Self and the Little Things (Link #536)

What this episode covers

Speaker: Jennifer Shippee. To gain liberation from suffering, we need to investigate how our experiences arise from a mistaken understanding of the self. Failing to recognize our Buddha nature, we misperceive the self as separate and solid, a view that gives rise to the desire to protect and cherish ourselves. In turn, the attachment and aversion that arise from self-cherishing generate neurotic tendencies that cause suffering. We can liberate ourselves from this cycle of misperception, affliction, and suffering by noticing how the self manifests in the continual appearance of the "little" things we experience---the moments of tension, reactivity and irritation that reveal self-clinging and self-protection. As we investigate and reflect on the experience of suffering (dukkha), we begin to see precisely how our mistaken view of self generates suffering. From this insight the liberating release of renunciation arises naturally. The four maras, which exemplify the obstacles produced by a deceptive understanding of self, are dispelled once we realize they are illusions produced by our misapprehension of our true nature.

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