I love the story of Bāhiya. Thinks he’s fully awakened but still relating to “I am”
In that case, Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus:
In what is seen there must be only what is seen,
in what is heard there must be only what is heard,
in what is sensed there must be only what is sensed,
in what is cognized there must be only what is cognized.
This is the way, Bāhiya, you should train yourself.
And since for you, Bāhiya,
in what is seen there will be only what is seen,
in what is heard there will be only what is heard,
in what is sensed there will be only what is sensed,
in what is cognized there will be only what is cognized,
therefore, Bāhiya, you will not be with that;
and since you will not be with that,
therefore you will not be in that;
and since you will not be in that,
therefore you will not be here or hereafter or in between the two—
just this is the end of suffering.
I’m really inspired by the Buddha’s instruction here! I’m going to try and put into words something that is really difficult for me to put into words. In a nutshell, my evolving experience of applying the Buddha’s instructions into my daily life. I do so as Dhammarakkhita stated:
One sees things, hears sounds; one’s senses make contact with experience and bare cognitions are recognized in order to function in the world. Yet these sights, sounds, sense impressions and bare cognitions are met with an observational awareness that they have arisen and are passing by. There is no elaboration or generating of a story with a “me” or an “I” or a “mine” involved. There is no fixed, central commander who gathers the data, collates everything, forms opinions, beliefs and views and then determines the ultimate truth.
The “me” is a faculty of the mind, not an entity. The “me” is merely a way of contextualizing sense organs doing what they do: seeing, hearing, sensing, cognizing, how one lives this life.
One’s association of “me” is not “in” with what is arising and passing and thus isn’t “with” what is arising and passing. Being with something is like a companion; separate yet together.
The “me” is not part of what is seen, heard, sensed and cognized; things arise and pass and one responds. Being in something is being immersed or mixed in with. A drop of red paint in white paint, an herb in soup; entangled with.
Being here, there or in between is relative location, establishes a “me” by differentiating it from experience. No one is somewhere else; far away or in between here and there.
We are not identical automatons. Just seeing forms as forms and sounds as vibrations is more like an inhuman machine. Rather, we meet sense contact with the Eightfold Path. The sights, sounds, sense contacts and bare cognitions are what puts us in touch with the world. As experiences, of “life” happens, one responds with complete Eightfold Path. We connect with and interact with people and our environment with joy, peace, compassion, wisdom.