Not Yours
Na Tumhāka Sutta (SN 35:101)
“Monks, whatever’s not yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit. And what is not yours?
“The eye isn’t yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit. Forms are not yours… Eye-consciousness isn’t yours… Eye-contact isn’t yours… Whatever arises in dependence on eye-contact—experienced either as pleasure, as pain, or as neither-pleasure-nor-pain—that too isn’t yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit.
“The ear isn’t yours: Let go of it…
“The nose isn’t yours: Let go of it…
“The tongue isn’t yours: Let go of it…
“The body’s not yours: Let go of it…
“The intellect’s not yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit. Ideas are not yours… Intellect-consciousness isn’t yours… Intellect-contact isn’t yours… Whatever arises in dependence on intellect-contact—experienced either as pleasure, as pain, or as neither-pleasure-nor-pain—that too isn’t yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit.
“Suppose a person were to gather or burn or do as he likes with the grass, twigs, branches, & leaves here in Jeta’s Grove. Would the thought occur to you, ‘It’s us that this person is gathering, burning, or doing with as he likes’?”
“No, lord. Why is that? Because those things are not our self nor do they pertain to our self.”
“In the same way, monks, the eye isn’t yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit… The ear… The nose… The tongue… The body… The intellect’s not yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit… Whatever arises in dependence on intellect-contact—experienced either as pleasure, as pain, or as neither-pleasure-nor-pain—that too isn’t yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit.”
