Often in Dharma teachings we hear that the self is empty, and that we need to let go of this self. There’s the sense of transcending the realities of our existence, and that what we’re aiming for is to transcend—to realize that it’s all empty. But in actual practice, we bring our identities and our ways of being into the process of investigation. Not in order to avoid them, or overcome them, or accentuate them, but in order to be more present. We don’t have to get rid of our identity to learn about the true nature of who we are. We practice to understand deeply what identity is.
JD Doyle
Spirit Rock Residential Teacher
JD Doyle(they/them) served as Core Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center, where they co-founded the Alphabet(LGBTQIA+) Sangha, and as Guiding Teacher at Insight Santa Cruz. They graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Retreat Teacher Training in 2020.