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ChatGPT translation of an e-mail I wrote, from Chinese into English:
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Translated by GPT4 (ChatGPT) engine, which is really fantastic and far supercedes all other translation services like Google.
On: I AM, One Mind, No Mind, Anatta, View vs Experience, etc
Dear Teacher XX,
May you be well and with the Buddha. I hope your health has improved and that you recover soon.
I understand that you prefer listening instead of reading from a computer, so I have added a computer-generated audio recording (from Free Text to Speech Online with Realistic AI Voices (naturalreaders.com)) attached to this email for you to listen to. The technology is fantastic now, you just need to copy and paste the text into the software, and it can generate an audio file almost instantly.
First of all, I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my experiences and insights in your class.
However, I have recently been thinking about whether it is appropriate to share my insights in a layman's context (Soh’s comment: should be simplified manner rather than layman’s context). I originally intended to share my experiences and insights of my practice in a more straightforward and understandable way, including some of the following details:
Over the years, I have gradually realized that many people have misunderstood the concept of no-self (Anatta) in Dharma. I have observed that most people progress from realizing the true self/I AM, then to non-dual experiences, and finally to the state of no-mind, instead of directly realizing the original no-self insight/prajna wisdom of Dharma. My definition of "no-mind" here may be different from the terms in ZZ Buddhism. Specifically, I refer to a state where all subjectivity/self/ego/observer, etc., are completely forgotten, leaving only the pure world of phenomena, the pinnacle of non-dual experiences.
I regard "no-mind" as an experiential stage, which is different from the original no-mind wisdom of Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. The latter refers to the inherent wisdom of Anatta, not just a peak experience. Those who have experienced no-mind (as an experience/stage, not prajna wisdom) know that such experiences exist and strive to achieve them again, trying hard to practice "forgetting the self" but not realizing the original no-self. The duality between the knower and the known disappears in the brilliance of colors, sounds, and scents, but this is an experience, not the realization of prajna wisdom.
There are two types of wisdom: "original wisdom" and "prajna wisdom." "Original wisdom" is the wisdom of the natural state of inherent purity and suchness, the true reality. "Prajna wisdom" is the wisdom of dealing with the emptiness of inherentness/inherent existence. Both types of wisdom are equally important. However, without a stable realization/insight of no-self, dependent origination, and emptiness, we will be unable to directly realize the true, suchness of the original wisdom that is beyond all elaborations. In the process of practice, practitioners need to balance these two types of wisdom to continually break through the view of self-nature and ultimately realize the freedom and purity of the mind.
Moreover, the prajna wisdom of no-self is a direct experiential realization that many people find difficult to understand. So this point is crucial; prajna wisdom/insight is different from merely non-dual experiences because it is a direct and experiential realization: "It has always been like this." (There is no knower or agent outside or behind the luminous phenomena; it has always been like this). The wisdom of no-self is critical for attaining/achieving a non-dual state where the background is completely irrelevant and inherently non-existent, without any tendency to subsume.
In the stage I call "the initial awakening" of what I call the "True Self", although awareness is nondual and nonconceptual at the moment of pure authentication, the understanding that follows is still dualistic— the nature is seen as (mistakenly believed to be) the formless aspect of the Witness behind all phenomena (including all other five aggregates), with the Witness and the witnessed being two separate entities. In daily life, awareness is seen as the ultimate background behind phenomena. However, even after the next stage, where the observer and the observed merge into a nondual state, it is far from the end. In fact, in my experience, there are several stages within nonduality (which I call One Mind, No Mind, and Anatta). Here, I will elaborate on my so-called experiences of One Mind, No Mind, and Anatta, and the differences between them. The unification of emptiness and form, as in One Mind, is not the same as the emptiness and selflessness of awareness. The complete absence of distinctions between thinker/thought or listener/sound, etc., is a stage of nondual experience and insight, which I call the nonduality of One Mind, but it is different from the nonduality of Anatta.
