When you hear the word “I,” what truly arises in your mind?
Is your body you? Have you ever seen your face without a mirror? When you touch your left hand with your right hand, are you touching yourself? Isn’t your body simply part of the external world, arising due to ignorance?
Is your mind you? Or is it merely the internal world constructed by the self-existence feeling, generated through the mind’s own power?
This mind power arises entirely within the vibration of thought itself.
The world unfolds between two extremes—existence and non-existence—both of which are illusions.
When you claim that a tree exists, the concept of its non-existence simultaneously arises. Likewise, if you declare the tree doesn’t exist, the notion of its existence is inherently present.
When we define at least one extreme, the other extreme arises simultaneously, and at that very moment, suffering arises because there is someone (self/“I”) who is present to acknowledge the suffering.
The Buddha’s teaching transcends both extremes, revealing the middle path—the truth that the world has never truly existed. What arises is only the mind’s vibration, constructed at that very moment through sensory functions, and ceases at that very moment.
The mind vibration is the only perception that arises at that right moment, as an example of seeing or hearing due to the sensory function—without the concept of seeing something or an observer who sees it. There is no data of the external world or internal world when the thought/mind vibration arises.
Due to ignorance, from these two extremes, an interaction force emerges from the two opposite ends—this is the power of consciousness.
When the sensory faculties wind together, due to ignorance, through Dependent Origination, the thought of existence arises.
Consider the example of a fireball spinning on a ring. When the ring rotates rapidly, it appears as a continuous fire circle. Yet the fire circle doesn’t exist—it’s a mere illusion created by the speed of motion.
In the same way, perception creates the appearance of something existing along with self-existence, but there is never continuous existence—only a stream of mind sparks arising and ceasing at the very moment.
This entire world is simply thought—arising and disappearing in the blink of an eye. The rapid occurrence of countless mind vibrations creates the illusion of continuity, much like a current disguises itself as a steady flow rather than individual pulses.
The wisdom of how thoughts and vibrations arise and pass away in the timeless present moment (Cutu-upapāta Jñāna) is one component of the mastery of the threefold knowledge (Trividyā).
By understanding how the self-existence feeling is constructed, the truth is unveiled. With this wisdom, ignorance and the self-existence feeling dissolve—revealing the profound freedom beyond all illusion.
Page: Illusion of self