Learning to meditate on an (often misconceived) idea that one has no self is a self-centered activity that I think is likely to be self-defeating.
– – – Richard Gombrich

Before you ask, this is the son of Ernst Hans Gombrich. The circular references to self capture the difficulty involved with assimilating the Buddhist concept that denies a ‘self.’ We see presented the same sort of semantic problem as the translation of “Cogito ergo sum” into “I think, therefore I am.” The translation spells out very clearly that we are involved in a syllogism.

I am not going to continue along this line any further. Since we are dealing with Buddhist images from Sri Lanka, I just thought this would be a good place to evoke the name of Richard Gombrich.