Two Sides to a Human Life

~ By Ajahn Jayasāro ~

There are two sides to a human life: the ‘somebody’ side and ‘nobody’ side.

The somebody side includes things like physical appearance, personality, image in the eyes of others, likes and dislikes, virtues and vices. Our somebody side has a lot of issues to deal with.

The nobody side of our being manifests naturally when the mind has been trained to let go of its addiction to thinking. When the nobody side comes to the fore everything settles down, and all the ways in which we are somebody in the world seem insubstantial or like a story told by a child.

Mental suffering arises when we are out of balance, when our mind is completely absorbed in our somebody issues, lacking access to the cooling perspective of our nobody dimension.

When we feel greedy, jealous, angry, misunderstood, anxious or confused, it’s good to remind ourselves that it’s just ‘somebody stuff’, manifestations of one dimension of our life, not the whole human deal.

By establishing a connection to our nobody nature, we can find a balance between it and our somebody nature, and find peace in this unpeaceful world.

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"Food for the Heart", a series of Dhamma teachings handwritten weekly is posted on the Buddhadāsa Indapañño Archives page with Ajahn's kind permission.

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For other teachings by Ven. Ajahn Jayasāro, please visit the Panyaprateep Foundation website.