What Does No-Self really Mean‪?‬ Well Being with Don Oakley

The concept of “no-self” in Buddhism can sound scary, nonsensical, or just plain weird, but it is one of the three pillars of Buddhist thought. The other two are much more readily understood: the impermanence of living things and the sense of unsatisfactoriness. But no-self? It sounds dangerous to even ponder. What makes it sound dangerous is the belief that we would be giving up everything that we take ourselves to be. But this raises the question about what we believe ourselves to be. We discover that what we give up is a fiction and what is gained is without limit. The only caveat: it’s not personal.