Thanissaro Bhikkhu

That's simply to make us mindful and uncomplacent in the beginning stages of the practice.

When you reach the stage of insight meditation, though, there's none of that.

All conventional truths get ripped away.

They all collapse.

When the body is empty of any self, what is there to latch onto?

Physical elements, mental elements,

They're already empty of any self.

You have to see this clearly all the way through.

Otherwise they gather together and form a being, both physical and mental, and then we latch onto them as being our self.

And once we can see that there's no death, that's when we'll really know.

If we still see that we die, that shows that we haven't yet seen the Dharma.

We're still stuck on the outer shell,

And when this is the case, what sort of dharma can we expect to know?

You're almost at the end of your lease in this burning house, and yet you continue latching onto it as yourself.

It tricks you into feeling fear and love, and when you fall for it, what path will you practice?

The mind latches onto these things to fool itself on many, many levels.

You can't see through even these conventions, so you grasp hold of them as yourself, as a woman, as a man, and you really turn yourself into these things.

If you can't contemplate so as to empty yourself of these conventions and assumptions, your practice simply circles around in the same old place, and as a result, you can't find any way out.

It's like using a cloth to filter things.

If you use a coarse weave, you won't catch much of anything.