Visual Frameworks & Diagrams
C1 — Dependent Origination
The Three-Speed Loop Diagram
Dependent Origination (paṭiccasamuppāda)
is not a theory —
it is the design of suffering in real time.
It operates at three speeds:
1️⃣ Lifetime Scale
The cycle of identity across lives
2️⃣ Emotional Episode Scale
The cycle of clinging across hours or days
3️⃣ Moment-to-Moment Scale
The cycle of selfing in seconds
The following diagram unites all three:
🔄 The Three-Speed Loop of Becoming
Ignorance
↓
Misperception
(seeing experience as personal)
↓
Contact
(trigger in life or mind)
↓
Feeling
(pleasant / unpleasant / neutral)
↓
Craving
(“I must get / escape / fix this”)
↓
Clinging
(“This defines me”)
↓
Becoming
(identity is constructed)
↓
Birth of “I”
(“I am this”)
↓
Suffering
(fear, stress, conflict)
↓
Reinforcement Loop
(“See? I really am this person!”)
↺
🧩 The Big Insight
The loop spirals faster and faster
until a self feels real.
But that “self” is the product of the loop —
not the creator of it.
⚡ The Three Speeds Explained
🕰 Speed 1 — Lifetime Cycle
- “I was born this way.”
- “I must protect this person I am.”
- Karma accumulates identity momentum
⏱ Speed 2 — Emotional Episode Cycle
- A single conflict or heartbreak
- Ruminations reinforce identity for days or years
⚡ Speed 3 — Micro-Moments
- Self arises and vanishes in fractions of a second
- This is where liberation becomes possible
🎯 Where We Intervene
We do not break the loop at the end.
We interrupt it exactly where it begins to distort:
Feeling → Craving
(The Freedom Gap)
When craving does not arise:
- clinging cannot form
- identity cannot be born
- suffering cannot take hold
- the loop does not restart
This is Nibbāna in real time.
🔚 C1 Summary
Suffering is a loop, not a prison.
Break the loop at craving,
and the self never forms.
C2 — Contact → Freedom Gap Flowchart
How to Stop Suffering Before It Starts
Every cycle of “becoming someone”
begins with contact (phassa) and feeling (vedanā).
If we meet experience here
with non-personal awareness—
suffering never forms.
🔄 Flowchart: The First 2 Seconds
CONTACT
(sight / sound / thought / event)
↓
FEELING
pleasant / unpleasant / neutral
↓
AWARENESS?
/ \
Yes No
↓ ↓
FREEDOM GAP CRAVING
(observe) (“I need / I fear”)
↓ ↓
NO OWNERSHIP CLINGING
(not me) (“This defines me”)
↓ ↓
DISENGAGE BECOMING
(it passes) (“I am this”)
↓ ↓
PEACE SUFFERING
(cycle ends) (loop reinforced)
🎯 The Key Realization
Feeling is inevitable.
Craving is optional.
If we notice feeling
before we believe feeling—
there is no story
no “me”
no suffering
right at the source.
🧠 What to Remember in That Moment
- Don’t suppress the feeling
- Don’t chase the feeling
- Don’t explain the feeling
- Don’t take it personally
Instead:
“This is just sensation.
Not a self.”
Just 3–5 seconds of this
interrupts the entire loop.
🧊 Why This Works
The “self” is constructed too slowly
to claim the experience
if we catch it early.
- No story
- → No character
- → No emotional suffering
This is the doorway
to effortless peace.
🌟 Instant Freedom Check
After contact, ask silently:
“Is this personal?”
If not—
the cycle collapses.
C2 Summary
Meet the moment
before the mind makes it “mine”
and suffering ends on arrival.
C3 — The Construction of “I”
How a Self Is Fabricated in Microseconds
A “self” does not pre-exist experience.
It is created after the moment
to explain, protect, and justify what happened.
It occurs too fast to notice—
until we slow it down:
⚙️ The Micro-Construction Loop of Identity
CONTACT
(a trigger appears)
↓
FEELING
(pleasant / unpleasant / neutral)
↓
INTERPRETATION
(“This is good/bad for me”)
↓
CRAVING
(“I must get / avoid / fix this”)
↓
SELF-REFERENCING
(“What does this mean about me?”)
↓
CLINGING
(“This defines me”)
↓
SELF-FABRICATION
(“I am this kind of person”)
↓
SUFFERING
(the world is a threat to me)
↺
💡 The Core Insight
“I” is not the experiencer.
“I” is the story invented after the experience.
Experience is real.
The “owner” of experience
is a mental project.
