Self and No-Self

Recorded and transcribed by Namo Amituofo’s disciple, Venerable HaiZe

24 July 2026

Teachings by Teacher Practitioner Xia Lianju:

To have a self is to have a personality, and everywhere there is suffering.

This is because the self is composed of karma and the laws of karma and cause and effect, and is at all times in the midst of the constant changes of the world.

If you take the self as real, in the midst of impermanence, because of attachment to the self—my personality, my ego-attachment, my views, my selfishness, my body, my feelings, my thoughts, my actions, my consciousness—you generate various afflictions and suffer various pains.

Having a self becomes the cause of suffering, making the heart unsettled and the mind unhappy.

No-self, nothingness, selflessness, not clinging, no personality,

without the feelings and thoughts of a self, one can find the constant self-nature.

The self-nature is unmoved and can give rise to all things.

The pure original nature is inherently so.

It is not sought externally; seeking externally will not find it. One must seek within the heart.

Only through continuous purification can it be found.

All stability and purity come from the heart.

Those who have a body and a self have boundless beings within their body.

The beings within the cells, pores, and internal organs of the whole body all have subtle mental notes,

and there is the manifestation of mental fluctuations and karma.

If the boundless beings within the body emit evil thoughts, the body will appear dark and dull,

entering into ageing, illness, and physical deformation and atrophy.

When dying, the elements separate, and the spirit is reincarnated.

For those with no-self, this body is for beings and not for oneself.

The beings within the body whose mental waves are stirred are transformed; this is also for beings and not for oneself, for Goodness and not for evil.

Because the heart is good and for the sake of saving beings, the body appears bright and radiant.

When light appears, energy is manifested; there is no ageing or illness, and the body is healthy.

Thus, the body may die but the spirit does not; by chanting Buddha's name, one attains rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Whether there is a self or no-self lies in this heart.

The process of moving from having a self to no-self is the process of practice.

In this process,

by constantly breaking through attachment, see through and let go, and constantly letting go,

one can find the original self—the self-nature that is at ease, pure and bright, and capable of being the master.

Namo Amituofo