Originally posted by longchen:
I do find the impermanence door very helpful. No-self is easier for
me to be now... however the self-liberation aspect is still quite
tricky. ..for me.
Yes, let the understanding takes its own course. It is similar
to the case of non-dual where there is a sudden 'insight' that
there is really no-self and a sudden expansion of releasing takes
place on its own accord.
In fact practice now becomes moment to moment of meeting conditions
and let arise of whatever outcome. There is no choosing and
grasping. The 'self-liberation is deeply felt and thoroughly
understood, not just a glimpse of the truth. I am still far from
that. It is a path for those with utmost sincerity. Not as excuse
to laze idle. 
It is like what i have said before there is various depths to
non-duality. There appears to be 2 distinct 'levels' of
non-duality...to me.
In the first level, mental thoughts are still quite active. Here
thoughts arises but there is no thinker. Here no subject-object
split is clearly understood.
At this level there is the insight of no-self but momentum
continues. However momentum stops being re-enforced.
And there is another distinct level that mental thoughts loses it
attraction all together. In this level, there feels like cognitions
have been de-constructed.
There are several reasons:
1. Here most of the propensities that resulted from holding to the
illusion view of a background begin to subside.
2. When background subsides, Natural awareness takes place and
there is natural tendency to feel everything directly, the burden
is being more equally distributed to the rest of the five senses
instead of being skewed to just thinking alone.
3. A subtle insight is about to take place or has already taken
place. It is the insight that content is the problem of all
problems. It is what that conjured out all sorts of illusions,
fears and worries.
4. The practice of the second door is gaining strength at the
pre-conscious level.
This is a blissful level and it feels like resting on
'nothing'.
It is resting on nothing of content but it is resting on
peace, clarity, blissfulness, vitality. Here focus is gradually
shifting from "content" of the mind to "qualities" of the mind. The
qualities of mind has nothing to do with "content".
But without the first level non-duality, the second level cannot be
moved into.
This need not be the case. The first level of insight is more
important from my point of view. It is what that leads to Oneness.
A person that practices mindfulness may enter the second level u
mentioned without first having that non-dual insight of the first
level, this in fact has been my case for many years. It is due to
the ability to sustain for a prolong period of bare attention or
non-conceptuality. The understanding of no-self here can still
remain as 'no-personal self' or as a form of mirror bright clarity
that is free of labels but the mirror still exist in a dualistic
form. In the second level, the sense of ego diminishes but the
attachment of a background is still strong and insight into
"non-dual" has not really aroused.
