The different stages of understanding

The mind is being conditioned by certain worldly passionate egoistic ideas, beliefs, values, desires, and practices, to be thinking in certain way, and to reason/analyze/judge everything based on those worldly ideas, beliefs, values, desires, and practices, that give rise to specific understanding, as well as agreements and disagreements based on the existing understanding.

It is very difficult for the passionate egoistic impure mind to grasp the teachings of yoga and/or buddhism about Selflessness that appears to be contradicting to the existing thinking, ideas, beliefs, values, reasoning, understanding, desires, and practices in the mind, as well as to inquire towards "There is no 'I' existing, or 'I' doesn't exist," because the mind interprets that teaching as itself (the selfless impermanent life existence of a limited and conditional body and mind) doesn't exist, "How can I that is here in this present moment perceiving, thinking, knowing, and experiencing all these, doesn't exist?"

There is nothing wrong with, "The one that is negating all and everything cannot negate itself (the one that is negating all and everything). Even if all and everything that the mind perceives don't really exist, but the mind cannot negate itself that is perceiving all and everything, even if all and everything don't really exist."

The mind couldn't comprehend or think of it is merely a selfless impermanent mechanism of a selfless impermanent living organism, where it only exists and functions as what it is, in this present moment NOW, selflessly and impermanently under the selfless support of the selfless energy and elements, without an independent infinite permanent unchanging individual self-existence or self-identity.

Under the selfless function of memory of remembering all kinds of physical and mental inputs/outputs/thinking/feelings/emotions/sensations/learning/knowledge/skills/relationships/interactions/experiences/inspirations/aspirations/imaginations/dreams, on top of the presence of egoistic attachment and identification, there arise the false impression of a continuous individual existence of 'I' existing in the body and mind, that has a solid permanent independent individual identity, that has specific family heritage and birth place, that has specific personality and appearance, that has certain knowledge and talent, that has certain inspiration and aspiration, that has certain weakness and strength, that has certain achievement and non-achievement, that has certain ties and connections with some others, that has certain duties and responsibilities, that has certain interests and hobbies, that has certain beliefs and values, and it has been brought up in the way being conditioned and empowered to be developing a personal self-identity that also comes with family identity, community identity, group identity, ethnicity/tribal identity, social class identity, national identity, and/or global identity, that is empowered by egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, expectation, possessiveness, self-esteem, self-worth, pride, and many other kinds of impurities.

"I am perceiving, experiencing, thinking, doubting, reasoning, understanding/non-understanding, seeing/hearing/smelling/tasting/sensing, know/don't know, desire/don't desire, agree/disagree, act/don't act, react/don't react, behave/don't behave, feel/don't feel, enjoy/suffer, healthy/unhealthy, awake/asleep, and so on, and thus, how can I doesn't exist?"

And there is nothing wrong with the function of memory or that understanding (and it doesn't contradict with the truth of Selflessness), as that is what the mind knows and understands or doesn't know and doesn't understand. None can argue with anyone towards what each mind understands and doesn't understand. Such as none can argue with one another about what the mind perceives and doesn't perceives, and how each mind perceives and understands everything differently from one another.

Upon looking at the same thing, someone says, "It is grey," another one says, "It's blue," while another one says, "It's green," and there is neither right nor wrong, but that is what each mind perceives/sees/recognizes what they think they are perceiving/seeing/recognizing. In fact, it is neither grey nor blue or green. It is just what it is. But the mind perceives/sees/recognizes under different condition, cognition, reasoning, and understanding.

When majority minds, or even all and everyone think and believe and recognize towards something as 'this is right' or 'this is wrong', and 'this is good' or 'this is bad', it is not necessarily the truth of that something. Such as even if all and everyone else are disagreeing with one single person, it doesn't necessarily means that all and everyone are correct or right, while this single person is incorrect or wrong, and vice versa.

What majority minds, or even all and everyone want or don't want, agree with or disagree with, are not necessarily something good or bad.

