We are trying to use language to convey non-concepts. This leads to very confusing situations.

Historically some have tried to overcome this difficulty by using poetic language.  This certainly is an elegant solution & when one knows from direct experience what is alluded to one can see exactly the truthfulness of the message.  The problem is that everyone else is sent in very diverse & often very wrong directions.

Some lineages have opted for secrecy & use only direct transmission from teacher to seeker. This has its advantages but also the limitations are evident.

Also the most profound teachings can seem very ordinary. Take the direct pointing. When given to someone who is not ready to take advantage of it & see it's far reaching implications, direct pointing can seem very anti-climactic & the only answer is: Yeh, So what?

The most problematic thing with this in my opinion is that this ambiguity opens the door to all charlatans & snake oil salesmen. It opens the door to abuses of all kinds.
The uninformed, seeing that genuine teachers struggle to put their message clearly and without contradictions, think that this means that anything goes. Any clever play on words has the potential to appear like profound wisdom to the neophyte.

Take for instance the no-self teaching. I am right now examining my mind and can say, from direct experience, that the following statements are all equally true:

* There is no self
* There is a self but it's an illusion
* There is a self but it's simply not what you think it is
* There is only True Self
* There is only God and nothing besdides it
* All this talk about self/no-self is utterly meaningless. There is only "manifestation" manifesting the interplay of causes and conditions.

Am I contradicting myself? Yes, obviously I am.
Am I talking nonsense? No! At least I don't think so.

Nota: i could be absolutely delusional & none of the above makes sense.

ps: This short piece was inspired by many discussions I see here on the DHO which is supposed to be an open and honest hard core community.
I don't mean to criticize or anything but I've seen old timers from when the forum was on "wetpaint" (yes, I've been that long here myself) engage in what I would call "clever language" use to get the upper hand in a discussion or prove a point.

Truth with capital T very often consists of smaller models which at first (and then second, third, etc...) look seem like complete contradiction. It might take years for it to click and resolution to contradictions to be found. Worst thing one can do is to having multiple choices try making the right choice. Not being decided is also not good. One should estimate weights for each option based on presented information and put issue in the backlog to be investigated at later date when new information presents itself. If estimates for e.g. there is no self are at 27% and for self at 23% then these should be the used weights when thinking about this topic. If in the process of observation or thinking we only decrease certainty it we should allow that.

Unfortunately as captain obvious as I am with it this is not what people usually do. Wanting to make right choice is already better option because usually people just try to justify choices they made. One effect of this is not being able to question the original question itself.

Regarding "Self" specifically imho more important is to ask oneself questions like:
- why do I care?
- did I have issue with some Self before I was explicitly told this is my issue and reaffirmed dozens/hundreds/... times I definitely have it and this is indeed my issue...
- did I have any issues with Self before I tried to fix my supposed issues with Self?
- what could be the reason that out of bazzilion possible topics there is some Self which is always targeted?
- etc.

In the same vein when we take something more practical e.g. 3C, noticing 3C it should not be only about "how to do it?" or "do I do it right?" or "do it now or later?" or even "do it at all?" but also other obvious things like discussions about other types of fundamental characteristics of all sensations that someone might practice noting...

Where are discussions like that?


If you are told you need to e.g. note 3C and have some blip what guarantees truthfulness of this experience?

Most messages on DhO look like people try to convince oneself they did get some insight rather than trying to get to the bottom of things. The method #1 to accomplish that is of course "lie repeated many times becomes the new truth" and so obviously you won't have discussions about other characteristics to note and how noting characteristics is supposed to technically cause chances because it is outside the scope. The scope here is having whatever those other people said they had because they said nonsense like "If I could choose 5 minutes of life as I am now or 50 more years of life how it was before I would choose 5 minutes..." which is obvious snakeoil salesman talk but people when they are enough tired will buy in to it and from bite to bite starting with small bites they will accumulate emotional investment to the point that when they do get some blip they are unable to think anymore.

How to resolve such issues?
Assume 100% of information you find in books, internets and which people can tell you is misguided and barely on topic and if it can be useful it should be given low priority and low confidence and just in case marked as high risk - because when you don't know you don't know where the risk can be. And believe me there is a lot of risk in all these dharma communities and such.

Otherwise if you want results then you have your brain, learn to use it and learn to not have to trust it as much and still come on top. There are ways to implement checks and balances to how you approach meditation and contemplation to be able to follow whims but not be taken astray by these whims.

Things like really giving it a shot to believe there is no self but also at other time doing self - and then being able to draw conclusion. It is possible because when you put enough effort to think about methods and issues then when issues arise you will remember "oh, it seems to be something I warned myself against... I should back off!". Heedless person reads a book and wants to believe and invest themselves emotionally and after few months become a zombie. Do not become a zombie as there are no awakened zombies.