In the monastery I was taught the importance of loosening the attitude that Buddhists call ‘‘grasping at self.’’ It is the mistaken perception of a solid, permanent entity in oneself and in other beings or things. ‘‘Self’’ is a concept fabricated by ordinary mind, not by the mind in its true nature. Grasping at self is the root of mental and emotional turmoil, the cause of our suffering. This is the point at which we can understand the very heart of Buddhism, its spirit and its flavor. Do you see how radical Buddhism is? For Buddhism says that suffering is caused by something that our mind is doing even before we reach the point of any unskillful or problematic behavior or any divisive speech, before we are launched into the suffering, sickness, old age, and death that are the career of all living beings. In Buddhism all the trouble is traced to, is pinned on grasping at self.From The Healing Power of Mind
Grasping at Self
The Healing Power of Mind