Page 24 - Dhamma Practice

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Remove the feeling of “self” from our body and we will immediately feel light. This is how we detach from “self” (atta). This is not difficult; we just need to know how.
We do not simply deny that the body does not belong to us. As long as we do not see the separation, our feeling will remain heavy and burdened. But, whenever we see clearly that the physical and mental phenomena are separate, and we can detach the mental phenomenon from the physical phenomenon, then our mind would be free automatically. This is an automatic detachment. We do not need to say “we will not hold on, we will not take”. Even without that thought, our mind would still be unburdened. This is the discriminative wisdom that arises from our wilful contemplation of reality.
The Buddha said that the five khandha (Translator’s note: The five components of human physical and mental existence) can be narrowed down to just the physical and mental phenomena—that is the body and the mind. But, the body and the mind are also separate. Nothing within them declares themselves be “us”. The body does not claim to be “us”. The unburdened mind does not show itself to be “us”. So what remains? This is how we detach from “self”, or to extinguish the feeling of “we”, or to enter the state of “non-self” (anatta). Anatta in this sense is that there are no animals, humans, we or they. There is only the natural presence of the physical and mental