Looking For The Self, And Coming Up Empty-Handed

It is a cornerstone of all Buddhist thought that there is no stable, intrinsic personal ’self’. Instead, we exist as persons, who are made up of 5 ever-changing components: These five are form, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness.

2nd Century Buddhist luminary Nagarjuna in in his Letter to a Friend, provided the structure for an analytical mediation that earnestly searches for a self and comes up empty-handed. The end result is to sit in a space without clinging to the mistaken view of a self.