In this text, non-attachment is grounded in the insight that all phenomena, including the self, lack any fixed, independent essence. The familiar designations “self,” “person,” “being,” and “soul” are treated as useful conventions rather than ultimate realities, and the practitioner is urged not to reify them. This emptiness of fixed identity extends to all forms: bodies, perceptions, thoughts, and experiences are regarded as illusory and impermanent, not worthy of clinging. Such vision undercuts the habitual tendency to solidify “I” and “mine,” opening a mind that does not dwell on past, future, or present phenomena as something to grasp.

From this perspective arises the teaching of giving without attachment. The text emphasizes that authentic generosity is practiced without holding to the notions of a giver, a recipient, or a gift, and without expectation of reward or spiritual merit. When acts of kindness are performed free from the thought “I am doing good” or “this will benefit me,” their value becomes immeasurable precisely because nothing is being secretly accumulated. Non-attachment here does not mean passivity, but rather wholehearted engagement without the subtle grasping that turns practice into another possession.

The same principle is applied to views and teachings. The Dharma is likened to a raft: indispensable for crossing the river of confusion, yet not something to be carried once the crossing is complete. Even profound doctrines and cherished insights are to be recognized as provisional, not as ultimate objects of clinging. This includes the very idea of enlightenment or Buddhahood; the text undermines the notion of a fixed “attainer,” a fixed “attainment,” or a final state that can be possessed. By loosening attachment even to spiritual ideals, the practitioner avoids turning the path itself into another form of bondage.

Non-attachment, then, is not a cold detachment from life, but a way of acting compassionately without fixation. The bodhisattva is portrayed as working to benefit all beings while simultaneously understanding that, in the light of emptiness, there is no solid “savior” and no solid “saved.” This paradoxical stance—fully engaged yet free of grasping—embodies a mind that does not abide anywhere, not in self, not in others, not in results, and not even in the teachings that point the way.