(Wrote this after a clear insight arose)

No behind, presence as form is anatta
Presence-as-form is merely appearing, nothing there, that's emptiness (the nature of Presence)

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Not only no who, but truly no it, no there, no here, no now, no when, no where, no arising, no ceasing, no abiding or place of abidance. Coming to rest in the nature of presence with no place to rest, whole field of spontaneous illusory display emerges as empty-clarity-bliss.

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Soh Wei Yu I really like a statement by Jang-gya, “appearance negates existence”
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· Reply · 22h
Stian Gudmundsen Høiland

Stian Gudmundsen Høiland Say some more about that Soh?

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· Reply · 16h
Soh Wei Yu


Soh Wei Yu It starts with the very vivid "Presence" (or you can call it Awareness or Clarity) that is simply shining as the very vividness of forms, sounds, thoughts, whatever appears, as the subject/object or perceiver/perceived dichotomy has collapsed into a non-conceptual experience of the vividness of whatever manifests with zero sense of distance. There is no more standalone Presence or Awareness or Clarity in anatta. The illusion of a background Self/Mind has been penetrated. Even so, the very empty nature of 'foreground Presence' may not yet reveal itself initially.

Let's say you're looking at the floor, or a table, or whatever it is. It seems very solid and real, but then upon some investigation it's realised to be merely appearing without substance or essence, and that happens to be the very nature of Presence -- vividly appearing according to conditions but completely empty of anything 'there', empty of an 'it-ness' or 'floor-ness' or any sort of substance. Basically it's sort of like suddenly an apparent figure you've been looking at or talking to is suddenly realised to be literally a hologram. The very nature of Presence as merely appearing without substance basically negates the extreme of existence.

For me the nature of Presence reveals in a more experiential sort of examination rather than through analytical reasonings. Like what Thusness wrote in his article http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/.../on-anatta... "On Anatta (No-Self), Emptiness, Maha and Ordinariness, and Spontaneous Perfection",

"If we observe thought and ask where does thought arise, how does it arise, what is ‘thought’ like. 'Thought' will reveal its nature is empty -- vividly present yet completely un-locatable. It is very important not to infer, think or conceptualise but feel with our entire being this ‘ungraspability’ and 'unlocatability'. It seems to reside 'somewhere' but there is no way to locate it. It is just an impression of somewhere "there" but never "there". Similarly “here-ness” and “now-ness” are merely impressions formed by sensations, aggregates of causes and conditions, nothing inherently ‘there’; equally empty like ‘selfness’."
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· Reply · 1m · Edited
Soh Wei Yu

Soh Wei Yu That said not everyone uses or likes the term "Presence". Tsongkhapa doesn't use that term. You can substitute that for other terms like "dharma" etc, it's just the empty and luminously clear nature of the display.

Foreground emptying has this taste where appearance negates existence.
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3 Responses
  1. Anonymous Says:

    What kind of practice would you recommend to someone who doesnt want to undergo meaningless physical struggle of feeding this fragile body anymore?


  2. Anonymous Says:

    If suicide is commited before any realization is attained,what are the consequences? What kind of astral realm will one be after leaving this body by force?


  3. Soh Says:

    The very basics of dharma teaches the importance of the precious human birth. Human birth is the most rare and most precious thing to be acquired, and the likelihood of acquiring a human body and thus the possibility to attain enlightenment is likened by Buddha to be like a turtle coming to the surface once every hundred years. Our human birth is as rare as that. Much more common it is to be born as one of the billions and zillions of lower realm beings. For example it is estimated that there are 10,000 trillion ants on earth, needless to speak of those unseen beings of hungry ghosts, and so forth.

    So please consider what a wonderful gift our human life is, how precious it is, how fragile and short it is, and put it to good use. Attain enlightenment and help other sentient beings. If you are depressed, enlightenment can actually cure it, as Pam Tan wrote in http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2018/09/pams-awakening.html

    Do seek support if you are having recurrent suicidal thoughts -- call suicide hotline in your country.