Customer Reviews

Stepping Out of Self-Deception: The Buddha's Liberating Teaching of No-Self

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I borrowed this book from the library and have been reading it slowly and savoring it. I realize I will have to buy it so I can reread it, underline passages and take the insights deeply to heart-- it is that sort of book.

True, as a previous reviewer mentioned, it is not easy reading, but I value this. Rodney Smith has made the effort to use language that actually corresponds to his experience, rather than relying on over-used Dharma cliches. For me, this brings a freshness and vitality to the book. Even insights I am familiar with come alive in a new way.

Rodney Smith is has taught Insight Meditation for decades and has directed Hospice programs for many years. He studied with Ajahn Buddhadasa in Thailand but also sites dialogues with the Vedanta sage Shri Nisargadatta as having a great impact on him. This book should appeal not only to Buddhists but to readers having an interest in Advaita Vedanta and contemporary non-dualist teachers like Eckhart Tolle.

The author is fearless in confronting the many ways spiritual practice ends up supporting the ego it supposedly is challenging. Consider this quote: "I have seen many practitioners overstay their efforts and arrest their understanding...
They feel safe and unassailable, expertly following their breath for hours according to Buddha's instruction... But scratch beneath the surface and their hearts are dry... They have opted out of wonder for the mental fulfillment of precision."

This book is targeted at lay Buddhist practitioners with a full engagement in the the world. "The lay Buddhist does not have the luxury to pull back from the barrage of experiences coming forth throughout the day." "Nothing is denied, nothing is avoided, and the world is allowed to make its impact, to affect us in whatever way it does." "The Dharma is always inclusive, and in the end everything needs our attention and understanding, never our dismissal."

A few more quotes:
"The sense-of-self lacks faith in anything outside of its own influence. Life is perceived as an obstacle to our power and must be aligned by force of will to work to our advantage." {Sound familiar? Sure does to this reviewer.} "Faith is the opposite of control, and expresses itself energetically as releasing our need to have everything go our way. Faith is the intuitive sense that something beyond our power holds life and has always held it..."

"The primary intention begins to work through us when we are radically accountable for the pain of our wanting. Radical accountability starts by saying 'I want' and drops all externaliztion of the need. Next we drop the references to 'we' and the energy stays with the wanting and goes no further... We hold our ground and in doing so there is a welling of confidence and coursge... The heart fully engages reality and says 'Come what may, this is where I stand' and faces the wanting until it disappears into emptiness."

This last practice is explored fully throughout the book. These two long quotes give you a sense of Smith's language. I finally want to add that I believe this book would be appreciated not only by Buddhists but also open-minded Christians. Rodney Smith writes beautifully about surrender, faith and "self-naughting," offering a perspective that many Christians could benefit from.

I was very eager to read this book because I admire Rodney Smith as a teacher. He brings a unique perspective to Buddhist practice, and is often very thought provoking. However, I do find many of his lines of thought to be very complex, and not readily understood. I would consider myself an average meditator with about average exposure to Buddhist ideas. I am not, as a rule, intimidated by complicated ideas or challenging books. Any reader of this book should be warned that they may find much of the discussion to be very challenging to understand. I often had a sense that I just wanted the author to state in more direct and easily understood language what he was trying to convey. Now, having said that, I did find some very useful concepts in this book. In particular, the notion that our practice may be working to build a sense of self that is contrary to what we are trying to achieve is very helpful, and not a message I have learned from other teachers. But overall I felt that author either had much, much more to convey than I was able to pick up from the lengthy discussion, or he uses far more words to explain his ideas than are necessary. Truthfully, I think he has much more to say that I can comprehend, but that just makes this book somewhat frustrating because I was ready to absorb his ideas, but simply could not truly understand many of them. As a final note, I suspect many readers will find this book light on how to integrate the concepts into daily practice. This is certainly not a "how to" book by any stretch of the imagination.

Update to my initial review: I went back to this book and reread it; something I rarely do with books of any sort. I must say, after the second read my respect for this author's ideas as presented in the book have increased greatly. I think what the author teaches in this book is essential. Is it an easy read? No. But I think that aspect of the book is a result of the nature of what the author is presenting. These are not concepts that are well known or intuitive to the average Buddhist or meditator. In fact, I suspect these concepts are not well known to even to those with many years of practice. Additionally, the concepts do not lend themselves easily to being communicated. However, I now see that I am running into exactly the issues of "self" finding it's way into my practice in a manner that is not useful. Were it not for this book, I'm not sure I would recognize that fact, and I suspect I would be at a loss as to how to address the issues. While the author does not present a sort of "step-by-step" approach to resolving the challenges he describes, there is enough guidance in this book to help me navigate my way through the difficulties of dealing with self as it emerges in my practice.

