"If we look closely we recognise that our sense of self begins to loosen. At this point there is a tendency to get caught up in a subtle but persistent contraction that still feels like 'me.' I am the 'one who is calming down' or the 'one guiding myself in meditating.' This more diffuse and edgeless sense of self is what I call the 'ghost' self. Some call it the observing witness or the self who is watching. Though less entrapping than an angry or fearful self, this ghost self is still hanging on to an identity that prevents us from being free. The Buddha taught that holding on to anything, including the sense of being the observer, obscures the full freedom of awareness.'
- Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance p. 313

I have found many times in my practise that standard vipassana of focusing on sensations hits a wall in regards to this elusive, transparent sense or belief that there is some kind of watcher or person who is going through this or is aware of objects or is meditating. I find that 'Who' questions can be useful in tuning in to it, including questioning the questioner or meditator. I also find that dropping the 'who' part and just saying 'I' or 'me' and feeling them deeply brings the sense of the relative subject in to focus, and this is useful in dissolving the sense of seperation.

What techniques do you employ to target the watcher so that there isn't a ghost self hanging out somewhere in the field?


- Martin

Opinions vary widely on this question, but I'll throw out a few thoughts...

I went for a relatively indirect approach, in which one gets good at seeing the Three Characteristics of specific objects of meditation first, the breath, feet, thoughts, whatever, and then, as the stages of insight progress, this awareness of the true nature of things works itself around to the sensations that seem to be the Subject or observer, such that in the 4th jhana, the panoramic jhana, the full field of awareness reveals the Three Characteristics all through the center and Stream Entry is attained. This is only the first hole in the armor, but it is a start.

During my anagami days, the problem of the ghost self as you put it was subtle, complex, slippery, many layered and as cycles and cycles and cycles ground down and through the center, more and more the sensations that made up this ghost self were seen as they were.

However, it wasn't until arahatship and then some locking of that in that the thing was clear in the way you want it to be clear: all sensations that appeared to be ghost self, as you call it, were just more stuff in the integrated sense field: no more or less than that.

That said, other traditions go for the heart of the thing the other way: some take on the Witness as object, such as some vedantic traditions. If you are into this sort of perspective, there are many places to turn for advice. Having not followed that sort of a path, I'll leave that to others to describe.

There are also many other ways to approach the problem, as many as there are meditative traditions. Pick one you like for whatever reason and go for it.