Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

them, as a "self," and should quickly give it up if they
do not wish to experience painful results.
Fourth: A fisherman wants to catch a fish in a certain
pool so he casts his net. After a time, he feels that the
net is very heavy and may break if he tries to draw it out.
He thinks, "I have a fine catch," and reaches down with
his hand into the net, taking from it a large snake. He
knows immediately: "This is very dangerous," and
without more ado throws it away and escapes. In this
way we fish for a self and find out that all we catch is a
great danger. We should throw this away and escape.
Fifth: A man takes a wife whom he did not know was a
half-ghoul and lives with her for many years. One night
he wakes up to find his wife already leaving the house.
He follows her until they reach a cemetery where he
sees her eating the flesh of a corpse. He thinks to
himself, "All these years I had no idea she was a
non-human being. If I return to live with her again, one
night she may feed on me." So he flees. For long we
have identified something as a self but coming to
recognize the danger therein, we should flee far away
from such a false idea.
ii. Another idea of dharmas as selfless is contained in
the doctrine of atoms or matter which cannot be split
into anything finer. All beings and objects possessed of
form, whether gross or subtle, were, according to this
school, to be systematically analyzed into these atoms.
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