Biting the no-self bullet

Sasha Chapin · 1 Sept 2026 · sashachapin.substack.com ↗

3 korrents from this piece

Sasha Chapin did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
There are more profound states of transformation available to a person beyond the ordinary benefits of everyday meditative practice.

Their wordsIf something less than a transformation of your everyday experience has occurred, there is something more out there.
Our reading
Profound transformations of the mind are real and underappreciated, and that fact deserves to be preserved as knowledge.

Their wordsIt's really not obvious that such profound transformations can happen to a mind, and it's really important that this knowledge gets preserved.
Our reading
Making dramatic claims about contemplative experience helps sustain interest in a topic that is otherwise fairly dull.

Their wordsAdditionally, making bold declarations about the extremity of contemplative experience is a decent way to keep people talking about meditation, which can be a fairly boring subject.