It is not that the selfless impermanent perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting faculty/mind existing and functioning under a selfless impermanent physical body, doesn't exist, it is the 'I' of a permanent independent unchanging infinite individual self existence of a particular identity or quality, that the mind thinks and believes and identifies as what it is, or who I am, doesn't exist.

The idea of 'I' gives rise to possessiveness/the sense of belonging of 'my' and 'mine'/the urge to control everything under my desire, the perception of separateness/distinctiveness/discrimination between 'I' and 'all and everything that is not I', and the sense of high and low self-esteem and self-worth, pride and shame, good and bad, positive and negative, meaningful and meaningless, deserving and non-deserving, inferiority and superiority, of all kinds of duality.

What the mind thinks and believes and identifies as, "I am (or, I have) a permanent independent unchanging infinite individual existence, and this is my self, my body, my condition, my thinking and belief, my knowledge and understanding, my duty and responsibility, my intellect, my cognition, my feelings and emotions, my life, my family, my sibling and relative, my friend, my pet, my home, my belongings, my learning, my personality, my interests, my talents, my achievement and non-achievement, my strength and weakness, my ability and disability, my enjoyment and suffering, my status, my ethnicity, my community, my culture and values, my creativity and ideas, my action and inaction, my pride and shame, my nationality, my identity, my quality, and this is who I am," is merely an idea/a continuous thought of 'I' deriving from ignorance and egoism, that exists in the selfless modification/thinking process of the mind, that attached onto and identified with all kinds of names and forms to be identifying as 'this is I/me/myself' and 'this is mine', that also simultaneously gives rise to the idea of 'that is not I/me/myself' and 'that is not mine'. - The mind is limited by the perception of time, space, and causation (selfless impermanent changes/limitation/condition), the past (memories) and future (imaginations), all kinds of selfless impermanent qualities, all kinds of duality, separateness, distinctiveness, or discrimination.

Upon the realization of Selflessness and Impermanence, the mind transcends its own selfless impermanent limited and conditional existence and function and the selfless impermanent changes that are happening in the body and mind ceaselessly, and naturally, transcends time, space, and causation (all kinds of limitation and condition), where there is neither past nor future, there is only NOW, and everything in NOW is impermanent. All kinds of duality or separateness/distinctiveness/discrimination disappeared, where all and everything (living organisms and non-living objects) are merely some limited and conditional names and forms that are selfless and impermanent, that exists in this present moment NOW supported by the selfless energy and elements, and all and everything in NOW is changing influenced by the selfless energy and elements, either ceased existing/decomposed, or forming, or coming into existence, or growing, or ceased growing, or decaying, or disintegrating.

All kinds of worldly beliefs and values are neither good nor bad, neither right nor wrong, and they have their specific purpose, however, these beliefs and values that are influencing and conditioning the minds to be thinking/reasoning/understanding/desiring/behaving/acting and reacting/living in certain way, are deriving from ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, as well as feeding and empowering all that.

That's why for the mind that wants to learn and practice yoga, that sincerely wants to know what is yoga and what are the teachings of yoga, it has to start from certain technique that enables the development of basic correct understanding, willpower, inner or mental strength/flexibility/stamina, and self-control, that leads to the development of mental and emotional independence, that enables the mind to be opened, or to be free from blind-believing, blind-following, blind-practicing, blind- agreeing/disagreeing, and blind-propagating, or to be free from being conditioned by the existing worldly passionate egoistic thinking, ideas, beliefs, values, desires, inspiration, aspirations, and practices in the selfless impermanent modification of the mind (purifying the cognition or the storage of learning/knowledge/information/understanding).

