The Buddha and other teachers often say that the real issue is not Existence or Non-Existence. I didn’t understand this until recently. The way I understood it, the real issue in Buddhism was the Self. I saw the Self as a thing and an obstacle to enlightenment and freedom. So the real effort was to be directed toward ending the Self. I actually thought the Self had to die or be killed in order to achieve some sort of understanding or Cosmic Wisdom. Or something. Of course, this is absurd, but I assumed the absurdity was part of the problem as well as part of the solution; i.e.' when I became 'enlightened' I would 'get it'!

Now I see that each of us is dominated by the ego. This was what I read 20 years ago in Buddhist books and really didn't accept at the time. It seemed too Western, too psychological. The fact is this ego is self-centered, selfish and isolated. But it does not really ‘exist’. It’s not a thing. The ego is a point-of-view or mechanism. Thus what the teachers said was correct – it’s not about existence or non-existence. It’s about one’s point-of view. We can have a self-centered and selfish point-of-view or a compassionate and other-centered point of view. This is not something extraordinary which can be accomplished only be superior or enlightened human beings. It's something anybody can accomplish just by making the effort.