Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

d. All dharmas are without self. There are many kinds of
non-self distinguished in the different schools of
Buddhist thought.
i. One particularly taught in the Hinayana is anatman as
escape. Many similes teach escape from the false idea of
self and here we give five examples:
First: The master is asleep in his house when it catches
fire at midnight. He thinks, "How shall I escape being
burned alive?" Here the house is the self and escaping
from it means not being burned in the fire of passions.
Second: A farmer whose ox has strayed away naturally
wants to find out where it has gone. Still searching at
nightfall, he finds an ox which he thinks belongs to him,
but the next day discovers that it is the king's beast.
Thinking, "I should get rid of this ox, or I may be
accused of theft," he releases the animal and so escapes
punishment. Here the ox is like the self mistakenly
regarded as real, and letting go of it, one escapes the
punishment of continued birth in samsara.
Third: This concerns a child. A woman inside her house
hears a child crying in the street. Supposing it to be the
sound of her own son, she runs out and brings the boy
inside. Then she sees her mistake. "This is not my own
child; it must be the neighbor's." So she quickly returns
the boy to the street and so avoids punishment. In the
same way people mistake something as belonging to
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