In the initial nondual or One Mind stage, although awareness is seen as inseparable from phenomena, it is still considered unchanging, independent, or having inherent existence. At that stage, you would feel that you are an unchanging, open, and empty field of awareness (as is the initial awakening of the True Self). However, by the time you reach One Mind, when you hear a sound, the sound and the (empty-like) field of awareness seem to be one and the same, difficult to distinguish, but you cannot fully experience the absence of a listener, with only the sound present. In the nondual stage of One Mind, you will find that awareness and all forms are inseparable, but even though at this point you would also experience that awareness and the objects of awareness are originally nondual, awareness is still considered unchanging, special, and essentially different from phenomena (for example, awareness is unchanging and independently existing, while phenomena are subsumed into a vast, boundless, empty-like unchanging awareness that rises and falls, although this awareness contains and is inseparable from all phenomena, and the objects and the subject are one). The former (sound and the (empty-like) field of awareness seeming to be one) is the nonduality of One Mind— everything is included in a larger, unchanging field of awareness that is indivisible, with all aspects of body and mind being part of this field, but the field is not all aspects of body and mind, and this is "One Mind". The latter (only sound, no listener) is No Mind to Anatta. No Mind is precisely when the listener disappears, and there is only the sound, the awareness at the moment when only the sound is present, but this is a stage of experience where the "One Mind" of "all unified field of awareness" is forgotten and only the luminous phenomena remain. Anatta (non-self) is the realization that has always been: sound is awareness, awareness is just sound, there has never been a listener, and there has never been a knower, apart from the luminous phenomena of sound, color, and so on. Like the wind and the act of blowing, awareness is not some unchanging basis but rather an alternative name for luminous and dynamic manifestations/appearances.
Even when one experiences the collapse of observer and observed duality into a single field where awareness and phenomena are not divided in "one mind", one still cannot overcome or break through the deeply ingrained pattern of treating awareness as more ultimate, special, unchanging, and independent than the fleeting, impermanent phenomena. When this insight and paradigm are not overcome, the experience of no-mind can only be intermittent/temporary, rather than an effortless, natural, and seamless state, because the insight is unclear. One cannot effortlessly and fully comfortably settle in the brilliant/momentary/impermanent dharma (as Master Huineng and Zen Master Dogen once said, "Impermanence is Buddha-nature") and will habitually revert to a view of an inherent/unchanging source or foundation. When this stage progresses to a certain extent, the experience of no-mind will also occur when the knower completely disappears, with no separation between mirror and reflection, there is only that. However, despite having this experience, one still insists that the reflection (phenomena) and the mirror (pure awareness) are not the same. It is like the sky (awareness) is not the flowing clouds (phenomena), because the view of inherent existence is still very strong-- one does not have the wisdom of prajna to see through and overcome the view that awareness is an unchanging and inherently existing source, substratum, and substance of all phenomena that is nevertheless inseparable from all phenomena. Therefore, a practitioner may have clear no-mind experiences but have a one-mind view: there is still a desynchronization between view and experience. One may feel that the reflections come and go, are inseparable from the mirror, but the mirror is unchanging and thus more special, with a subtle difference from the reflections. While everything is indeed awareness, this is correct; the problem lies in the view of "everything shares a single unchanging awareness body," which is a mistaken view. Therefore, no-self must be a realization and insight, not merely a "no-mind" experience; otherwise, the experience will be mistaken for prajna wisdom.
Crucially, it is the prajna wisdom of no-self (anatman) that helps us overcome this obstacle in view. The awakening and practice of Anatta (no-self) are not achieved by merely practicing non-grasping or non-identification (in the initial "original self" stage, also maintaining an unaffected mirror, the mirror does not grasp its reflections nor identify them as oneself) but through realization/awakening-- realizing that besides the constantly presenting brilliant reflections, there is no other mirror, and the reflections themselves are the mirror. Without the awakening of no-self, it is impossible to have a permanent, seamless no-mind experience. If there is still a view of inherent existence and belief in self, will the no-mind experience be intermittent or permanent? Clearly, it can only be intermittent. At this time, the practitioner will constantly shuttle back and forth between "original self", "one mind", and "no-mind". Without the clear insight/prajna wisdom and achieving complete, doubt-free understanding of the no-self Dharma Seal, how can there be a permanent, effortless, selfless experience of all the six senses? It is impossible, and only after the insight of prajna wisdom is inspired will it naturally become effortless to realize one's nature in everything, and one will naturally extend this prajna wisdom in all interactions, whether in daily activities or meditation.
