Forget Yourself
Forget yourself.
Not only does that seem impossible, it seems ridiculously pointless. Why would we want to do that? This "me" is, well, me.
And yet the 13th-century Zen master Dōgen taught, "To study the self is to forget the self."
Not to improve it. Not to perfect it. To forget it.
But try forgetting yourself on purpose and you'll find it can't be done. Trying to forget is just another way of remembering. The me is right there, doing the forgetting.
So don't try. Instead, notice how often, and how assiduously, we remember the me. Checking on it first thing in the morning and all throughout the day. Replaying events, rehashing conversations, imagining what-ifs.
The noticing changes everything. For an instant, nobody is tending the me. It's simply being seen. In that state the structure of "me" starts to wobble a bit.
That's the forgetting Dōgen meant. Not erasing the me. Just no longer investing so much energy in supporting it.
What remains isn't a blank. It's the glorious realm of peace the me was standing in front of all along.
Forget yourself, and find your Self.