The Formation of the False Self

The Path to Awakening

If you wish to reach the state of an awakened being, you must first learn to regulate your heart. You must put in the work to remove defilements and attain purity. Once this purification is complete, your true self—which has been covered up by layers of worldly attachments—will finally be revealed. You will then be able to see your original, true face, the one that existed even before you were born to your parents.

In the process of this purification, you must face the essential task of changing your personality traits and habits. This is a vital part of your practice. The moment you begin to cling to the idea of a self, the "self," personal ego, and selfishness start to manifest. To understand how to transcend this, we must trace the formation of this False Self back to its very beginning.

The Birth of the False Self

The formation of the False Self begins with the existence of the spirit within the mother's womb. After birth, the infant cries because of physical hunger. When the body is fed and the hunger is satisfied, the crying stops. At that very moment, the infant has already begun to identify the physical body as the self. This self is constantly changing; it exists within the cycle of cause and effect and is caught in the cycle of Causal Conditions. We call this the False Self.

Initially, this False Self is established simply upon the physical body. It is a singular, uncomplicated sense of self. However, as the body grows, its needs become increasingly numerous. When these physical needs are met, the False Self expresses satisfaction through a smile. As you grow older, your desires become more complex, and your heart begins to crave more from the world.

The Complexity of Desire

As your opportunities to interact with the outside world increase, the desires within your heart grow more numerous and intricate. In the beginning, your physical body relied entirely on caregivers to satisfy its needs. Later, you began to explore these needs on your own, step by step, independently seeking to satisfy both the requirements of the body and the cravings of the heart. At this stage, the body and your desires have merged into one. Your existence becomes entirely dedicated to satisfying these physical needs and emotional cravings. When the body and its desires are satisfied, you feel a sense of contentment; when they are not, you feel a sense of lack and insufficiency.

Living Within the Illusion

By the time you reach adulthood, the self that you know consists of more than just this physical body, which is merely a false vessel. It also includes all of your physical needs, your endless desires, and your fleeting feelings. Most people spend their entire lives living within the pursuit of satisfying these needs, desires, and sensations. They do not realise that all of these are simply the manifestation of karma. They are the result of karmic conditions and the causes and effects that have ripened in the present moment. They are merely illusory, temporary phenomena within the cycle of cause and effect.

Because people mistake this False Self for the truth, they wander through the six realms of rebirth for lifetime after lifetime. They remain trapped in this illusory, false appearance, never realising that there is a true self—a true nature—that exists beyond all of this. This true self is buried, layer by layer, under the weight of our Body, Speech, and Mind, and the constant pollution of our karmic conditions across countless lifetimes.

Returning to Your True Nature

I hope that everyone will believe in this truth and recognise the reality of the situation. Only by doing so can you accept the existence of your true self. You must learn not to be deceived by the illusions of the False Self, including the body, your desires, and your feelings. Through diligent practice, you can strip away these layers of delusion and find your way back to your true self. Namo Amituofo.