Then it can advance with certain technique/observation that enables the mind to limit/reduce/filter the physical and mental inputs and outputs, to quiet or calm down the restless thought activities/thought current, to develop certain degrees of attentiveness/concentration/focus (calming and quieting the dissipated thought activities, or taming the urge of keeps running out chasing after the objects of the senses), to purify or sharpen the intellectual reasoning power (purifying the intellect), and to develop non-grasping/non-attachment/non-association/non-identification, to stand as a third party to be aware of, or to look at/observe all those random restless thought activities, of thinking, feelings, emotions, sensations, actions, reactions, doubts, ideas, beliefs, values, desires, inspirations, aspirations, practices, behavior pattern, memories, imaginations, anticipations, and all kinds of impurities, without desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, or expectation (purifying the thinking and acting faculty or modifying the conditional mind behavior pattern), that lead to the realization of Impermanence and Non-self, or the inevitable suffering that exists under the truth of Impermanence, and that is not in the control of 'I', which ignites the yearning towards knowledge/liberation/freedom/peace, to be free from ignorance and all kinds of doubt, insufficiency, discontentment, disturbance, unrest, and suffering deriving from ignorance that are evitable.

Then it can advance with certain technique that enables the mind to investigate or inquire towards the root cause of suffering, to find out how to be free from evitable suffering and how to transcend inevitable suffering, and to inquire the truth of the existing thinking/ideas/beliefs/values/desires/inspirations/aspirations/practices in the mind that have been implanted/adopted/developed/empowered either consciously or unconsciously, either wittingly and unwittingly, since the beginning of the selfless formation of the selfless life existence of the selfless physical body with a selfless perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting faculty, or the selfless bodily mechanism of a thinking and acting mind, as well as to inquire towards the truth of all the teachings of yoga and/or some other kinds of teachings coming from anyone and everywhere, channeling the entire energy/effort/attention/life existence into performing self-inquiry to know Thyself, or to attain self-realization towards knowing the truth of Selflessness and Impermanence (purifying the restless impure egoistic modification of the mind, or annihilating ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness).

Then it can advance with certain technique that enables the mind to inquire towards what is the 'I' that it thinks and believes and identifies as itself, under a purified, calmed, and quiet modification/state of the mind (the absence of the veil of ignorance/the presence of clarity devoid of hindrance), that will lead to the realization of Selflessness, where there is no 'I' existing in its selfless impermanent limited and conditional existence and function, and there is no 'I' in all and everything, transcending the selfless impermanent limited and conditional life existence and function of a body and mind that is subject to ceaseless maintenance, growth, ceased growing, decay, and disintegration (inevitable suffering of selfless impermanent changes), as well as devoid of evitable suffering deriving from ignorance and its by-products.

During the persist and prolonged one-pointed/focused self-introspection and mind purification process, the agitated churning restless thought current is gradually becoming less violent, slowing down, calming down, or subsiding (the murky water in the pond is becoming clearer and clearer, or the thick veil of ignorance is being 'peeled off' layer by layer), which give rise to the different stages of understanding in the mind.

That's why there is nothing wrong with all kinds of non-understanding, misunderstanding, and partial incomplete understanding, which is an important inevitable process that the mind needs to go through, but it can lead the mind closer and closer, and reaching towards clarity, or correct understanding, or complete understanding/absolute knowledge/a glimpse towards selflessness.

That's why the presence of inner or mental strength, flexibility and stamina, is highly important, that is enabling continuous effort devoted for engaging in the mind purification process persistently until the modification of the mind is free from ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, or until the restless agitated churning thought current subsides, that enables the mind to see/know things as they are.

In the beginning, the mind that is functioning under the influence of ignorance and the idea of 'I', unwittingly attaching onto and identifying with the restless impure egoistic modification of the mind or the restless thought activities as 'I' or 'this is I', where there is no distinction between the mind and the modification of the mind.

"I am good" or "I am bad"

"I am happy" or "I am sad"

"I like and desire myself of certain qualities" or "I don't like and don't desire myself of certain qualities"

And then, upon perceiving/experiencing certain unpleasant/undesirable/painful experiences (doubts/hurts/suffering), ignites the intense desire towards knowledge/liberation/freedom/peace in the modification of the mind, that leads the mind to be inquiring and understanding towards the existence and function of itself and/or the modification of the mind, where the selfless perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting mind, is distinctive from the restless impure modification/state/thought process of the mind. -

"There is some good or bad qualities in the modification of my mind. I am not the good or bad qualities. The good or bad qualities are not me,"

"There are some pleasant or unpleasant/elevating or depressing/happy or sad/positive or negative/desirable or undesirable sensations, feelings, and emotions in the modification of my mind. I am not the sensations, feelings, and emotions. The sensations, feelings, and emotions are not me."