Merely maintaining a state of no thought, no concept, or cultivating a non-dual experience is not enough to realize/awaken to the selflessness. Instead, one must explore and challenge the deeply rooted insights in experience, exploring and challenging the perception of being an independent observer or having an independent existence of the "perception" itself, and exploring and challenging them by deeply perceiving the essence of the phenomenon until these constructs are seen through, realizing that perception is just these sceneries, sounds, mountains, and rivers, and has always been so, originally without an "I," without the ability to perceive behind it, and without a subject-action-object structure. This wisdom is not just about a state without concepts or a state without a mind, but crucially, it is about seeing through the inherent existence/self-nature misconception. This is why I had some insights after deeply contemplating the Bahiya Sutta - it is not just about extending a state without thought, without concepts, and non-duality, but "in what is seen, there is only the seen," realizing that there has never been a seer, a listener, an observer, nor has there ever been a "you" in any way or form that could have existed outside or behind all that is seen and heard, so when seeing, there is only the seen, when hearing, there is only the sound, when thinking, there is only the thought, originally without self, just like this.
Therefore, the subject-action-object (subject-action-object) is considered an illusion. Selflessness is always the Dharma seal, and this wisdom can break through the self-nature misconception of awareness, allowing one to recognize: when seeing colors, seeing itself is just the brilliant colors, there has never been a seer. When listening to sounds, there is only sound, and listening is only sound, there is no listener, always so. No effort is needed, and there has never been an "I," always just like this, not just an experience, but to realize this inherent nature. Awareness is like "weather," merely a label attached to constantly changing phenomena such as lightning, rain, snow, wind, and sunlight, and there is no real entity that can be found anywhere outside of them. Just as awareness is a label for the brilliant scenery, sounds, tactile sensations, scents, and thoughts, because it is these that are Buddha-nature, nothing else - Buddha-nature is not an entity, and it is not inherently existing outside of the five aggregates (otherwise it would become the eternalism view of non-Buddhist traditions).
Selflessness is not only about the peak experience of non-duality, and it is not only about merging the perceiver and the perceived, just as it is not about merging fire and burning (there is no fire outside of burning from the beginning) or merging lightning and the flash (there is no lightning outside of the flash from the beginning, the two are just synonyms), or merging the perceiver and the perceived, but realizing that they have never existed in themselves - the perception and the phenomenon itself have never been able to exist in themselves, so this is not the union of subject and object, but the realization that subject and object have never been born, empty by nature and without birth. Knowing and the known are inherently empty, so the nature of mind is the inseparable clarity (luminosity) and emptiness.
Although realizing no-self is just the beginning of truly stepping into Buddhism and the path of liberation, and there are more insights and breakthroughs during the journey, without this key milestone, it is really difficult to delve deeper into the nature of mind and phenomena, and ascend to the emptiness of both person and phenomena. Here, I am only focusing on no-self and not discussing dependent origination emptiness in depth, because it is beyond the scope of a single email. The realization of no-self is crucial for all sects within Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana, and here Mahayana also includes Tibetan Buddhism), regardless of whether they are Theravada or Mahayana, and it is not only about the sudden enlightenment of Zen. Although practitioners initially go through a gradual process, they also need breakthroughs in wisdom (realizing the innate no-self and dependent origination emptiness). The bodhisattva's understanding of emptiness is deeper than that of Theravada because it encompasses the emptiness of both person and phenomena. Other (non-Buddhist) religions also lead people into a non-dual stage, but they concretize it as the unchanging Brahman and the Atman (they teach: the small self is illusory, the world is also false, only the cosmic self is the true self - Brahman is pure awareness, and ultimately realize that "the world is Brahman", without subject and object, so they also have the experience of the stages from the innate self to oneness and no-mind, but these are not the Dharma seals of no-self or dependent origination emptiness emphasized in Buddhism). In Buddhism, no-self as the emptiness of 'awareness' is crucial, which is different from other religions, but there is another important point: this emptiness is not about awareness as the all-encompassing void (this will be experienced in the 'innate self' or oneness stage, even if this "void" is completely "non-dual" with all phenomena, it can still remain at the level of oneness, without breaking through the view of inherent existence). The awareness-like void should not be interpreted as Buddhist emptiness but is just one aspect of spiritual awareness. This "emptiness" is actually just experiencing one aspect of spiritual awareness, and this void is almost always mistaken for having inherent existence (from the innate self to oneness), which is actually the opposite of Buddhist emptiness and falls into the common views of non-Buddhist paths. Buddhist emptiness refers to the consciousness empty of inherent existence.