I get the sense that Rodney Smith can articulate these ideas because he has been there, and has struggled personally with the issues he describes. It seems to me that Mr. Smith has done a great service to Buddhists and meditators by at least pointing us in the general direction in which we should go. When an author can give us a new message that potentially can save us untold frustration, I think that's a rare gift to practitioners.

I strongly recommend this book, especially to more experienced meditators who I believe will eventually run into the challenges Rodney Smith describes in this book. If you find reading this book a challenge, give it a chance. Take your time, and be willing to reread as much as necessary to find the important messages this author is presenting.

What a wonderful surprise this book is. I've been unclear about Buddha's teaching on `no-self ' inspite of reading and trying to understand it. This book is one of those rare books that actually takes you to the experience, not just more information. They say that when somebody really knows what they are talking about they can explain it to anyone. I get it now, what's that worth? Thank you for taking the time to write this treasure.

Rodney Smith's book is a well written, accessible guide to freedom. This book is not for beginning meditators, but for those who seek to stretch beyond their misperceived limits.

Anatta (no-self) is difficult to grasp, and by its very nature, can't be understood intellectually. However, Rodney clearly presents the path to anatta and makes this priceless teaching available to anyone with the intention for complete freedom.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with a regular meditation practice, from any tradition.

The first time I met Rodney was in my first few years of practice. I had a deep experience of my "True Self". When I went into see Rodney, I started crying and he told me it was because I knew what I was. He then took me to a place of infinite space and consciousness (the 5th and 6th Jhana). This spring I assisted him teaching and one night when he was answering questions I new there was nothing more to do. I was free.

I had already planned on a six week retreat and I was just presence. I felt there is nothing to do. Rodney quotes Nisargaddata Maharj who he practiced with. Nisargaddata would ask Rodney why are you meditating. You know who you are. I was at a meditation center and it didn't make sense to meditate any more. I rested in stillness, awareness. I re-read Rodney's book over and over on the retreat. It validated my understanding. Freedom is not a journey. It is here right now for all of us. That is one of the beautiful aspects of this book. He makes it clear that it is not a journey and that it is not about technique. Love, connection, the timelessness. It is all available to us now. It cannot be in any other moment. The very effort to achieve, to see creates a sense of separation. We simply have to form the intention to surrender to the moment. It isn't that he over simplifies. We have to work though all of the material that causes us to resist our experience. Rodney does a wonderful job explaining how to work through this material. He has better psychological training than most teachers and he integrates that understanding with his profound understanding of the Dharma.

I teach and I have been practicing in the Zen and Theravaden tradition for 20 years. This book is one my favorites. It validated my understanding and helped shift my entire practice. It is a book that I will read over over again.

I didn't buy this on Amazon. A student of mine bought it for me. It was an immense gift. There are some excellent talks by Rodney on dharmaseed.org

This book helps the reader understand the nature of the mind. Rodney Smith helps make sense of the many road blocks we can encounter while struggling to understand and guide our thoughts in order to gain a clearer understanding of ourselves and the world around us. I read this book at a perfect time in my life and it made perfect sense to me. This is an excellent book for those on the spiritual path. Here are a few quotes from the book that really stood out to me and hopefully may provide a picture of what you can expect to find within:

"To abide in the Now is to live acknowledging the complete and miraculous mystery continually before our eyes."

"We cannot see anything but what the word proclaims because we are looking through the word to see the world."

"We choose to live in the ignorance of our views rather than a world unshaped by our mind."

A wonderful, lucid, overview of the self-deception that holds us in suffering. A difficult subject, Rodney Smith makes the case that our perspective on "self" is a key to true understanding. The book provides a powerful, wonderful overview of the spiritual path. Highly recommended.

Having not read Rodney Smith before, I was struck by both his analytical and compositional skills. He has written an unpretentious and compelling book, integrating the eight-fold path into this Westerner's life - with consistency and "courage." Highly recommended!

This book will be the next topic for the book club I am a member of. We started off with Eckhart Tolle and "A New Earth". This is
very compatible and quite a valuable adjunct to his teachings. A book to read over and over. I have high-lighted almost the entire book, as practically every sentence could stand by it's own as a powerfull "pointer" to enlightenment. A MUST READ!!!!!

I first learned of the author when I read Lessons From the Dying and was looking forward to this book. Just as the title indicates, this book is not for the faint of heart or those who want a diversion from dealing with problems (i.e. reading about vs doing something about). I have yet to finish it, but will continue - stop frequently to think about what I am reading and allow myself time to go deeper into my meditation practice.