"There are some likable and dislikable or agreeable and disagreeable qualities in this body and the modification of the mind. These qualities are not me. I am not these qualities."

"Non-clinging and non-craving towards the presence of qualities that are likable and agreeable or the absence of qualities that are dislikable and disagreeable, while non-aversion towards the presence of qualities that are dislikable and disagreeable or the absence of qualities that are likable and agreeable."

The mind understands that the restless impure egoistic modification of the mind is not in its control, where all kinds of names and forms merely arising, changing, and passing away in the modification of the mind as they are (coming and going without asking for permission/consent or acknowledgement), and hence, all kinds of thought activities/instinctive biological urges/ideas/sensations/feelings/emotions/beliefs/values/conscious desires/actions/reactions/behavior pattern or conditional accumulated habit/likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements are not 'I' or 'who I am', by performing Neti Neti, negating what is not 'I', of 'I' am neither this or that.

The mind understands and refers 'selflessness' as a quality of purity, spirituality, higher consciousness, non-discrimination among the different qualities, unselfishness, generosity, loving kindness, goodness, positiveness, meaningfulness, happiness, peacefulness, calmness, gentleness, forgiveness, non-violence, non-harming, sharing, sympathy, and empathy, that is existing in and limited to all kinds of living organisms/sentient living beings, that can be acquired, learned, practiced, developed, and empowered, such as 'love thy neighbour as thyself', 'treat others the way that oneself would like to be treated', 'positive thinking and optimism', 'be good and do good, don't be bad and don't do bad', 'I am what I eat', 'I am pure/purity', 'I am that I am', 'I am attributeless, nameless, and formless infinite pure consciousness', or 'I am That'.

"I need to learn and practice selflessness and become selfless."

"I need to return to my original state of selflessness."

"Selflessness is who I really am."

At this stage, the mind still hasn't realized Selflessness. There is still the idea of an inferior impure ignorant limited and conditional imperfect impermanent finite 'I' that thinks and believes that itself is undergoing ceaseless births and deaths in different realms to burn off past accumulated karma, that is performing all kinds of yoga and/or buddhism practice, in order to exit the ceaseless loop of the wheel of births and deaths, eagerly waiting to be returning to, or reconnecting with, or re-identifying with something higher, or superior, or purer, or perfect, or permanent, or infinite, or unlimited, or unconditional, or absolute, or all powerful, or my true and original birthless and deathless permanent independent self existence/identity of who I really am. There is still ignorance, the idea of 'I', separateness, and duality.

Keep practicing. Keep purifying. Keep inquiring.

Selflessness is not a quality, or an idea, or a theory, or a philosophy, or a behavior, or an action, or a practice, or a goal, or a knowledge, or an attainment that can be attained, or a sentiment, or a state of mind, or a state of body-less immortal spiritual being, or the state of purity, or perfection, or all powerful.

Selflessness is not the absence of selfishness or the presence of unselfishness.

Selflessness, is merely the truth of what all and everything are, where there is no finite or infinite independent unchanging self existence of 'I' existing in all and everyone and everything to be identifying with anything (finite or infinite), regardless of all kinds of different qualities, or names and forms, or behaviors, or sentiments, or conditions and limitations, of all kinds of living organisms and non-living objects, mobile or immobile, conscious or non-conscious, that the mind thinks and believes and recognized as good or bad, useful or useless, kind or unkind, selfish or unselfish, long-lived or short-lived, healthy or unhealthy, fit or unfit, young or old, ignorant or wise, understanding or non-understanding, partial understanding or misunderstanding, correct understanding or incorrect understanding, knowledgeable or non-knowledgeable, intelligent or non-intelligent, pure or impure, positive or negative, right or wrong, meaningful or meaningless, joyful or joyless, powerful or powerless, superior or inferior, strength or weakness, happy or unhappy, achiever or non-achiever, greedy or content, insufficiency or abundance, generous or stingy, spiritual or non-spiritual, enlightened or non-enlightened, and so on, all and everyone and everything are selfless, and impermanent, that lead to the realization of all kinds of selfless and impermanent existence/perception/experience/knowledge under certain names and forms, are all limited and conditional, where all kinds of names and forms are arising, changing, and passing away, governed by the nature's law of cause and effect, and supported and influenced by the selfless energy and elements, but there is no 'I' existing that is undergoing all kinds of selfless impermanent changes in all kinds of limited and conditional names and forms.

