Friend: Terrible. Everything is going wrong for me today. I feel as though I am lost and cannot get out of this rut I am in.

Buddha: How can you feel as though you are in a rut when it is not really you?

Friend: I don't understand....what do you mean by saying it is not really me?

Buddha: There is no suffering cause you cannot experience the I.

Friend: Well, I do not believe that I cannot experience it because I can feel all the pain around me and what I feel inside of me is even worse. I can see myself deteriorating due to my diabetes. I cannot even walk a mile anymore without great pain in all of my muscles. The people around me are experiencing my pain too because they care so much for me and can see how much I am hurting in the long run. I am tired all the time and always cranky to others because of it. I am on pain killers, although, they do not really work because I still feel all of the aches and pains. My soul is being torn between me trying to be a good person, however, because of the pain I am in....I am becoming intolerable. I cannot do the simple things for myself like eating, washing, and grooming. Therefore, I am causing others to exer

Friend: So my asking you to help me by just letting me die would be inconsiderate not only because it would effect your Karma, it would be considered as one of the three forms of craving and also it could create bad Karma for me in another life because it could cause people who care about me to have great devastation or suffering, which in the end is what Buddhists do not want.

Friend: I don't know if I truly understand the idea of "No Self".

Friend: So basically, everyone should be able to achieve Nirvana, however, only some people ever reach that state of truth.

Buddha: It is the cornerstone of Buddhist Ethics. It is the idea in which the realization of that there is never the person. Primarily it undermines the attachment to self - that "I" am positive, self-identical entity that should be gratified, and should be able to brush aside others if they get in "my" way. It undercuts selfishness by undercutting the very notion of a substantial self. For example, "you" cannot be angry because "you" cannot be offended because there is no real you in the first place. This does not deny that each person has an individual history and character, but it emphasizes that these compounds of universal factors. In understanding the idea of "No Self", Nirvana can be achieved.

Buddha: Think about this...The people who love you and care for you a great deal; Don't you think that they would hav

Some common words found in the essay are:
Friend Terrible, Rebirth Buddha, Buddhist Ethics, Fold Path, Karma Karma, Buddhism Humans, Friend Thank, Self Friend, Buddhist Religion, Friend Hmmmmmmmmm, idea self, attaining nirvana, friend don't, understand idea, buddha yes, friend believe, understand idea self, unpleasant realms, forms craving,
Approximate Word count = 946
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)