🔍 What (Exactly) Gets Constructed?
Stage | What the mind creates | Example Thought |
|---|---|---|
Interpretation | Personal meaning | “This is bad for me.” |
Craving | Demand for change | “I must control this.” |
Self-Reference | Ego relevance | “They did it to me.” |
Clinging | Psychological ownership | “This defines me.” |
Identity | A new version of “me” | “I am a victim.” |
None of this is in the sensation.
All of it is in the reaction.
🎯 Freedom Strategy
Interrupt the loop early:
- Notice contact
- Recognize feeling
- Stay with sensation
- Don’t add a self to experience
The earlier we intervene—
the less self is created.
🔥 Why This Changes Everything
When the mind sees:
“The self is a construction,
not a fact.”
then:
- identity has no authority
- fear loses its reason
- conflict loses its target
- suffering collapses
Nothing needs to be destroyed.
We only stop creating what hurts.
C3 Summary
“I” is a habit,
not a truth.
See the fabrication—
and the fabricator disappears.
C4 — Nirodha Flowchart
How the Cycle Collapses in Real Time
Nirodha means the non-arising of suffering—
not suppression, not shutdown, and not blackout.
Freedom occurs in ordinary awareness
when the causes of suffering are not fed.
This diagram shows exactly how:
✨ Nirodha in Action
(The Unbinding Process)
CONTACT
↓
FEELING
pleasant / unpleasant / neutral
↓
AWARE CLEARLY?
/ \
Yes No
↓ ↓
NO OWNERSHIP CRAVING
(“not about me”) (“must fix this”)
↓ ↓
RELEASE CLINGING
(letting be) (“this defines me”)
↓ ↓
NO SELF BECOMING
(no identity) (“I am this now”)
↓ ↓
PEACE SUFFERING
↓ ↓
NATURAL END LOOP RESTART
🔑 What Makes Nirodha Possible?
Just one thing:
Stopping the mind from making experience personal.
No “receiver” →
no threat
no fear
no defensive identity
💡 The Remarkable Feature
You do not need to remove anything.
You simply do not add a self.
Result:
- Experience continues normally
- Reaction does not become identity
- Life remains peaceful
- The loop does not restart
This is the end of becoming
within the moment itself.
🧘♂️ The Core Skill
When feeling arises, silently note:
“Sensation — not a story.”
“Happening — not happening to me.”
The cycle dissolves naturally
because the root—ownership—never appears.
🌊 Why the Buddha Called It “Unbinding”
Suffering is not killed.
It is unbound, like a knot untying itself.
No fight.
No trauma.
No resistance.
Just no fuel.
C4 Summary
When craving is not born,
clinging is impossible,
identity cannot form,
and suffering has nowhere to land.
This is nirodha,
the real-time cessation of suffering.
C5 — Reality Without a Center
Seeing Experience Without a Self in the Middle
Ordinary perception assumes:
There is a “me” at the center,
and the world affects me.
But when the mind stops inserting a center—
the entire structure of suffering collapses.
Awareness becomes boundaryless.
Experience is just happening.
🌐 From Centered to Centerless Awareness
ORDINARY PERCEPTION:
↑ me ↑
(center point)
/ | \
sights thoughts sounds
\ | /
hitting "my identity"
→ continuous tension
CENTERLESS PERCEPTION:
sights sounds thoughts
\ | /
\ | /
↘ HAPPENING ↙
in awareness
no center point
no “inside vs. outside”
→ no one is being pressured
🔍 What Changes When the Center Disappears?
With a Center | Without a Center |
|---|---|
“This happens to me.” | “This happens.” |
Fear of threat | Simple perception |
Resistance | Flow |
Ego pressure | Lightness |
Conflict with experience | Cooperation with experience |
Personal narrative | Just life unfolding |
Experience becomes impersonal
and therefore safe.
🧠 The Realization
There is:
- seeing — without a seer
- hearing — without a hearer
- feeling — without a feeler
- thinking — without a thinker
Awareness does not need an owner.
Everything functions
without a commander inside.
✨ The Practice Cue
Whenever the mind tries to re-center:
“No middle.
No one behind the eyes.”
Let perception widen
until there is no point of “me”
separating experience from awareness.
🌊 What This Heals
With no center:
- anxiety has no anchor
- shame has no location
- fear has no target
- loneliness has no reference point
- identity has no construction site
The heart opens
because it is no longer caged
inside a viewpoint called “me.”
C5 Summary
When there is no center,
nothing can be threatened —
and peace becomes effortless.
This is the experiential meaning of non-self.