“When they say, “Admonish yourself,” “self” is atta. As for yourself, it’s not like that. Suppose that some water is murky. You filter it and see the clear water that comes from the murky water: “That’s clear water.” If you filter yourself, it’ll be anatta, not-self, coming out of self. You’ll see that it’s not- self. That’s when it’s anatta in line with the understanding of your discernment. But some people think that if everything is anatta, not-self, then what’s there to gain?
We have to understand self and not-self. They lie on top of each other.
Have you ever been to a market to buy a coconut? To buy a banana? When you buy a coconut, it has its husk and its shell. They come along with it. If someone comes up and says, “Hey. That husk. That shell. Are you going to put them in your curry, too? If not, then why are you carrying them?” The person buying the coconut knows that you can’t eat the husk or the shell, but you have to bring them along. The time hasn’t come to throw them away, so you have to bring them along. This is convention. When you buy a coconut, don’t get deluded about the husk or the shell.
Conventions and release come along with each other in the same way.”