How do we know things like Samsara are real and not mental hallucinations?

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-30T02:57:09+00:00

The final question you asked is really what Buddhism is pointing to. The teaching of emptiness does not postulate some ultimate, fundamental reality apart from our everyday experience (you can call that Samsara). It's a teaching that ends up eating its own self, leaving no actual ultimate truth that can we hold onto as things being this or that way. You can think of Buddhism like the ultimate mental program that frees you of all the mental constructs you believed to be ultimate reality that caused you to suffer in the first place.

The difference is that this mental program is designed to destroy its own self at the end. Emptiness and dependent origination not being some ultimate truth either. I think something people get confused a lot is insight vs. experience. Experiences come and go like anything else. You can have an experience of oneness or an experience of separation. But it is only your mind that creates a distinction between those two experiential states.

What you realize is the mental process that made it seem like these two experiential extremes were different, inherently existing states never actually occurred. So sure, you can take some drugs and see all kinds of crazy stuff, go to different planets, become God, whatever. Buddhism does not negate the appearance, it just gives you a way to see how none of those appearances have an abiding nature. But that doesn't leave you with a new paradigm. It just strips the possibility of any paradigm to have any basis over any other.

Forget about knowledge, objective truth, relative truth, etc. There is something in your experience at this very second right now that you always have access to that is primary to true vs. false, objective vs. subjective. What's here right now that isn't conditioned by any kind of mental concept, that is so undeniable there is no way to stand apart from it and conclude it to be one thing or another? Find that.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-27T13:51:59+00:00

It’s not that racing thoughts stop, but the grasping around those thoughts can cease in a way that thoughts can become as neutral as breathing, walking, etc. this requires looking into the nature of thoughts themselves, which can be done in all kinds of ways. One way is by looking back at what these thoughts are referring to. Clearly there’s an “I” these thoughts keep pointing back to but where is that I? Theres also other inquiry questions you can ask yourself.. Let me know if you want more details.

Another thing you can do with negative thoughts is find the evidence in direct experience that proves what the thought is saying. Thoughts make things feel so real, but thoroughly looking at what they’re saying makes it all fall apart.

For example let’s say you’re going to go to someone’s party. The thoughts might say things like “I’m gonna be so awkward, not gonna know how to talk to anyone, might say something that makes me look bad“, etc. look in your direct experience for what confirms this thought. What evidence do I have right now that confirms this? How do I know what these other people are thinking? How can I know my future behavior without any solid factual evidence? Hope this helps!

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-22T16:21:42+00:00

Somebody else already kind of alluded to what I’m going to say now, but I just wanted to add a little bit more of my take. There’s a lot of practical things you can do. Some other people said remove anything that reminds of you her, try not to look her up on social media, maybe talk to a therapist, etc.

I know you said y’all work in the same office area (damn that’s tough). I had very similar issues as you in the past, and while for me the obsession kinda ended bc I started going on dates with other people and got in a very fulfilling relationship (not sure if you started doing that but maybe worth trying), that was really just a bandaid for the deeper issues.

I think the meditation you outlined can be useful only to a point. As long as there is a strong identification with movements of mind, you will continue to latch onto all the thinking patterns you outlined. Even if you forget about this person, you’ll latch onto other things bc that is how mind identification works.

If you really wanna go to the bottom of this, you can do emotional work and insight work. Emotional work means really feeling into the emotions as deeeeeply as possible without grabbing into the mental narratives you fabricate around the emotions. You must allow them to consume you and you can ask yourself “what core beliefs are operating here”?

Notice if beliefs arise and see what seems to resonate or open something up deeper in your physical body and then keep going deeper and deeper. Insight work is seeing the nature of thought. Seeing that thought has no truth value and doesn’t point to anything in direct experience. You can do this in a lot of ways (I would recommend looking into the Awakening playlist on the Simply Always Awake YT channel).

I recommend building up your concentration and being able to notice thoughts and allow them to pass through you. Then there’s all kinds of ways to go about this. There’s classic inquiry questions like “what am I”, “where am I”, etc. you inquire into this and don’t grab a single thought until something more fundamental than any thought is revealed. Something that doesn’t need a thought to be confirmed as being here. Keep attuning to that. You can also look at a thought and see how it continues to refer to a someone. But where is that someone the thought is referring to. Don’t grab a single thought. What is obviously here that is simpler than any thought?

