You Are Not Book.indb - Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph. D.

The Concept of the skandhas / 167
which had nothing to do with anything, then .
. . ?
Student: There is the breath.
Wolinsky: So, the “awarer” has the concept of breath, which
is constant movement.
Student: I try to get away from all and I got right into
the breath.
Wolinsky: If the concept of movement was fused with the
concept of breath and the concept called I am
moving my breath, if these were all fused together
then, . . . ?
Student: Well, fusion is obviously as long as there is
breath, there is life and the whole thing is held
together and that keeps you forward.
Wolinsky: And if we separated the concept of movement,
concept of breath, concept of life, concept of
moving forward—if they were all separate concepts,
and if all of those concepts along with
one location moving to another and e volution
changing, starting point, forward, backward—
if all of these now were concepts made of the
SAME SUBSTANCE as the “awarer,” which had
nothing to do with anything, then . . . ?
Student: Holding very tightly onto that concept
Wolinsky: What is?
Student: I imagine it is some part of the I am. Holding on
very tightly to the breath and the movement and
it can’t be a concept or else you die, that’s it. I
almost feel like white fingernails falling off the I
am.
Wolinsky: Holding on for dear life. If you separate the
concept of life, the concept of death, and the