I have been thinking about how to share all of the above content, especially about the realization of no-self, the differences between the innate self, non-duality, and no-self, etc., and I actually started designing a PowerPoint. But later I felt that it might not be suitable to share in the lecture because my views might be different from yours regarding the teachings of ZZ. Since the views are different, it is difficult to share, otherwise, I might inadvertently refute the teachings of ZZ during the sharing. I do not want my sharing to cause confusion or cognitive dissonance for your students, who may have learned different views from you. You may need to find another layperson to replace me on that day to share, and I am very sorry for my short notice. I also want to express my intention to withdraw from the Wonderful Sound Group.
With deep respect and gratitude,
In the Dharma,
Wei Yu
Posting here upon request from Yin Ling. Something for Chinese readers here. English version will be in a separate post.
Listen to A.I. generated audio recording of my e-mail below here: https://app.box.com/s/dbr3z0bxax1970xjw8ua5841vgcohlg9
On: I AM, One Mind, No Mind, Anatta, View vs Experience, etc
XX老师，
Listen to A.I. generated audio recording of my e-mail below here: https://app.box.com/s/dbr3z0bxax1970xjw8ua5841vgcohlg9
On: I AM, One Mind, No Mind, Anatta, View vs Experience, etc
XX老师，
与佛同在。希望您的病情已经好转，早日康复。
我明白您喜欢听而不是从电脑上阅读，因此我已经添加了电脑软件生成音频录音(从Free Text to Speech Online with Realistic AI Voices (naturalreaders.com))附加到此电子邮件以供您收听。现在的科技非常棒，您只需复制粘贴文本到软件中，几乎立即就可以自动生成音频文件。
首先，我要感谢您给我在讲堂分享我的经历和心得的机会。
然而，我最近在思考是否适合在ZZ分享我的心得。 本来我是打算以比较浅白易懂的方式来分享我的修行体会和经历过的过程，也会包括以下的一些细节：
这些年来，我逐渐明白很多人都误解了（法印之）无我，我观察到大多数人是从体悟本我/我是（I
AM）然后进展到非二元的体验、再来进入无心的境界，而不是直接领悟到法印之本来无我的体悟/洞见/般若智。我在这里 “无心”
