In this excerpt from the 39th Kopan Course, Lama Zopa Rinpoche discusses ignorance, the root of samsara.

In this video extract, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains that we live our entire life grasping at the real I, but in Buddhism we learn that the way the self appears is a total hallucination.

The I appears to exist from its own side, but it is merely imputed by the mind

Self-grasping ignorance believes the I to be concrete and inherently existent

The I appears to exist, but it can't be found anywhere on the aggregates

The lineage of the teachings was handed down to the Kadampas by Atisha, an Indian pandit who revived Buddhism in Tibet.

Commentary on the teachings of Atisha and the Kadampa geshes, the exemplary practitioners of Buddhism in Tibet.

Teachings given at Root Institute, Days 5 - 7; includes a commentary on Atisha's Jewel Garland

Teachings at Root Institute, Days 1 - 4; includes an oral transmission and commentary on Atisha's Jewel Garland

A commentary given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on an essential mind training text composed by Kadampa Geshe Langri Tangpa.

Teachings given at Tara Institute, Australia on June 2, 2006.

A commentary on Atisha's text, given to Western monks and nuns in Boudhanath, Nepal, in 1975. The teaching is translated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and edited by Nicholas Ribush.

Geshe Ngawang Dargyey gave this teaching on the nature of the self at Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre, Delhi, in 1980.

Investigating the nature of the self or I, which exists in mere name on a collection of parts.