> and to try to reach a state where you don't exist, and teach you that your thoughts aren't your own and you have no free will. There's a lot going on here. S

> and to try to reach a state where you don't exist, and teach you that your thoughts aren't your own and you have no free will. There's a lot going on here. So, I don't exist, and yet an effort to reach the state of non-existence needs to be made (sounds like some faith/belief is required here to even begin). And, thoughts are without a self, which follows from the non-self notion. That all makes sense within this philosophy, but what about free will? It sounds like the state of non-self would be the essence of freedom, and therefore, choice, and not a fixed universe in which everything is preordained.