Is the essence of Buddhism to discover oneself, or to attain total abandonment of the self?

We can’t see the essence of ourselves, because we are deluded by illusions. The most persistent of all illusions that we are most attached to is the illusion of ‘I’. This is why ancient masters would say that the illusion of ‘I’ is the most difficult to remove.

The essence of Buddhism is to discover the true-Self by discarding the false self, the illusion of the self. Remember that the true-Self cannot be removed, or discarded while the illusion of the self can.

©Boo Ahm

All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway