... "I" or "mine", as there is no fact in self and that nothing in our empirical self is worthy of being regarded as the real self. `There are three basic ways of viewing the self. These are best summarised by a leading figure in reformed Buddhism, Nyanatiloka, who says : "there are three teachers in the world. The first teacher teaches the existence of an eternal ego-entity outstanding death : that of the eternalist, as for example the Christian. The second teacher teaches a temporary ego-entity which becomes annihilated at death : that is the annihilationist, or materialist. The third teacher teaches neither an eternal nor a temporary ego-entity : that is the Buddha. Annata is an essential point of Buddhist philosophy, and is interestingly unique to almost all other beliefs and philosophies in the world today (with the possible exception of David Hume, some 2000 years later). The importance of ...

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