Towards the Truth

10
only can see any practical way thereto. Merely to tell a man who
has craving for worldly things, to be detached therefrom, is as futile
as telling a starving man not to be hungry. Buddhism does not offer
a remedy for removing the symptoms of the disease, but it cures the
disease itself by removing its cause.
What is the cause of this disharmony, of this striving which
upsets the balance? It is the isolated position taken in by the ‘self’.
And it is this isolated position which is attacked and denied in the
teaching of the Buddha. The Buddha never denied the existence
of individuals, but he viewed individuality as a single, and hence
incomplete, aspect of the whole process of life. When this aspect is
lifted out of its environment, its intrinsic nature of an interrelated
process is necessarily disturbed. And that disharmony is conflict
(dukkha). It is therefore not so much the transiency of all things
which causes sorrow, but the isolated aspect of transiency. For,
only in isolation of ‘self’ the impermanent is felt as a loss, while
in the understanding of the process of life as a whole, transiency is
merely a change. It is thus egoism which makes one suffer; and that
is caused by one’s ignorance.
Naturally, therefore, understanding is shown as the supreme cure
of all ill. It is in ignorance that we crave for the possession of things
which have no intrinsic value. It is in ignorance that we act against
our own nature. It is in ignorance that we prolong the process and
thereby intensify the conflict. For it is in ignorance that the ‘I’-
concept is formed; and then it is maintained in craving.
The concept of a ‘self’ as an individual entity, as a spiritual substance,
as a permanent soul, is the great delusion, which forms the
basis of all conflict, of all opposition, of all sorrow. It is the individuality
of the process of action, which is mistaken for the individuality
of an actor. “Action there is, but no actor of the deed” (kamma
atthi kammiko no vijjati).
Here we are touching on two very important aspects of the teaching
of the Buddha: The teaching of soullessness, (anatta) and the