的定义可能与ZZ佛教的术语有所不同，具体来说，我指的是一种所有主体性(subjectivity)/自我/小我/大我/观察者/等等都完全被忘记到只剩下纯粹光明的世界/现象，无能所二元体验之巅的状态。一个人可能有无心的经历/体验，了解有这种经历-只是现象或只有光明的世界，但它仍然是一个体验/阶段——还不知道其实是错误的知见在“蒙蔽”——一个错误的知见塑造/歪曲了我们的整个经历。
我在这里把“无心”作为一种经验阶段，与禅宗菩提达摩祖师所说的“本来就是/根本无心”有所不同，后者是指本无我的般若智慧，而不仅仅是一次（或多次）的顶峰体验(peak
experience)。曾经历过无心的人（作为一种经验/阶段而非般若智慧）知道有这样的体验，并努力再次实现它，努力地修“忘我”但不代表体悟到本来无我。知者与所知之间的二元性消失在光辉的色彩、声音、香气等中，但这是一种体验，而非般若智的领悟。
有两种智慧：「本初智」与「般若智」。「本初智」是那摆脱所有阐述，本来清净如如、真如的自然状态的智慧；而「般若智」是处理自性见/固有存在的空性(emptiness
of inherentness/inherent
existence)的智慧。这两种智慧同等重要。话虽如此，如果没有稳定的无我、缘起和空性的觉悟/洞见，我们将无法不受扭曲地直接证悟那摆脱一切阐述的真如、如如的本初智。在修行过程中，修行者需要平衡这两种智慧，以便在深化实践中不断突破自性见，并最终实现心性的自由与清净。
此外，无我的般若智慧是许多人难以理解的直接体验性的觉悟。所以这一点很重要，般若智慧（prajna
wisdom）/洞见（insight）与仅仅只是无二元的体验是不同的，因为它是一个直接的觉悟（direct and experiential
realization）：“从一开始就是如此。”
（没有知者/knower或主体/agent在光明现象之外或背后存在，始终如此）。无我的般若智慧对于达到/实现那种非二元,背景（background）被完全视为无关紧要(irrelevant)，而本来就不存在，也没有再次有纳入的倾向（tendency
to subsume）是非常关键的。
在我所称之为“本我”的“初悟”阶段中，虽然在那纯粹认证的时刻(moment
of pure authentication)觉性也是非二元和无概念的（nondual and
nonconceptual），但在此之后的知见仍然是二元的——自性被视为（误解地认为）所有色法（包括其他一切五蕴）背后的无形相的目睹者（Witness），目睹者和被目睹者是两个，在日常生活中，觉知被视为现象背后的终极背景。但即使在下一个阶段，在观察者和被观察者合为一体的非二元状态之后，也远非结束。事实上，在我的经历中，非二元中还有几个阶段（我本身称之为一心、无心和无我）。在这里，我会详细说明一下我所谓的一心、无心的经验和无我的觉悟以及它们之间的区别。虚空和色相的统一，如一心，并不等同于觉知的空性和无我。思考者/思想或听者/声音等等之间的毫无区别也是一种无二元体验和洞见的阶段，这是我所谓一心的非二元...但和无我的无二元是不同的。在最初的非二元或一心中，虽然觉知被视为与现象不可分割，但仍被认为是不变的、独立的或实有自性（inherent
existence）。在那个阶段，你会觉得自己是一个不变的、开放如虚空的觉体（初悟本我也是）。然而到了一心时，当你听到声音时，声音和（那如虚空般）的觉体似乎是一体的，难以区分，但你无法完全体会到只有声音，没有听者的那种经验。在一心的非二元阶段中，你会发现觉知和所有色相是不可分割的，但虽然在这时候也会体会到原来觉与所觉本来是不二的，觉知仍被认为是不变的、特殊的、本质上不同于现象（例如，觉知是不变的和独立存在的，现象就纳入在（subsume
into）一个更广大无边、类似虚空的不变觉知之中起起落落，尽管这个觉知包含了并与所有现象密不可分，能所一体）。前者(声音和（那如虚空般）的觉体似乎是一体的)是一心类的非二元——一切都包含在一个更大的、不变的觉体中而不可分割，身心的一切也是觉体的一部分，但觉体不是身心的一切，这都是“一心”。而后者（只有声音，没有听者）是无心到无我。无心恰恰是在听者消失，只有声音的时候，无心正是在听者消失，只有声音时的觉知，但这是一种经验阶段，在这个阶段，“一心”的“一切同一体的觉体”被遗忘成了只剩光明现象而已。而无我（Anatta）是体悟一直以来都是：声音就是觉知，觉知就只是声音，从未有过一个听者，也从未有过一个觉知者，除了光明的声音、色彩等等的现象。就像风和吹动一样，觉知不是某种不变的基质，而是光明动态展示（luminous
