(9.57) The teeth, hair, or nails are not the I,
Nor are the bones or blood.
The mucus and phlegm are not the I,
Nor are the lymph or pus.

(9.58) The body’s fat or sweat are not the I,
Nor are the lungs or liver.
None of the other inner organs is the I,
Nor are the excrement or urine.

(9.59) The flesh or skin are not the I,
Nor are the body’s warmth or winds.
The space element of the body is not the I,
Nor are any of the six consciousnesses.

The basic point is rather simple:  Ignorance is when we hold the following view:  The I is one with its basis, yet it is also independent.  When somebody points at our body, we feel they are pointing at us.  Yet, we say, ‘my body’ as if the I was somehow an independent possessor of the body.

Emptiness is when we realize the I is not one with its basis, but it is not entirely separate from it.  We cannot find the I anywhere within its basis, but without the basis there is no I at all.  Emptiness is when the I is a mere name imputed upon the body and mind.  We are able to identify the distinction between the basis of imputation and the imputation itself.

This is not just an academic discussion, but has very practical implications:  If we think our self is one with its basis, we identify with our delusions, thinking they are an intrinsic part of ourselves. For as long as we are doing this, when we apply opponents, we will not actually eliminate our delusions because we are grasping at them.  We can remain like this for decades in the Dharma and wonder why we are not changing.  To actually get rid of our delusions, we have to stop identifying with them as ‘us.’ 

We have all had examples of situations where we thought we had gotten rid of a delusion, but then it came back.  We then think we haven’t really changed.  We think there is this permanent nature to ourselves that doesn’t change.  Our belief in this makes any progress on the path impossible.  We need to stop grasping at the permanence of our self, and realize that we are always changing – in what way depends upon our actions.  This gives us enormous flexibility to change ourselves.  Normally we are afraid to do so.

In popular psychology, people talk about being true to our “authentic self.”  We then even make a moral issue out of ‘being true to ourselves’, ‘this is me.’  So anything that isn’t consistent with ‘who we are’ we think is wrong.  We then think not indulging our delusions is somehow not being true to our authentic self.  We intentionally grasp at some view that prevents us from ever changing for the better.  This is completely wrong.  We are what we identify with, and we have choice about what we identify with.  If we say the angry, jealous, deluded person is “not me,” but rather the patient, loving, and wise person “is me,” then we can change the basis of imputation of our I from a deluded person to a wise one.  In truth, this is more being “true to our authentic self,” because we are not our delusions, we are our Buddha nature.  The self that we normally see is a hallucination, so how can we be true to that?