Piyavadana

In India, three thousand years ago people tried to find an answer to what is “I,” what is the self? According to common experience, the body when young has a different appearance and shape than when old. The mind also, within minutes is different. But we have a natural feeling of “I” – when “I” was young, when “I” was old. Therefore, there must be an owner of the body and the mind. The owner must be something independent and permanent, unchanging, while the body and the mind changes. So, in India, a self, a soul, an “atman” – that idea comes. When the body is no longer usable, a soul remains there. That is the answer of what is “I.”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama