Date: 11/22/2025 11/23/2025
Location: Star River Meditation Center
Teacher: Yunquan Huang
Sitting Meditation
From Self to Non-Self
The “self” is not an enemy but a psychological structure developed for survival and identity.Meditation does not destroy the self; it reveals its impermanent and constructed nature.When the self becomes transparent, life naturally expands into the spacious freedom of non-self.
1.What Is the Self?
1.A mental center of identification
We define ourselves through roles, memories, emotions, and thoughts.
2.A survival mechanism
The self helps us plan, judge, and make decisions.
3.A process of habitual identification
Mistaking the body, emotions, and thoughts as “me” creates the sense of self.
2.The Issue Is Not the Self but Its Rigidity
1.The tighter the self, the greater the suffering
Rigid identity leads to constant hurt.
2.A solid self creates conflict
It resists anything that challenges its viewpoint.
3.A strong self limits freedom
It depends on approval and fears loss.
3.How Meditation Softens the Self
1.By seeing thoughts as thoughts
“I think” becomes “thinking is happening.”
2.By observing emotions as passing phenomena
Not “I am angry,” but “anger is arising.”
3.By noticing the body as a changing process
No fixed identity can be found in sensation.
4.By questioning identification
The more you observe, the less solid the self becomes.
4.Key Shifts From Self to Non-Self
1.From “I am my thoughts” to “I am aware of thoughts”
A fundamental shift of identity.
2.From “I must win” to “things unfold naturally”
Less struggle, more openness.
3.From “I control life” to “life flows”
A deep trust in impermanence.
4.From separation to connectedness
The boundaries soften.
5.What Is Non-Self?
1.Not the absence of a person
Functionality remains.
2.A recognition that no fixed “I” exists
Only a changing flow of phenomena.
3.Awareness replaces self-centeredness
Actions arise from clarity, not ego.
4.A freer way of being
More space, less tension.
6.Life After Non-Self
1.Effortlessness
Less internal conflict.
2.Softness
Greater empathy and acceptance.
3.Clarity
Responses become wise and calm.
4.Freedom
Life is no longer filtered through the demand of “I should be.”
Conclusion
Moving from self to non-self is not destruction but understanding.Not denial, but release.Not less life, but more freedom.As the grip of “I” loosens,a boundless life naturally emerges.
