Buddhism teaches that human beings are composed of five aggregates, called skandhas in Sanskrit. If the form created by the four elements* is empty and without self, then human beings, created by the unification of the five skandhas, must also be empty and without self. Human beings are involved in a transformation process from second to second, minute to minute, continually experiencing impermanence in each moment. By looking very deeply into the five skandhas, we can experience the selfless nature of our bodies, our passage through birth and death, and emptiness, thereby destroying the illusion that our bodies are permanent. In Buddhism, no-self is the most important subject for meditation. By meditating on no-self, we can break through the barrier between self and other. When we no longer are separate from the universe, a completely harmonious existence with the universe is created. We see that all other human beings exist in us and that we exist in all other human beings. we see that the past and the future are contained in the present moment, and we can penetrate and be completely liberated from the cycle of birth and death. Modern science has also discovered the truth of the selfless nature of all things. The approach of British biologist Lyall Watson, for example, corresponds entirely with the principle of dependent origination and no-self. Scientists who meditate continuously on the selfless nature of their own bodies and minds, as well as the selfless nature of all things, will one day easily attain enlightenment.
---Thich Nhat Hanh---
*Earth, Air, Water, and Fire (Heat)
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