behaviors/actions/reactions that hurt oneself and others and the surrounding environment under the influence of ignorance and egoism, because it is natural that the minds are being ignorant towards ignorance due to ignorance.
That is why this world is what it is, full of confused minds and ignorant egoistic hurtful ideas and behaviors that give rise to the consequences of all that (all kinds of unnecessary evitable painful suffering, unrest, or violence that doesn't need to be there at all). It is a form of mild to serious mental illness (the different degrees or thickness of the veil of ignorance a.k.a. the egoistic impure restless modification of the mind), that exist in most minds, that can be removed only by the mind itself, out of its own initiation and effort, under the precious presence of its own conscious awareness/freewill/desire/yearning towards liberation from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance (the precious conscious awareness/perception/cognition/acknowledgement/notion/idea/thought/understanding/desire of, "I am not free. I am not happy. I am not peaceful. I want to be free. I want to be happy. I want to be peaceful." as well as, "I don't want to hurt myself. I don't want to hurt others.").
Just as the minds that haven't realized the truth of selflessness yet, and they cannot grasp or comprehend selflessness ("How can I that is existing here and now, that is perceiving and understanding my own existence, that is inquiring and realizing that there is no existence of I, or I don't exist?"), the minds that are still functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism, cannot comprehend the other minds that are free from the influence of ignorance and egoism, while the minds that are free from the influence of ignorance and egoism naturally understand towards all the other minds that are functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism, that influencing them to be thinking/reasoning/evaluating/understanding/behaving/desiring/aspiring/acting/reacting in certain way and not in certain way, that gives rise to all kinds of unnecessary evitable affliction and destruction in oneself and into the surrounding environment, wittingly and unwittingly.
Selflessness, where there is no permanent independent immortal infinite individual existence of self/I existing in any names and forms to be undergoing the selfless impermanent limited and conditional non-self existence and function of the body and mind as well as the ceaseless changes of the body and mind upon coming into existence, of undergoing the forming/growing/decaying/disintegrating process during the momentary existence, it doesn't mean that this selfless mind of this selfless impermanent physical body, that is momentarily existing and functioning here and now, that is undergoing ceaseless changes, that is being consciously aware of itself as well as the surrounding environment of all and everything that are all selfless and impermanent, or all these, don't exist.
All these exist, both the perceiver and the perceived, but momentarily, selflessly, impermanently, limitedly, conditionally, and non-self, where the momentary existence and function of all and everything don't even belong to the names and forms themselves.
Under the influence of ignorance and egoism, many minds perceive, interpret, and understand selflessness and self-inquiry is about "I am existing here and now to be aware of and inquire towards I don't 'really' exist?" Or even, out of wild imagination having been listening to many stories telling/fairy tales, studying and reading many novels/scriptures/books, and watching many movies, the mind thinks and believes that, "I don't really exist here in this reality that is not real and not perfect. I exist in another reality that is real and perfect. This reality that I am perceiving now, is not real. This is not my real existence. My real existence is somewhere else in another reality that is real and perfect. This is just a dream. I am in a dream. I need to wake up from this dream (this unreal and imperfect reality, that is full of imperfection, unhappiness, dissatisfaction, disappointment, violence, unrest, fear, hurt, painful sorrow, decay, hunger, thirst, illness, old age, mortality, or suffering) to be waking up back to my real existence (the real and perfect reality where I really exist in, that is devoid of imperfection, unhappiness, dissatisfaction, disappointment, violence, unrest, fear, hurt, painful sorrow, decay, hunger, thirst, illness, old age, mortality, or suffering)."
Similarly, the ego (Ahamkara) is widely being misunderstood as a quality or state of mind/being, referring to the presence and absence of self-importance, self-centered, selfishness, or pride and arrogance, "I/You/He/She/We/They have big ego and are highly egoistic. The others have no ego and are not egoistic, or have smaller ego and are less egoistic."
The ego, is merely a natural manifestation of conscious thought/idea/self-awareness/self-acknowledgement in the perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting mind/faculty/mechanism of the selfless impermanent limited and conditional mortal physical body under the presence of conscious awareness, that claims identification as well as ownership/possession towards the selfless existence and function of the body and mind to be 'I' and 'my' and 'mine', as well as the surrounding environment to be 'my' and 'mine'.
Similarly, ignorance is widely being misunderstood as 'stupidity', 'non-education', 'low education', 'low intelligence', 'non-knowledgeable', 'lack of knowledge', 'laziness', 'short-coming', 'bad', 'wrong', 'negative', 'low mentality', 'evilness', 'humiliation deserving', 'suffering deserving', 'condemn deserving', 'shameful', 'failure', and so on. But it is not at all.
Ignorance, is merely a natural manifestation of restless thought activities/thought current/thought process/modification of the mind under the presence of conscious awareness/perception/cognition/recognition/knowing/thinking/reasoning/desiring/feeling/acting/reacting, where the mind is occupied by the continuous stream of countless ideas of 'I'/self-acknowledgement/self-identification, egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison, and expectation towards its selfless impermanent limited and conditional existence and function that doesn't even belong to itself, and towards the surrounding environment that doesn't belong to anyone or anything, as well as towards the ceaseless manifestation of all kinds of impurities (restless impure egoistic thoughts activities) deriving from the idea of 'I' and egoism, that generates the state of restlessness/murkiness/turbulence, a.k.a. the veil of ignorance, that hinders the mind to see/know/understand things as they are.
Even the highly educated, highly knowledgeable, highly intelligent, highly talented, highly skillful, highly respectable, highly positioned, or highly successful and accomplished mind can also be functioning under the presence/influence of the veil of ignorance.
Similarly, selflessness as well as genetic traits inheritance, limitations and conditions, and the nature's law of cause and effect, is also being misunderstood as there is no conscious freewill or activities/actions in the conscious living organisms that can determine and influence what type of conscious activities/actions/reactions/causes to be generated that would lead to the respective consequences/effects of all that, that can be influencing and affecting the selfless impermanent changes/evolution in oneself and others and the surrounding environment in certain way and not in certain way, under the presence of the supportive elements and conditions, that are limited and conditional. Even if there is the absence of the supportive elements and conditions that enable certain activities/actions/causes to be happening in NOW, it doesn't mean that there is no conscious freewill and effort to make appropriate adjustment/adaptation/accommodation and decisions to be performing or not performing some other activities/actions/causes that are possible in NOW, under the presence of conscious awareness, and under the presence of the supportive elements and conditions for all those activities/actions/causes to be happening.
Certain inevitable unconscious involuntary activities/actions/causes that are being generated under the absence of conscious freewill under the absence of conscious awareness, it doesn't mean that there is no responsibility of the selfless action performer/body and mind towards all kinds of selfless conscious and unconscious activities/actions/causes being generated either wittingly or unwittingly, voluntarily or involuntarily through the particular body and mind, not to say, all kinds of conscious activities/actions/causes being generated under the presence of conscious awareness/freewill/decision/intention/desire.
All actions are selfless actions, regardless of conscious or non-conscious, voluntary or involuntary, intentional or intentionless, constructive or destructive. All selfless actions will lead to the respective consequences of actions, that are not necessarily what the mind thinks, desires, anticipates, imagines, and expects what/how it should be.
Selfless actions, or selflessness, doesn't mean that there is no responsibility or accountability in all kinds of actions and consequences of actions/causes and effects being generated through the selfless body and mind. Each selfless body and mind is indeed the one that is generating countless selfless actions/causes that lead to countless consequences/effects through the respective body and mind, both consciously and unconsciously, even if there is no permanent independent infinite immortal existence of self/I existing in the selfless body and mind to be responsible for all that.
Similarly, the teaching of "I am not the body, the body is not I. I am not the mind, the mind is not I," is also being misunderstood as "The finite impermanent limited conditional imperfect mortal impure body and mind is not what or who I really am. What/Who I really am, has an infinite permanent unlimited unconditional immortal existence. All kinds of yoga and meditation practice will lead me to reconnect with and regain my true identity of who I really am." But, it is merely about there is no permanent independent infinite immortal existence of self/I existing in any names and forms to be identifying with the names and forms or any qualities as what I am, as well as the self-acknowledgement of 'I' in the conscious perceptive cognitive living organisms, is merely a continuous stream of countless idea of 'I' in the form of thought ceaselessly arising and passing away in the thought process under the selfless support of energy and elements, that exists momentarily, selflessly, impermanently, limitedly, conditionally, and non-self, where the manifestation of ceaseless thoughts or ideas don't even belong to the thoughts or ideas themselves, not to say, they don't belong to the mind, or the thinking faculty of the physical body where the manifestation of thoughts or ideas are ceaselessly arising and passing away under the selfless support and influence of energy and different elements.
Similarly, the mind purification process is also being misunderstood as, "Transforming from the state of impurity to regain the state of purity. Transforming from the imperfect impure mortal I to regain the perfect pure immortal I. Transforming from the evil selfish greedy joyless unhappy negative I to regain the good unselfish contented joyful happy positive I. And so on." But, it is merely about thinning-out and annihilating the veil of ignorance, or quieting and stilling the restless impure egoistic thought current, that is occupied and over-powered by the idea of 'I', egoism, and all kinds of impurities and restlessness deriving from the idea of 'I' and egoism, that hinder the mind to see/know/understand the mind perception of everything as they are, as it is.
That is why the highly importance of non-blind believing, non-blind following, non-blind practicing, non-blind propagating, and non-blind glorifying.
Inquire the truth of everything, including all that is here, and all kinds of teachings of yoga and buddhism coming from anyone and everywhere.
It is absolutely possible to be free from ignorance and all those madness/wild imagination/wishful thinking/stories making and telling deriving from ignorance.