Ego
In Buddhism the concept of an ego, in the sense of consciousness of one’s self, is seen as composed of non-valid factors, as delusion. The concept of an ego arises when the dichotomizing intellect (the sixth sense) is confused into presupposing a dualism between I and not I (or other). As a result, we think and act as though we were entitles separated from everything else, over and against a world that lies outside of us. Thus the idea of an I (self) becomes fixed in our subconscious, a self which produces thought processes like “I hate this, I love that; this is yours, this is mine.” Nurtured by such conceptions, we reach the point where the I or ego dominates the mind; it attacks everything that threatens its dominance and its power. Enmity, desire and alienation, which culminate in suffering, are the ineluctable results of this outlook, which in Buddhism is cut through by the practice of INSIGHT MEDITATION. Thus, in the course of PRACTICE(discriminative meditation) training under a GURU, who leads people on the path to ENLIGHTENMENT, the dominance of the ego illusion over the practitioner’s thinking and aspirations is gradually overcome.