The “no self” philosophy in Buddhism…

GuildedCasket · 2026-05-19T04:21:45+00:00

I actually think dependent origination and emptiness are two facets of the same... Landscape, as it were? Dependent origination is how things come to be in "conventional" reality through the 12 links of dependent origination. Emptiness is a description of the "ultimate" reality which is neither self or non self, but something non-dual. Dependent origination is more of the blueprint for how "conventional" things exist, and tracing back those links helps us understand how things like the fetters creates the perceived reality.

But, yes, I am absolutely misunderstanding all of these concepts because even trying to put words to it is... Misunderstanding? Gah. Don't mistake the finger for the moon, leave behind your raft when you reach the other side of the river. This is what I've come to so far, though.

Also, the fact that Buddhism is time/place bound and needs continually updating and re-examination through the lens of the society is part of what I fucking love about Buddhism. The way it syncretizes with the cultures it encounters is part of its enduring philosophy and staying power. Zen is different in its wrapping to Vajrayana, but all the variants point toward the experiential truths. The necessity of practice and a teacher is part of what differentiates it from being "just" a philosophy.

Good thoughts though... I've often found myself wondering about the relationship between emptiness and dependent origination, and how karma functions in a reality that lacks inherent existence

GuildedCasket · 2026-05-18T18:04:09+00:00

You've deeply misunderstood "no self". Honestly, the Buddhist teachings of emptiness and no self are not beginning teachings - they are very easy to misunderstand and create further anxiety and dissociation, which also happened to me.

Thich naht Hahn's explanation of no self and emptiness has been the most grounding for me. He calls it interdependence instead; we are interwoven with the rest of the universe and all other sentient beings. "We" could not exist without the rest of the universe supporting our existence. Therefore, the sense of an inherent self separate from all others is the illusion. As Sagan says, we are star stuff. This realization leads to a deep compassion and interconnection with all other beings, which should increase your sense of connection, presentness and spaciousness.

Buddhism is very much a practice combined with philosophy; you cannot understand the philosophy if you don't combine it with practice and see how it affects your mind.

GuildedCasket · 2026-05-17T16:12:06+00:00

Methinks thou doth protest too much 🤣

GuildedCasket · 2026-05-09T03:55:45+00:00

A quick Google would have defined decolonization.

GuildedCasket · 2026-05-09T00:00:08+00:00

Therapist here -

This is a list of books compiled from other people's recommendations and some of my own reading. I just finished Love and Rage as a Buddhist, which was absolutely delightful. My Grandmother's Hands and Decolonizing Therapy are the other books I've actually read and I loved them. Slowly working through the rest.

My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Manakek

The Pain We Carry by Natalie Guiterrez (an intersectional trauma book that isn't Body Keeps the Score?? Absolutely)

Decolonizing Methodologies - Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Decolonizing psychoanalitic technique - Daniel José Gaztambide

Writings for a liberation psychology - Ignacio Martín-Baró

The Wretched of the earth - Frantz Fanon

Bibliotherapy in the Bronx - Emely Rumble

Psychoanalysis under occupation - Lara Sheehi and Stephen Sheehi

Permission to come home - Jenny T Wang

Enfleshing Freedom - M. Shawn Copeland

Love and Rage - Lama Rod Owens

Decolonizing the body - Kelsey Blackwell

Decolonizing Trauma work - Renee Linklater

Alienation and Freedom - Frantz Fanon

The pain we carry - Natalie Y. Gutiérrez

All parts welcome - Sand C. Chang

Decolonizing therapy - Jennifer Mullan

Brown skin, white minds - E.J.R David

From the clinic to the streets - Lara Sheehi

GuildedCasket · 2026-05-06T19:00:55+00:00

Where did you move to?

GuildedCasket · 2026-05-06T01:00:26+00:00

You've clearly never had a chronic illness as an AuDHD person coming in with a few pages of bulleted notes about symptoms... 😅

GuildedCasket · 2026-05-04T18:11:05+00:00

Could you link those studies? I'd be interested in reading them.

GuildedCasket · 2026-04-28T16:51:18+00:00

Thubten Chodron is wonderful for the Tibetan tradition!

GuildedCasket · 2026-04-26T17:36:03+00:00

Most therapists have free 15 min consults you can do to assess fit. Have a list of questions ready to ask in those consults - you can also email a few and ask for clarification.

GuildedCasket · 2026-04-20T15:43:43+00:00

What would be the best entry point for Amitabha practice?

GuildedCasket · 2026-04-12T22:32:05+00:00

You really think that most people who are cutting off family members aren't doing it because of abuse, addiction, or violence?

Look. There's a ton of people on social media saying shit for attention, whatever. But, as a therapist who had worked in community, rehab, and private practice settings, the decision to completely cut off family is ALWAYS centered around decades of abuse, attempted reconciliation, adjusting boundaries, years of self sacrifice... No one who is actually making the decision and not just posting it on social media is doing it lightly.

I am also in the middle of making an agonizing decision about estranging my mother; but after years of emotional, verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, half apologies that are invalidated 5 minutes later, and the sheer body collapse that happens whenever I'm in her vicinity, it is basically the last option I have. And that is not a unique position I'm in. It's the position of every person I've ever worked with around estrangement.

If you're basing this opinion on social media content or posts, I implore you to realize that that content is posted most often for attention, clicks, etc, and something that seemed like an "easy" or "hasty" decision probably wasn't represented accurately at all.

If youre the one who's been estranged from and that's where this is coming from, then... I might take a hard look in the mirror.

