It is fundamental to every school of Buddhism that there is no ego, no enduring

entity which is the constant subject of our changing experiences. For the ego ex
ists in an abstract sense alone, being an abstraction from memory, somewhat like
the illusory circle of fire made by a whirling torch. We can, for example, imag
ine the path of a bird through the sky as a distinct line which it has taken. Bu
t this line is as abstract as a line of latitude. In concrete reality, the bird
left no line, and, similarly, the past from which our ego is abstracted has enti
rely disappeared. Thus any attempt to cling to the ego or to make it an effectiv
e source of action is doomed to frustration.