The problem with true-self is that people tend to reify it (conceive of it as some kind of object or thing, like consciousness or a divine essence etc.) Actually people can also reify not-self, becoming attached to emptiness or non-existence (I don't exist at all, or nothing exists). Maybe more people are coming from a background where they conceive of objects (including themselves) as having a solid persistent existence, so true-self reification is more of a risk than not-self, but you need to steer a course between both extremes. Whether you are coming from a true-self perspective or not-self, you tend to end up eventually with just
process - just what is (or appears to be) happening (as Dream Walker alludes to). The Buddha understood this dyanmic well, e.g.
Kaccayanagotta Sutta:
Dwelling at Savatthi... Then Ven. Kaccayana Gotta approached the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One: "Lord, 'Right view, right view,' it is said. To what extent is there right view?"
"By & large, Kaccayana, this world is supported by (takes as its object) a polarity, that of existence & non-existence. But when one sees the origination of the world as it actually is with right discernment, 'non-existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one. When one sees the cessation of the world as it actually is with right discernment, 'existence' with reference to the world does not occur to one.
"By & large, Kaccayana, this world is in bondage to attachments, clingings (sustenances), & biases. But one such as this does not get involved with or cling to these attachments, clingings, fixations of awareness, biases, or obsessions; nor is he resolved on 'my self.' He has no uncertainty or doubt that just stress, when arising, is arising; stress, when passing away, is passing away. In this, his knowledge is independent of others. It's to this extent, Kaccayana, that there is right view.
"'Everything exists': That is one extreme. 'Everything doesn't exist': That is a second extreme. Avoiding these two extremes, the Tathagata teaches the Dhamma via the middle: [Depdendent Origination] From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications. From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness. From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form. From name-&-form as a requisite condition come the six sense media. From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/sustenance. From clinging/sustenance as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. Such is the origination of this entire mass of stress & suffering.
"Now from the remainderless fading & cessation of that very ignorance comes the cessation of fabrications. From the cessation of fabrications comes the cessation of consciousness. From the cessation of consciousness comes the cessation of name-&-form. From the cessation of name-&-form comes the cessation of the six sense media. From the cessation of the six sense media comes the cessation of contact. From the cessation of contact comes the cessation of feeling. From the cessation of feeling comes the cessation of craving. From the cessation of craving comes the cessation of clinging/sustenance. From the cessation of clinging/sustenance comes the cessation of becoming. From the cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth. From the cessation of birth, then aging & death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair all cease. Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress & suffering."
Dependent origination is the process which explains how we create our own suffering through clinging, whether that’s clinging to existence or non-existence, becoming or not-becoming (avoiding). This is the Middle Way and probably the safest/easiest path – not too fast, not too slow.
If you want to explore “enlightened true-self” perspectives, here are a few ideas. Nisgardatta
I am That is good, though with a slight tendency to reify awareness (I don’t think that’s really what he’s doing, but due to the tradition/language it can come across that way in places). David Carse
Perfect Brilliant Stillness is also good, though with a tendency to reify luminosity etc. Bernadette Roberts’ The Experience of No-Self is an interesting account of what happens when a Christian goes beyond the concept of an existent divinity, ending up with pure process, though slightly nihilistic/depressing (possibly due to psychological factors, similar to U. G. Krishnamurti
The Mystique of Enlightenment). The Chan (Zen) masters are great, true-self is called Buddha Nature in that tradition. They are very clear that it’s not a thing, but they don’t talk much about process. It’s a sudden vs gradual awakening tradition, which is hard to work with (that’s kind of the point – frustrate yourself into enlightenment!) Foyan
Instant Zen is a good place to start, here’s a taster:
Whatever you are doing, twenty-four hours a day, in all your various activities, there is something that transcends the Buddhas and Zen Masters; but as soon as you want to understand it, it’s not there. It’s not really there; as soon as you try to gather your attention on it, you have already turned away from it. That is why I say you see but cannot do anything about it.
Does this mean that you will realize it if you do not aim the mind and do not develop intellectual understanding? Far from it— you will fail even more seriously to realize it. Even understanding does not get it, much less not understanding!
If you are spiritually sharp, you can open your eyes and see as soon as you hear me tell you about this. Have not people of immeasurable greatness said this truth is not comprehensible by thought, and that it is where knowledge does not reach? Were it not like this, how could it be called an enlightened truth? Nowadays, however, people just present interpretations and views, making up rationalizations; they have never learned to be thus, and have never reached this state.
If people with potential for enlightenment are willing to see in this way, they must investigate most deeply and examine most closely; all of a sudden they will gain mastery of it and have no further doubt.
