Overwhelmed, fooled &
deceived by simple Sensing!
The Buddha once
explained the false conception of EGO like this:
Touched by
contact, while blinded by
ignorance, the unlearned and
untrained ordinary person conceives this false & fatal assumption:
'By my eye, ear, nose, tongue and body I clearly sense this & that!
Therefore
"I am"! I perceive this & that: Therefore "Do I Exist"!
I feel this & that: Therefore "These feelings are
me and all mine"!
I experience this & that: Therefore "These experiences
'I' have".
Then he proliferates this self-deception even further by breeding:
"I am this eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind!" right here & now.
"I always was & have been this eye, ear, nose, tongue, body & mind!"
"In the future, I will be this eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind!"
"I am this form, feeling, perception, construction & consciousness!"
"I was this form, feeling, perception, construction & consciousness!"
"I will be form, feeling, perception, construction & consciousness!"
Thereby consolidating the false & constructed notion of a stable Ego!
Finally he externalizes this non-existent entity 'Me' by comparing it:
"I am equal to this and that...", and "I am better, than this and that...",
"I am worse, than this and that...", thereby creating first egoism, then
pride and arrogance, and moreover detrimental feeling of inferiority...
Clinging to this hypothetical 'I'-idea, which he mistakes for real, he
becomes desperate, when whatever it is, he identifies with, changes,
decays, becomes otherwise, fades away and finally disappears...
He is terrified by the thought: "It is 'I' & 'Me' who changes, decays,
becomes otherwise, fades away and finally disappears..." So big is the
power of this unnoticed idea, that it produces fear, anxiety & horror!
There arises no such great panic, when one understands it as it really is:
The six inputs by the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind are not
'mine',
this is not what 'I am', this neither is nor belongs to 'my' or any other self!
This form, feeling, perception, construction & consciousness is not
mine,
this is not what I am, this neither is nor belongs to
my or any other self!
All these are just passing, momentary, induced and selfless mental states!
The Buddha once noted: Every being loves themselves most!
Narcissus & sister stares in the pond captivated by: 'My glorious Ego!'
The best way to comprehend No-Self
(anatta) is to begin with observing
and reflecting on Impermanence (anicca) and Suffering (dukkha).
Then eventually one comes to understand: Whatever is always otherwise
and never the same, never identical cannot ever be an identity, a self...
Whatever is always ultimately suffering cannot be under the control of a
self,
since if it were, then this self would by this control change it into
something
pleasant and happy. But no self can do that, since it is not in full
control.
If a 'self' is not in control of even itself (fully autonomic) it cannot be
a true self,
but just conditions that plays out their cause and effects...
More on Narcissism, Egoism, Identification, & Personality View
(Sakkāya
Ditthi):
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_Leash.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/I-dentification.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Input_I-dentification.htm
https://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/First_I-dentification_then_Enmity.htm
An Ego tragicomically unreal, which is void and empty like a Doll!
Narcissistic Input
Identification!
