quote · Legacy record
According to the Buddha, the failure to recognize the illusion of the self is the source of all ignorance and unhappiness. It is only by renouncing the self, that is, by dropping his ego defences and committing metaphorical suicide, that a person can open up to different modes of being and relating and thereby transform himself into a pure essence of humanity. In so doing, he becomes free to recast himself as a much more joyful and productive person, and attains the only species of transcendence and immortality that is open to man.
According to the Buddha, the failure to recognize the illusion of the self is the source of all ignorance and unhappiness. It is only by renouncing the self, that is, by dropping his ego defences and committing metaphorical suicide, that a person can open up to different modes of being and relating and thereby transform himself into a pure essence of humanity. In so doing, he becomes free to recast himself as a much more joyful and productive person, and attains the only species of transcendence and immortality that is open to man.
Approximate author period: c. 1978 AD · modern
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- Author or tradition
- Neel Burton
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1978 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from documented birth year 1978; activity date not established; Wikidata Q16217207, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16217207 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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- Contributor-provided quotation collection
Supplied reference C; CSV row 23966; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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