Why does Buddhism say to get rid of "the attachment of self"?

 　
    The Buddha once predicted: In the end of the Buddhist Dharma, the people’s mind will become more and more depraved, and the earth will be in the process of "the calamity of decreasing lifespan", society will become more chaotic; natural and man-made disasters will continuously occur, and appalling social events will emerge one after another. People’s morality will get weaker and weaker; in order to snatch their own interests, conflicts will continuously arise.
　
    If we want to slow down social chaos, we must research the root cause of the problem and solve it. Otherwise, it will still be ineffective after a lot of manpower, money, and material resources are spent. From the Buddhist Point of view, the root of all problems comes from "the attachment of self" —— clinging to the existence of ”I”; because of "the attachment of self", people greedily want to get more benefits and wealth for themselves; so when their own interests are taken over or threatened by others, all kinds of conflicts will arise for protecting their own benefits. People pollute the environment for their own enjoyment, destroy the ecological balance of the earth, and cause abnormal climate. In order to satisfy their own desires, people choose to give up morality and do whatever it takes to get what they want. From these, we can see that "the attachment of self" is the source of these problems. Although it is natural for people to accumulate wealth and buy food and houses for their own survival, the problem is that people are not satisfied: after having wealth, food, and houses, people also demand more wealth, tastier food, and more gorgeous houses, because of this greed for self, more and more serious social problems have occured.
　
    The problem caused by "the attachment of self" is not only a social problem, it is also the source of everyone's annoyances. From ancient times to the present, everyone from birth to death has been busy for this "I", from my survival (food), to my family, my country……, everything people do, explore until the end, it certainly relate to the "I"; but, what can these pursuits leave behind after "I" dies?
　
    From the Buddhist point of view, being bound by "I" is painful; people cannot truly be free because they cannot let go of the attachment of self. Ordinary people can hardly imagine what the state of "non-self" is, and some people even feel panic because of it. Indeed, in Buddhism, compared with the vast majority of people, those who can achieve "non-self" are very few, and they are considered "saints". However, as ordinary people, how should we face the predicament of "the attachment of self"? Although ordinary people cannot completely abandon the attachment of self, “reducing” the attachment of self can also make us a little free from this bondage; the farther we can get away from "the attachment of self", the farther we can get away from annoyances.
　
    Having said that, what should we actually do? First of all, we need to achieve "less desire and easy to content" —— reduce our desire and know the appropriate time to feel satisfied; because people always want more after they have some, therefore, “to reduce excessive desire and be satisfied with what we already have” can reduce part of "the attachment of self". The second is to change the habit of "self-centeredness". In our daily life, we are always used to thinking what is good for ourselves about all things we do, and we are always used to seeing things from our own point of view; we can try to reduce the importance of "I" in our daily life to gradually reduce our attachment to the self. Lastly, we should explore the truth of "non-self" —— whether "self" exists or not; this question has always been a difficult puzzle in the world. If this confusion is strong enough in our minds and we hope to find out the answer, then we can start looking for answers to get the truth; after getting the truth, we also will be truly free and relieved.
　
    "the attachment of self" is not beneficial to either oneself or society. Only "non-self" can make us find out the true destination of life. Before achieving this path, “reducing” the attachment of self can reduce all kinds of negative phenomena in our daily life and society.
　
　

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