[Proodustommor]

The Buddha did not declare "there is no self". The Buddha pointed out that one cannot point to anything and say, "This is my self, This is what I am."

This is not a declaration about what a person is. The Buddha is trying to move away from such speculations and instead point to the question of how we attach to sense experience and try to make it our own. The Buddha out it this way: 'The eye (and its associated neurosensory systems) sees a visual form (in your example of the tree) and 'eye-consciousness' arises (we become aware of this form of a tree). The meeting of the three (eye, form, eye-consciousness) is called 'eye-contact'. A sensation arises that is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. (In the presence of ignorance) craving arises in response to that sensation, and from that, clinging to that sensation arises. A self-concept arises (the notion of the tree in relation to ourselves, for example, its usefulness to us as a source of food, of beauty, of heat, etc.). The Buddha's teaching of Anatta (*not*-self) is a deconstruction of that self-view that arises in this process, not a nihilistic declaration like "there is no 'you'."