When something bad happens,
I am angry, sad, and I suffer.
When something good happens,
I am pleased, happy, and content.
These feelings come and go,
changing from moment to moment.
Where am I?
When I grew from an infant to a youth,
and from youth to an adult,
and from an adult to an elder,
and from an elder to the moment
when this body returns to the earth —
Where am I?
Through this life of constant change,
where do I stand?
And if there truly is an I,
are these what I truly wanted?
Would I have chosen to suffer?
Why does the Buddha keep asking,
“Where are you?”
Why did He say
there is no self, no me, no I?
What did He mean when He said
there is suffering,
but no sufferer?
I always thought
that everything happening around me
was being experienced by an I.
But when I follow the Buddha’s questions
and look carefully —
where is this “I”?
Inside the body?
Outside the body?
Somewhere in between?
When I search for it,
I cannot find
a separate entity called me.
Reflection
The next time a strong feeling arises —
be it anger, sadness, joy, or excitement —
pause for a moment.
Instead of following the story of the feeling,
gently ask:
Who is the one experiencing this?
Is the one who is angry
the same one who was happy a moment ago?
When the feeling fades,
where does that “someone” go?
Look carefully.
Is the self located in the body?
In the thoughts?
In the emotions?
Or do these simply arise and pass,
while the mind habitually calls them “me”?
Do not rush to answer.
Just observe quietly.
Perhaps the question itself
opens a different way of seeing.
BodhiOcean
We are not here to accumulate ideas.
We are here to loosen what is unnecessary.
The ocean is already vast.
We are only learning not to cling to the shore.