The False Idea 'I AM'


"According to the Buddha's teaching, it is as wrong to hold the view 'I have no self' (which is the annihilationist theory) as to hold the opinion 'I have self' (which is the eternalist theory), because both are fetters, both arising out of the false idea 'I AM.' The correct position with regard to the question of Anatta is not to take hold of any opinions or views, but to see things objectively as they are without mental projections, to see what we call 'I,' or 'being,' is only a combination of physical and mental aggregates, which are working together interdependently in a flux of momentary change within the law of cause and effect, and that there is nothing permanent, everlasting, unchanging and eternal in the whole of existence."

The above extract is from a wonderful book by the Venerable Doctor Walpola Rahula. To download a free pdf copy of the book, click here: What the Buddha Taught
For another quote from the book, click here: What is Essential
For a review, click here: Review: What the Buddha Taught

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