and dynamic manifestation/appearance）的别名。
即使当一个人体验到观察者和被观察者的二元性坍缩成一个领域，觉知和现象在“一心”中没有分裂(watcher
and watched collapsed into a single field where awareness and phenomena
are not divided in “one
mind”)，一个人仍然无法克服、突破把觉知当作比转瞬即逝的无常现象更终极、特殊、不变、独立等等的深层模式。当这种知见和范式没有被克服时，无心的经历只能是间歇/暂时性的，而不是一种毫不费力、自然、无出入的状态，因为知见是模糊的，一个人无法毫不费力地完全舒适地安住在光辉/璀璨的瞬间/无常法中（如六祖慧能大师和道元禅师曾说，“无常即佛性”）而会习惯性地回溯到一个视为固有/不变的源头或基础。当这个阶段进展到某个程度，无心的经验也会出现，当知者完全消失，没有分离镜子和倒影，就只有那。但尽管有了这种经验，一个人仍然坚持认为倒影（现象）和镜子（纯觉知）不是一回事。就像天空（觉知）不是流动的云彩（现象），因为固有存在的自性见（view
of inherent
existence）的邪见依然很强烈——一个人没有般若智来看破和克服那觉知被视为一个不变且固有存在的、所有现象的源、基质和实质的知见，尽管这些现象与觉密不可分，(one
does not see through and overcome the view that awareness is an
unchanging and inherently existing source, substratum and substance of
all phenomena that is nevertheless inseparable with all phenomena)
因此一个修行者可能有无心的清晰经验，但却有一心的知见：知见和经验之间仍然不同步（desync between view and
experience）。一个人会觉得倒影来来去去，与镜子密不可分，但镜子却是不变的，因此更特殊，与倒影有细微的不同。虽然一切的确都是觉知，这是正确的，但“一切都共同一个不变的觉体”那种自性见才是问题所在，这是一个错误的知见。
因此，无我必须是一种了悟和见地，而不仅仅是一种“无心”的体验，不然就把体验误认为般若智慧。
至关重要的是，让我们克服这种知见上的障碍的是无我（anatman）的般若智慧。无我（Anatta）的觉悟和实践并非通过仅仅练习不执着（non
grasping）或不认别/认取（non
identification）（在最初的“本我”的阶段，也会练习保持一个不受影响的镜子，镜子不会抓住它的倒影，也不认别倒影为自己），而是通过觉悟/体悟（realization）——觉悟到除了不断呈现的光明影子之外，根本不存在其他的镜子，影子本身即镜。如果没有无我的觉悟，就不可能有永久无出入的无心体验。如果内心仍存在自性见和有我的信念，那么无心的体验会是断断续续的还是永久的？很显然的，它只能是间歇性的。这时修行人会不断地在“本我”，“一心”和“无心”之间来回穿梭。如果没有清明的洞见/般若智，而达到对（法印之）无我完全无疑惑，又如何能有一种永恒的、毫不费力，没有我地体验一切六根？那是没办法做到的，而只有在般若慧的洞见启发之后，才会自然而然地变得毫不费力地在一切实现本性，一个人在所有的交往中自然地延伸这种般若智慧，无论是日常活动还是静坐。
若只是保持无念、无概念或培养无二元的体验是不足以实现/觉悟无我的，相反，一个人必须通过体验中地探究和挑战深深植根的知见，探究和挑战即觉知作为一个独立的观察者或有一个独立存在的“观”本身，除了颜色等等，探究和挑战它们并深观觉知/现象的本质，直到这些构造被看穿，直接认识到觉知正是这些景色、声音、山河大地，永远已经如此，本来没有我，没有背后的能觉，也本来没有主-动-宾。这种般若智慧并不仅仅是关于无概念的状态，也不仅仅是无心的状态，而关键是在于看穿那固有存在/自性见的误解。这就是我在婆酰迦经（Bahiya
