This is from another blog that I have read about no-self practice in Buddism.
Identification with whatever it is that we do and whatever it is that we have, be it possessions or people, is, so we believe, needed for our survival. “Self” survival. If we don’t identify with this or that, we feel as if we are in limbo. …
Happiness, too, may be an identification. “I am happy.” “I am unhappy.” Because we are so keen on survival, we have got to keep on identifying. When this identification becomes a matter of the life or death of the ego, which it usually is, then the fear of loss becomes so great that we can be in a constant state of fear. Constantly afraid to lose either the possessions that make us what we are, or the people that make us what we are. … Not a very peaceful state of living and what is it due to? Only one thing: ego, the craving to be.
This identification results, of course, in craving for possessing. And this possessing results in attachment. … That attachment, that clinging, makes it extremely difficult to have a free and open viewpoint. This kind of clinging, whatever it may be that we cling to – it may not be clinging to motor cars and houses, it may not even be clinging to people – but we certainly cling to views and opinions. We cling to our world view. … Whatever it is we cling to, even how the government should run the country, all of that makes it extremely difficult to see things as they really are: To be open-minded. And it is only an open mind which can take in new ideas and understanding.
Lord Buddha compared listeners to four different kinds of clay vessels. The first clay vessel is one that has holes at the bottom. If you pour water into it, it runs right out. In other words, whatever you teach that person is useless. The second clay vessel he compared to one that had cracks in it. If you pour water into it, the water seeps out. These people cannot remember. Cannot put two and two together. Cracks in the understanding. The third listener he compared to a vessel that was completely full. Water cannot be poured in for it’s full to the brim. Such a person, so full of views he can’t learn anything new! But hopefully, we are the fourth kind. The empty vessels without any holes or cracks. Completely empty.
I dare say we are not. But may be empty enough to take in enough. To be empty like that, of views and opinions, means a lack of clinging. … What is truly reality is completely fulfilling. If we aren’t completely fulfilled, we aren’t seeing complete reality. So, any view that we may have is either wrong or it is partial.
Because it is wrong or partial, and bounded by the ego, we must look at it with suspicion. Anything we cling to keeps us bound to it. If I cling to a table-leg, I can’t possibly get out the door. There is no way I can move. I am stuck. Not until I let go will I have the opportunity to get out. Any identification, any possession that is clung to, is what stops us from reaching transcendental reality. … And for that seeing we need a fair bit of empty space apart from views and opinions.