The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audioderma.org.

So last week I spoke a little bit about this concept of not self.

And I thought I'd build a little bit on that.

And that is this idea that, or the teaching, or the realization, or the notion

that we don't have like a core.

We don't have an essence.

Oh, are you looking for this?

Here we go.

We don't have a core or an essence onto which experiences get added.

It's not like we have this thing in the middle that stays the same,

that then gets to taste good food, comes to meditation,

or speaks into a microphone that doesn't work necessarily.

There isn't like this core thing that experiences get added onto.

Instead, there's just experiences.

That's all there is.

And this is one of the key teachings of the Buddha.

And it's one of the characteristics of things and people

that they don't have this inherent stable core or essence.

And this is a teaching that's a little bit difficult to understand.

And sometimes it feels a little bit silly because like, well, of course,

of course, things have existence.

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