Sutta）上深观后有所体悟的原因——它不仅仅是为了延长一个无念，无概念和非二元性的状态，“在所见之中只是所见”，而是要认识到从来没有一个见者、听者、一个观察者，也从未有一个在任何方式、形式上的“你”，能在一切所见所闻之外或背后存在过，因此，在看见的时候，总是只有所见，在听见的时候，总是只有声音，在思考的时候，总是只有思想，本来无我，本就如此。因此，主体-动作-对象/主-动-宾（subject-action-object）被视为是幻觉。无我是始终如此的法印，而这种智慧能打破对觉知的自性见，才能体认：在看色相时，看本身只是辉煌的色相，从未有过一个观者。
在听声音时，只是声音，听就只是声音而已，没有听者，始终如此。不需要费力，也从来没有一个“我”，永远已经如此，不只是一种体验而是要“悟”这本来如此。觉知就像“天气”，仅仅是在不断变化的闪电、雨、雪、风吹、阳光等现象上贴上的一个标签，没有一个真实的实体可以在除它们之外的任何地方找到，就像觉知只是光辉的风景、声音、触觉感觉、香气和思想的一个标签，因为正是这些才是佛性，没有别的
- 佛性并不是一个实体，它不是固有地存在于五蕴之外（不然就变成了外道梵我的知见/常见）。
无我不仅仅是关于无二元的顶峰体验，也不仅仅是关于将觉知者和所知者合并，就像不是把将火和燃烧合并（从一开始就没有‘燃烧’之外的火），或将闪电和闪光合并（从一开始就没有在闪光之外有个闪电，两者只是别名），或将觉知者和所知者合并，而是觉悟到它们本身从未存在于自身过
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觉知和现象本身从未能存在于自身，因此这并不是主体和客体的结合，而是认识到主体和客体从未生过，性空本无生。知与所知本就空无自性，所以心性的本质是清晰（灵觉）和空性的不可分离。尽管很深奥，以上无我的觉悟也只是深入佛法的第一步，为实践者指明了正确的道路。虽然无我也只是真正踏入佛法/解脱道的一个开始，而旅途中还有更多的体悟和突破，但是如果没有这个关键的里程碑，真的很难更深入地了解心性和现象的本质，而升入人法二空。我在这里也只不过专注在无我，不深入讨论缘起性空，因为它超出了单个电子邮件所能传达的范围。无我的觉悟对于所有佛教里的一切宗派（小乘、大乘，这里的大乘也包括藏传佛教）都至关重要，无论是大小乘，不仅仅是禅宗的顿悟而已，尽管修行人一开始有渐修的过程，也需要般若智慧的突破（体悟本无我、缘起性空），虽然菩萨对空性的觉悟比小乘更为深入，因为它涵盖了人法二空。其他（非佛教）的宗教也会引导人进入非二元的阶段，但将其具体化为不变的梵、梵我（他们教：小我是虚幻的，世界也是假的，只有宇宙同体的大我是真我-梵是纯粹的觉体，而最终也体悟到“世界皆是梵“，没有能所，所以他们也有经历本我到一心和无心阶段的体会，但这些都还不是佛教里强调的法印之无我或缘起性空）。在佛教里，无我作为‘觉’的空性是至关重要的，这一点就和其他宗教不同了，但还有重要的一点：这种空性不是关于觉知如同包罗万象的虚空（这在‘本我’或一心阶段都会体验到，即使这个“虚空”与所有现象完全“非二”，它仍然可以保持在一心的层面，还没突破自性见）。
如同虚空的觉不应该解释为佛教的空性，而只是灵觉的一方面而已，这种”空”其实只是体会到灵觉的一方面而已，而且这虚空几乎每次都会被错认为有自体性（从本我到一心），这其实是空性的相反而不是佛教里的空性，而是落入了外道的常见。
佛教的空性指的是无自体性(empty of inherent existence)的意识。
我有思考要怎么分享以上所有的内容，特别是关于无我的觉悟，本我、非二元和无我之间的区别等等，也其实开始在设计powerpoint。但是后来我觉得可能和您与ZZ的见解不同，不适合在讲堂里分享。因为观点不同，也很难分享，否则可能会在分享里无意中反驳了ZZ的教导，我也不希望我的分享与他们从您那里学到若有分差，给您的学生带来困惑或认知失调。
可能您会需要找另一个居士来代替我在那一天分享，我为我的临时通知表示非常抱歉。我也想表达我要退出妙音组的意向。
深表敬意和感激，
与佛同在，
玮昱
