Why remove Ego if it guided you to be who you are?

Is just an natural process that happens in meditation that Ego is not seen anymore? Then what suttas decribed to remove is the mental habit of identification? So you can be in alignment with what you experience in meditation?

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Why remove the Ego? Itā€™s anicca, anatta and just never ending dukkha! If there is a ā€˜I, me, mineā€™, there is only suffering.

AN 3.32

ā€œCould it be, sir, that a mendicant might gain a state of immersion such that thereā€™s no ego, possessiveness, or underlying tendency to conceit for this conscious body; and no ego, possessiveness, or underlying tendency to conceit for all external stimuli; and that theyā€™d live having attained the freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom where ego, possessiveness, and underlying tendency to conceit are no more?ā€

ā€œIt could be, Ānanda, that a mendicant gains a state of immersion such that they have no ego, possessiveness, or underlying tendency to conceit for this conscious body; and no ego, possessiveness, or underlying tendency to conceit for all external stimuli; and that theyā€™d live having attained the freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom where ego, possessiveness, and underlying tendency to conceit are no more.ā€

ā€œBut how could this be, sir?ā€

ā€œÄ€nanda, itā€™s when a mendicant thinks: ā€˜This is peaceful; this is sublimeā€”that is, the stilling of all activities, the letting go of all attachments, the ending of craving, fading away, cessation, extinguishment.ā€™
Thatā€™s how, Ānanda, a mendicant might gain a state of immersion such that thereā€™s no ego, possessiveness, or underlying tendency to conceit for this conscious body; and no ego, possessiveness, or underlying tendency to conceit for all external stimuli; and that theyā€™d live having achieved the freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom where ego, possessiveness, and underlying tendency to conceit are no more.

Also see SN 28.3

ā€˜I am entering the third absorptionā€™ or ā€˜I have entered the third absorptionā€™ or ā€˜I am emerging from the third absorptionā€™.ā€
ā€œThat must be because Venerable Sāriputta has long ago totally eradicated ego, possessiveness, and the underlying tendency to conceit.

:pray:t4:

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ā€œno I-making or my-making conceit-obsession for one entering & remaining in it, he is called a monk who has cut through craving, has ripped off the fetter, andā€”from rightly breaking through conceitā€”has put an end to suffering & stress.ā€ā€”AN 3.33

This passage is a view from the arahantā€™s position as indicated by the reference to conceit which is the eighth fetter to be abandoned. In contrast the conditioned path relies on a self. The method of the noble eightfold path (which is conditioned) is to use conditioned phenomena including the self skillfully, there is no alternative. During the progress of the path the self changes through the planes of conditioned existence, the sensual, fine-material, and immaterial realms as indicated by a layperson in DN 9:

ā€œI posit a gross self, possessed of form, made up of the four great existents [earth, water, fire, and wind], feeding on physical food.ā€
[ā€¦]
ā€œThen, lord, I posit a mind-made self complete in all its parts, not inferior in its faculties.ā€ [8]
[ā€¦]
ā€œThen, lord, I posit a formless self made of perception.ā€

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can you give the best reference for how this is done? And your own explanations about that fetter. Thanks my friend. :pray:t4:

Says

purified equanimity and mindfulness
preceded by reflection on the Dhamma

So you think the reflection that Buddha said before in this sutta must be done after the meditation has reached egoless?

This refers to the conditioned path, the ā€˜breaking open of ignoranceā€™:

ā€œThe abandoning
both of sensual desires,
& of unhappiness,
the dispelling of sloth,
the warding off of anxieties,
equanimity-&-mindfulness purified,
with inspection of mental qualities
swift in the forefront:
That I call the gnosis of emancipation,1
the breaking open
of ignorance.ā€ā€”Thanissaro

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You might enjoy The Paradox of Becoming by Ajahn Geoff, which gives a thorough answer to this question. Also, his Selves and Not-Self retreat talks. I think he explains the nuances quite well. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you very much Bhante :pray:t4:

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I have a soft copy of the paradox never read it. So now is the time.

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There is no Ego-personality according to the Buddha. I read this in an introductory book by BDK. Letting go of Ego helps one let go of Self. There is no Self. However, one can still have a beautiful personality of Emptiness: Only Love.

Itā€™s already proven Feeling of self and others is just a switch in the brain. Thatā€™s why itā€™s not really there. But itā€™s there also. On/Off. Through meditation it turn off. So they saw thats like a start of seeing there is no ego

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A light show of a dragon is not the same thing as a real dragon. The dragon in question may have been reduced to a philosophical concept with trailing lights. Ask yourself: what really is Right View?

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