Publisher's Synopsis
Asian philosophy and especially Tibetan Buddhist teachings have a very different take on the Self than we do here in the West, where we struggle with the conundrum of being told to "Be your self, but don't be selfish." Which is it? The Tibetan teachings point out that the Self, while always with us, has no permanent existence. We don't take it with us when we leave this world. They point out that what we call the Self is a convenient fiction, a montage or collage of all our likes, dislikes, prejudices, fixations, etc., that change as we do. Moreover, they go on to suggest that rather than struggling with our Self and selfishness, it is far easier to deconstruct the Self until it is transparent enough to see through it to the actual nature of our mind behind it. This is a series of short articles on the Self in relationship to some of the Tibetan teachings.