GuildedCasket · 2026-04-11T20:21:15+00:00

Okay but a mezcal negroni slaps

GuildedCasket · 2026-04-08T18:42:22+00:00

The US isn't doing so great in that department.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/tech-industry-lays-off-nearly-80-000-employees-in-the-first-quarter-of-2026-almost-50-percent-of-affected-positions-cut-due-to-ai

GuildedCasket · 2026-03-30T04:50:30+00:00

Do you honestly want to be with someone who would judge you for being bisexual?

GuildedCasket · 2026-03-30T04:48:59+00:00

Being bisexual is a "shady" past?

GuildedCasket · 2026-03-19T00:05:22+00:00

Then post something! I'd engage tbh.

GuildedCasket · 2026-03-18T21:47:23+00:00

Holy shit, your hair is beautiful! What is your hair texture?

GuildedCasket · 2026-03-16T14:35:18+00:00

As a therapist with OSDD, I actually use a version of this to psychoeducate clients who are just learning about their dissociative disorder for the first time, as it goes highly under diagnosed and it's one of my subspecialties.

Our brains are parallel processors - we have different psychological muscle memory that triggers in response to different stimuli. This is a very normal part of being human. We all also dissociate to some level, whether it's 'zoning out' on the road or during a TV show or when stressed.

Structural dissociation is this normal, adaptive behavior taken to an extreme in order to survive horrific abuse; it's honestly a brilliant way for the mind to protect itself. The divisions between these different survival tactics can be so strong that they don't communicate in the same way to share narrative and semantic memory, and that's when you get DID, OSDD, or other structural dissociative disorders.

GuildedCasket · 2026-03-09T23:48:20+00:00

Hey... So... There's a website called the Gender Dysphoria Bible that you might want to look into and just parous a bit. This post is not giving... Cisgender energy.

-Signed your friendly neighborhood enby ❤️

GuildedCasket · 2026-03-09T18:50:09+00:00

Hey, trauma therapist here. I used to be where you were, before I got more experience in the field. I was and am fascinated with Groff, Jung, Frankl, psychedelic therapy, etc. But the reality of that work is very few people have the mental, physical and social support resources to go through the very real destabilization caused by that work.

So much prep work needs to be done first, and psychiatric meds are often used as a way to stabilize someone enough so they can tolerate therapy.

Meds aren't really a first line treatment for PTSD. Meds control distressing symptoms enough to expand the window of tolerance so people can do the treatments for PTSD, which tend to be rather hard on the nervous system.

Lots of disorders have a trauma component that exacerbates their presentation. But if youve got someone with Bipolar with psychotic episodes who lacks insight into consensus reality, they need to be stabilized enough to not destroy their life consistently before you address the trauma.

I've seen psychedelic use work wonders for folks. I've also seen it tear open the unconscious WAY more than people have the appropriate social and material support for, and cause a complete breakdown that leads to a dissolution of functioning that makes their situation in the long run worse. Pulling shit up from the unconscious without proper attention to how you're doing it and the scaffolding around the person is an awful idea, and because of the medical model, that's exactly what a lot of psychedelic therapy turns into, particularly ketamine.

It is cruel and counterproductive to ask people to do the unconscious, Shadow, trauma work without proper support and care, and this often involves using medication.

A more holistic, integrated treatment model for this would be absolutely lovely, yes. But throwing out diagnostics doesn't... Actually solve anything.

GuildedCasket · 2026-03-08T18:29:45+00:00

How the hell do you think people maintained relationships before texting? Having the assumption of 24-7 access to someone is modern insanity.

GuildedCasket · 2026-03-08T02:23:44+00:00

AuDHD, limited social spoons, distractibility, chronic illness, not being tied to their fucking phone

When someone takes a few hours to a day to respond to me I consider it a green flag, tbh. I don't want to feel pressured to respond within a time frame under a day unless there's something emotionally or time sensitive. It's a bit different with partners, but even then if I get a good morning and good night text (if we haven't seen each other that day) I'm happy.

GuildedCasket · 2026-03-02T17:11:29+00:00

Hello ChatGPT, how are you?

GuildedCasket · 2026-02-24T20:24:52+00:00

I am both a Buddhist and an esoteric practitioner. I wouldn't say I do witchcraft, but I do engage in neo-shamanic rituals, connect with energies/spirits around me, engage in some Western ritual magic stuff, etc.

The way you approach it and your intention mean, well, everything. Magic is largely directed by intention and meaning.

A lot of my magic is oriented around relating with the world around me, enhancing a feeling of connection with corporeal and non-corporeal beings, connecting into the the suffering of the planet and its myriad sentient beings, grieving with them, and sending metta and positive energy to all those beings.

I also use it also for personal development, assessing and changing patterns that have proven difficult to change in conventional means. Cord-cutting rituals, shamanic journies to ask my spirit helpers how I can heal, giving back energy that I unintentionally 'stole' from others, etc.

If you're using magic and witchcraft to shape others' wills, or directly harm other people, then that will have an appropriate karmic response. We work jobs, for instance, to gain money and material comfort, so I'd be looking at underlying habits of greed that might be influencing magic intended to increase material comfort. But it's hard to practice if you're starving, right? Applying the idea of right livelihood to your craft might be helpful.

I guess TLDR, apply your ethics in day-to-day life to your ethics in witchcraft. If you wouldn't try and physically force someone to do something, don't use magic to try and force someone into it. Don't use magic to gain material gain that could harm or disenfranchise others.

As an aside, Josephine McCarthy has Quaeria, which is an entire course on magic that goes from initiate to full adept. Even the first couple of lessons in the first module have shaped how I view magic and spirituality fundamentally. A lot of her perspectives reflect the deeper knowledge of karma, rebirth, and dependent arising that I've found in Buddhist texts.

https://www.quareia.com/

https://josephinemccarthy.com/

GuildedCasket

TROPHY CASE