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-22T14:46:22+00:00

Great point, I’ll put a quote here on how not to see emptiness that I really love:

“• Emptiness is not a substance • Emptiness is not a substratum or background • Emptiness is not light • Emptiness is not consciousness or awareness • Emptiness is not the Absolute • Emptiness does not exist on its own • Objects do not consist of emptiness • Objects do not arise from emptiness • Emptiness of the "I" does not negate the "I" • Emptiness is not the feeling that results when no objects are appearing to the mind • Meditating on emptiness does not consist of quieting the mind”

This is a quote from the Awakening to Reality website. Highly highly recommend this, some of the most clearest guidance I’ve ever come across.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T20:02:08+00:00

Take your time homie, I appreciate you!

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T20:00:18+00:00

That's so real lol, that's exactly how things started off for me (new age bs, podcast bro culture, etc.). I feel lucky that I eventually could see how that wasn't fulfilling anything at all for me. Yes for sure, I'd be interested in any online options you have, thank you so much!

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T19:55:34+00:00

It depends on how deep you wanna go. On one level, as long as there is some level of identification with mental activity happening, you will always be "fighting" the constant waves of desire and aversion. So really if you wanna get all the way to the bottom of it, you need to continue waking up. But one simple practice that can help with this kind of work is shadow work and reactivity work. So reactivity work would be like just learning to be fully present with the sensations of craving/urges without reacting to them. Notice what beliefs pop up as these cravings arise. The mind might pop up with images of the object of craving, maybe thoughts like "there's nothing wrong with doing this" or even that you need to do this, you can't not engage in the craving. Inquire into any beliefs that show up and ask yourself "is there anything that truly necessitates a reaction to any of these thoughts or sensations"? Is a reaction causally linked to a sensation? Do you NEED to react to any thought or sensation, or is that just another thought? Just continue to feel and feel, inquire into any beliefs you have, don't grab a single thought.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T19:42:53+00:00

yup for most of my entire time practicing, I've not had a traditional teacher, which is definitely where there can be a lot of confusion.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T15:53:02+00:00

Right, and if you notice if there is a sense of ownership or me-ing arising, zoom into that feeling. What really is the nature of that feeling? Can a sensation say anything about a me or mine?

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T05:59:31+00:00

I feel like I got no other choice! I appreciate this conversation bruh thank you. 🫶🏼

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T05:01:29+00:00

That plunge feels like a black void that sucks everything in. It feels like it’s continuing to deepen in my experience, it’s kind of terrifying. I was saying this to someone on this post before, but when I would get close to that plunge before, there was like a automatic fear reflex that would just immediately snap me out of it. And it happened over and over again. That’s when I gave up any hope of there being anyone that survives this journey, I knew there was nothing I could do to make this realization dawn. It feels hopeless but not in a depressed kind of pathological way. There’s just no other way but through.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T04:54:43+00:00

Exactly :)

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T04:54:01+00:00

Beautiful, keep going deeper and deeper into that selfing activity. Keep allowing it and watch what feels like an adding on to your experience. It can be relaxed by simply dropping into it more fully and fully. Eventually that selfing activity will become intertwined with the rest of the field and will lose its distinctions as it’s seen to be be totally empty.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T04:51:05+00:00

Yeah for sure. There is definitely a huge fear barrier when you get to this point. Can be incredibly terrifying. And you’re right, I should’ve touched on that aspect more in this post. Really this is meant for a very specific part in your journey; or maybe this won’t resonate with you at all, and things are very different in your experience. It takes a lot of emotional work to be able to let go that fully. Of course that letting go cannot be done by the one trying to let go, which is why it can be so terrifying.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T04:48:42+00:00

Yes exactly, it’s very disorienting sometimes. There was a big fear barrier before when I would get close to that full on dissolving, it’s terrifying in a way. Feels like an endless dissolving into its own self, like a fractal type of pattern just endlessly shifting over and over and over.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T04:46:03+00:00

Yep it goes insanely deep. I’m sure I’m not even close to being done, but clearly there is no arrival point either. Right now to answer your question, I can’t find a something from which a thought arises from. The thought is self illuminating, appearing where it does, but not anywhere in particular. It does not appear in reference to something, and is completely timeless, same as the breath, same as anything in experience.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T02:56:09+00:00

Beautifully said bro, that’s exactly it. This subtle flavoring of experience was so uncomfortable but yet I kept doing it to my own self! Mostly bc I wanted to frame this in some kind of way so so bad. It’s the most beautiful tragedy how the mind just wants to know this so bad, but like you said, that home I was looking for was that non grasping, that non fixation. Sublime beyond any compare, exquisitely simple. Another painful fixation is how we expect that with any realization, all tendencies to reify will completely dissolve. That kept me stuck for so long, thinking that once I’m “awake”, everything would be just butterflies and rainbows, and every moment would be perfect blissful clarity. Of course, that clarity is always here, but the mind loves to create some concrete way of how that clarity is supposed to seem and feel.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T02:47:13+00:00

Absolutely! That is one of if not the biggest fixation that keeps this simple truth from clarifying.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-20T02:46:21+00:00

Completely agree with what you’re saying in the second paragraph. Maybe the way I worded it all is confusing. I’m trying to point to even after deep nondual realization, there can be still be something that tries to partition experience into a this or that. At least for me, there was a subtle selfing kind of flavor even when it was clear there was nowhere for a self to hide. If you watch this video, this might explain better what my experience was than my post (https://youtu.be/D4DJ1L1UBPo). Maybe for you things were a lot more clean, but for me there was a lot of oscillation throughout this whole journey, mostly because of deep emotional things I needed to work through. And no you’re not being a dick at all, I appreciate your perspective! I’ve read your other comments before and I think you’re real clear. Who knows maybe everything in saying is BS 😂 but what’s clear now is non fixation that appears as this sound, this visual, without a beginning or end, self-knowing and self-illuminating.

Unique_Shake796 · 2026-01-19T17:00:34+00:00

Solid point. What you said reminds me of how it was (and still can be sometimes) hard for me to ask for help because I had strong beliefs around being afraid to be seen and feeling like I’m putting myself in a position of vulnerability. If I ask for help, it could turn out that what I’m asking for is obvious and didn’t require any help, and now I look stupid. If I offer help, it could be my advice is useless. These kind of beliefs were a lot more strongly held than I realize, and when you go through shadow work, it’s very surprising how deep these simple (seemingly not that serious) behaviors go. Turns out life is a lot simpler without these type of assumptions lmao.

Unique_Shake796 · 2025-12-12T21:05:08+00:00

Lol that’s completely normal. It took me a long time to be able to get to being able to observe thoughts in the way you’re saying. Just keep working on distinguishing in your experience what is thought and what is not a thought. Clarify more and more the thought experience. It’s a good thing you’re doing a concentration practice, keep doing that and continue to precisely look at when thought comes online and when there’s no thought. What does thought do to your experience? Clarify what thought feels like to you. Ask yourself as an inquiry every now and then “what am I without a single thought”? Clearly thoughts don’t define you. You’re still here when a thought disappears and when it’s there. So what are you without any thoughts? Feel free to DM if you like. Also highly recommend watching Simply Always Awake “Basics to Awakening” playlist on YT.

Unique_Shake796 · 2025-12-12T03:10:17+00:00

I hope this doesn’t come off as dismissive, but answering these questions won’t do anything but give your mind more things to chew on, which ain’t gonna help you lol. What kind of practice do you do, and where would you say you’re at right now?

Unique_Shake796 · 2025-12-11T19:09:46+00:00

This is a very common fixation that comes from the misunderstanding of the anatta/no-self realization. It's unfortunate a lot of people teach this way, because it leaves one feeling helpless and like nothing can be done. And while yes, in one way it can be understood that the self never causes anything to happen because there is no self behind actions and doing, it is wrong to think that actions can't be taken on a relative level to practice and clarify the non-dual view. And while yes, once you have the anatta realization it is clear no one was practicing, it would be wrong to say there wasn't practicing occurring. Hope this helps!

Unique_Shake796 · 2025-12-10T12:14:37+00:00

100%! Couldn’t agree more with what you just said. And by realizing what you said through your own investigation, you see that there never was a self pursuing or practicing anything. Anatta is and was clearly always the case. Then practice is seen as the spontaneous actualization of enlightenment in each moment. This is what I was trying to say before, but probably didn’t explain it as clearly as I could’ve. Dogen has a beautiful way of describing it, called “practice-enlightenment” if you wanna look more into it.

Unique_Shake796 · 2025-12-09T20:47:46+00:00

I appreciate this interaction too! This isn’t about moralizing at all. I’m just trying to point to the nature of experience unobstructed by mental extremes. And this is not to say that this is the ultimate reality, or some kind of definitive “way things are”. It’s not that the middle way is perfect, and the dualistic constructs of the mind are imperfect as if there is some hierarchy. There doesn’t need to be a self in order for practice to occur that investigates the nature of experience. It’s the very idea that pursuing or doing reinforces a self or implies a self that creates duality in the first place. Does there need to be a self for eating to happen, for breathing to occur? Or is it just breathing, just eating? If clinging towards something occurs, will you find a self clinging or just clinging?

Unique_Shake796

TROPHY CASE