← The Self (I Am)
To Chop This Head I Have a Sword
The false sense of personal identity (the head) must be sliced through with the sword of discriminating awareness, not softened or refined.
Key Teachings
- The 'head' represents the ego or sense of separate self that must be transcended
- The 'sword' symbolizes sharp discriminative wisdom or the blade of self-inquiry that severs illusion
- Liberation comes through direct cutting through of mental constructs, not gradual refinement
ego deathdiscriminationself-inquiryliberationdirect pathnon-dual