You are a Cloud

Q: How can you say there is no “me”? The thought of “me” arises in this space right now. So “me” is happening along with everything else, right now.

A: Yes, “me” is arising in the space, along with anger, happiness, frustration, backaches, clouds, galaxies – all endlessly shifting and changing to something else. We think “me” is static and solid, when you can clearly see that it is just another appearance, and just as transitory.

Can you say there are no clouds? Well, no, you would say, clouds appear, then they are something else; they change form constantly. The same is true for the “me.” It changes form constantly, and what appears now is what you think it always is. But then it shifts, and you don't notice. You think it is the same “me,” the good old, reliable “me” I've always known. Could you say that same thing about the cloud that is appearing right now?

You can’t really pinpoint “cloud.” Similarly, you can't really pinpoint “me.” So it’s not so much that there is no “me,” it's that the “me” you think of as solid and static is constantly shifting, changing, appearing as something different every moment.

And if you can’t really pinpoint the “me,” how can it have problems? We don’t even know what it is from one moment to the next. It’s like saying a cloud has problems. What cloud? Where is it now?