This three-part scheme of powers, domains, and consciousness was developed to allow practitioners the opportunity to investigate the nature of their experience and ascertain for themselves the absence or presence of a self. To call certain elements “subjective” reintroduces the self in sheep’s clothing. The best approach is to give each element equal weight. The same problem arises from distinguishing certain skandhas or ayatanas as internal or external. These are judgments, which can be useful up to a point, but which easily mislead us into sneaking a “self ” through the back door, and which
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