The Word of the Buddha The Scent of “I Am”

¶ 19The elder bhikkhus then asked him: “What do you mean by saying, ‘I am’? Do you mean that form is ‘I am,’ or do you mean something other than form? Do you mean that feeling is ‘I am,’ or something other than feeling? Do you mean that perception is ‘I am,’ or something other than perception? Do you mean that formations are ‘I am,’ or something other than formations? Do you mean that consciousness is ‘I am,’ or something other than consciousness? What exactly do you mean by saying, ‘I am’?”

¶ 20“Friends, I do not say that form is ‘I am,’ nor that something other than form is ‘I am.’ I do not say that feeling is ‘I am,’ nor that something other than feeling is ‘I am.’ I do not say that perception is ‘I am,’ nor that something other than perception is ‘I am.’ I do not say that formations are ‘I am,’ nor that something other than formations is ‘I am.’ I do not say that consciousness is ‘I am,’ nor that something other than consciousness is ‘I am.’ However, in these five aggregates, there remains the ‘I am’ conceit, ‘I am’ desire, and ‘I am’ underlying tendency.”