' A New Identity '...

One of the Buddha’s primary teachings was the teaching of “no self.”

People think that what he meant was no ego, but he did not mean no ego.

“No self” means something far more profound.

Within the context of how he used the word “self,” you could also interpret it in a theistic manner to mean something like “soul.”

The Buddha was saying there is no secret essence that is immune to the world of change, and there is no unchanging pseudoentity parked behind your eyes that moves on when your body ceases to function.

This was what he brought to the world that was truly new.

Isn’t it ironic that as a practitioner of a religion that has this as one of its fundamental tenets, I was unknowingly using the religion to create and hold on to a new identity?



From "The Most Important Thing"
Adyashanti