old-path-white-clouds-thich-nhat-hanh

Late in the afternoon, Kassapa came looking for him. When he found him by the pond, he said, “Friend Gautama, we waited for you at
the noon meal but you never appeared. Why didn’t you join us?”
The Buddha responded that he had wished to be absent during the lecture.
“Why did you not wish to attend the lecture?” asked Uruvela Kassapa.
The Buddha only smiled gently. The brahman did not say anything else. He knew that the young monk had read his thoughts. How tactful
and considerate Gautama was!
They sat by the lotus pond and conversed. Kassapa said, “Yesterday you said that the presence of a leaf resulted from the coming
together of many different conditions. You said that humans, too, exist only because of the coming together of many other conditions. But
when all these conditions cease to be, where does the self go?”
The Buddha answered, “For a long time humans have been trapped by the concept of atman, the concept of a separate and eternal self.
We have believed that when our body dies, this self continues to exist and seeks union with its source, which is Brahma. But, friend
Kassapa, that is a fundamental misunderstanding which has caused countless generations to go astray.
“You should know, friend Kassapa, that all things exist because of interdependence and all things cease to be because of
interdependence. This is because that is. This is not because that is not. This is born because that is born. This dies because that dies. This
is the wonderful law of dependent co-arising which I have discovered in my meditation. In truth, there is nothing which is separate and
eternal. There is no self, whether a higher or a lower self. Kassapa, have you ever meditated on your body, feelings, perceptions, mental
formations, and consciousness? A person is made up of these five aggregates. They are continuously changing rivers in which one cannot
find even one permanent element.”
Uruvela Kassapa remained silent for a long moment. Then he asked, “Could one say then that you teach the doctrine of non-being?”
The Buddha smiled and shook his head. “No. The concept of non-being is one narrow view among a whole forest of narrow views. The
concept of non-being is just as false as the concept of a separate, permanent self. Kassapa, look at the surface of this lotus pond. I do not
say that the water and lotus do not exist. I only say that the water and the lotus arise thanks to the presence and interpenetration of all other
elements, none of which are separate or permanent.”
Kassapa lifted his head and looked into the Buddha’s eyes. “If there is no self, no atman, why should one practice a spiritual path in
order to attain liberation? Who will be liberated?”
The Buddha looked deeply into the eyes of his brahmana friend. His gaze was as radiant as the sun and as gentle as the soft moonlight.
He smiled and said, “Kassapa, look for the answer within yourself.”
They returned together to Kassapa’s community. Uruvela Kassapa insisted on giving the Buddha his hut for the night, and went to sleep
himself in the hut of one of his senior disciples. The Buddha could see how deeply Kassapa’s disciples revered their teacher.