There is no infinite independent self existence of 'I' existing to be undergoing ceaseless 'endless births and deaths transitioning in different realms'. It's the existence of an idea/thought of 'I' in the modification of the mind, that is undergoing ceaseless selfless impermanent changes, of arising, changing, and passing away transitioning in different qualities/modifications/states of minds, under the selfless support and influence of the selfless energy and elements.

And the direct realization of this knowledge or understanding under the rendered pure and calm modification of the mind, is absolutely 'liberating' for the selfless mind that has been ignorant, that was in doubt, that perceived suffering, that desired to be free.

The clarity/calmness/stillness of the selfless impermanent modification of mind, which is also selfless and impermanent, that is also limited and conditional, that also will change, but it is highly essential and precious for self-inquiry and self-realization (a precious glimpse towards the truth of selflessness), that enables the selfless thinking and acting mind to transcend all kinds of limitation and condition that are selfless and impermanent, effortlessly, not being determined or disturbed by the selfless impermanent changes in all and everything governed by the nature's law of cause and effect, and hence, resting in unconditional peace upon the selfless changeless attributeless universal consciousness that doesn't belong to anyone or anything, where there is neither "my/his/her/its/their selfless consciousness" nor "I am/we all are the selfless universal consciousness" (the selfless silent witness towards all kinds of selfless impermanent manifestations of selfless impermanent limited and conditional names and forms upon it, that is uncontaminated/unaffected/undamaged by the selfless impermanent limited and conditional existence/function/modification/changes of the selfless perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting faculty/mind).

Selflessness in the body and mind doesn't mean that the selfless body and mind is free from being bound by cause and effect, or action and the consequences of action, or devoid of selfless impermanent changes of decay and disintegration. The mind that thinks and believes and desires, "Since there is no 'I', that 'I' doesn't exist, then 'I' can do whatever 'I' want, and there will be no consequences of action, just like in dream, everything is not real, and has no consequences," is still functioning under the influence of ignorance.

The realization towards selflessness, or the annihilation of ignorance and the idea of 'I', or upon transcend takes place, it doesn't change the truth of selflessness and impermanence in the body and mind, or in all and everything, and it doesn't make the limited and conditional names and forms to become unlimited and unconditional. It doesn't make all kinds of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in the world disappear. It doesn't make everything become all good and positive, and nothing bad and negative. It doesn't stop selfless impermanent changes, of decay and disintegration in all kinds of names and forms. It doesn't make the mortal to become immortal. It doesn't bring back the dead.

But, the selfless thinking and acting faculty will have peace, unconditional peace, being undisturbed and undetermined by all kinds of ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in this world of ignorance and egoism, and because it is being undetermined and undisturbed by all kinds of experiences or the selfless mind perception of names and forms that are not necessarily pleasant, desirable, or agreeable, it won't generate action and reaction that would hurt oneself and/or others and the surrounding environment during its momentary selfless and impermanent existence in this world that doesn't belong to anyone and anything.

That is the greatest contribution to world peace and harmony.

As long as the mind still hasn't attained direct realization towards all these knowledge/teachings/guidance for self-inquiry, it will still be in doubt as it doesn't know whether all these are true or untrue. It will still be determined or disturbed by the presence of names and forms, experiences, relationships, interactions, or affairs/behaviors/activities in the world, that are unpleasant, undesirable, and disagreeable, as well as be determined or disturbed by the absence of names and forms, experiences, relationships, interactions, or affairs/behaviors/activities in the world, that are pleasant, desirable, and agreeable.

Inquire the truth of everything, including all that is here, and be free.