[eocavrWM]

Hello Deshy,

What i meant by ignorance was the (ego) or the illusionary self which is in my opinion the root that causes all our problems.

I thought there is a simple explaination for the existance of ego. The illusionary self is conditioned by two factors:

1- Our genes and our brain structure which is caused by evoultion driven us to feel this sense of (I) to enable us to live in this world and communicate with others.

2- Our eviornment and the society we live in. Society means everyone minus you! Since you were a small baby you have been given a name, have beem given feedbacks about yourself and your actions which shaps your idea about yourself! hence the ego is merely a reflected awarness of yourself, not the real you. If your husband is nice to you or if he buys you a gift you feel great, but if he criticizes you or fight with you then you would feel bad! So you are not aware of yourself, but you are aware how others feel about you.

By the way, this is what psychologists have been telling us during the last century. They call it "nature vs nurture" which implies that both elements combined makes us what we are, its a conditioned state and a deep slavery.

I used to believe in determinism, and what brought me to Buddhism is my desire to be free, and the way to freedom is by breaking out the chain of determinism "the ego" and this can be done through real awareness, not the reflected one.

In my opinion the ego is the main problem. Once we drop our illusions we will become free and we wont be attached to anything anymore.

To sum up, ego is the cause and tanha is the effect. How can you get attached to anything if there is no "you"?

Regards,
Bundokji