the concept of self

recently, i started reading the book Happiness by Matthieu Ricard.. still reading though..

But, there're a couple of para are so well written that i would love to share here..

"Buddhism therefore concludes that the self is just a name we give to a continuum, just as we name a river the Ganges or the Mississippi. Such a continuum certainly exists, but only as a convention based upon the interdependence of the consciousness, the body, and the environment. It is entirely without autonomous existence." ~ page 90.

"This is how we reify the self and the world. The self is not nonexistent- as we are constantly reminded by experience - but it exists as a concept.. in that sense that Buddhism says that self has no autonomy or permanence, that it is like a mirage. Seen from afar, the mirage of a lake seems real, but we would have a hard time wringing any water out of it. Things are neither as they appear to exist nor are they entirely nonexistent. Like an illusion, they appear without having any ultimate reality." ~ page 93.

Reify means: to regard or treat as if it had a concrete or material existence