In order to attain insight-wisdom one must have Right View, the view that there are three fundamental truths: one, all existence - if an individual is ignorant of the true nature of things - is suffering; two, all existence is transitory or impermanent; and three, there is no permanent self or soul.

In order to enegise Right View one should cultivate Right Thought, which means right motivation and right attitude. This involves freeing oneself from what the Buddha called the three fires or three major defilements: greed, anger, and delusion.

    Anger needs no further definition.

    Greed is defined in the Buddhist concept (tanha) as craving, egoistic desire, attachment.

    Delusion, also known as 'ignorance', is the absence of insight-wisdom, the lack of understanding of the Four Noble Truths. There is suffering, the cause of suffering is egoistic desire; the elimination of egoistic desire eliminates suffering; the way to the elimination of egoistic desire is the Noble Eightfold Path

Tanha should be understood as craving, egoistic (and sensual) desire, attachment. As the Buddha viewed it, sensual craving, craving for eternal existence, craving for perpetual youth, for constant good health, for temporal happiness, and so on, are the sources of dukkha, of man's disease, anguish, suffering, and unhappiness. Craving may lead to doing harm to others. It may lead to inner anxieties and tensions brought on by the struggle to attain what is craved, the fear of not succeeding in the attainment, or the fear of losing what has been attained. Craving ensnares us. The pleasures derived from sensual craving, craving for eternal existence, and craving for temporal happiness cannot satisfy our most heart-felt longings.
We crave, Buddhism teaches, because we are attached to the notion of 'self', from which we can release ourselves by conscious and strenuous effort at detachment. And detachment is a consequence of the cultivation of insight-wisdom. When we detach from craving, we detach from suffering.

Anicca, or impermanence - constant flux - is an absolute characteristic of all existence, there are those who are unable to recognise or unwilling to accept its reality, and these are the people who, in their delusion, the Buddha said, create for themselves a false belief in a permanent 'self'. Most people, however, accept the notion of impermanence, even though they have difficulty with the notion of 'no-self'. Insight-wisdom helps one come to grips with both notions.

Anatta, 'no-self'. In Buddhism, the Light of Asia, Kenneth Ch'en gives us these very helpful observations:
"The Buddha held that belief in a permanent self or soul is one of the most deceitful delusions ever held by man, for it gives rise to attachment, attachment to egoism, egoism to cravings for pleasure and fame, which in turn lead to suffering. He held that this false belief in a permanent self is due to an erroneous conception of a unity behind the elements that combine to make up an individual.

"He said that he had searched everywhere for this permanent self or soul, but found only a conglomeration of the five khandas or aggregates - material body, feelings, perception, predispositions, and consciousness. At any one moment, according to him, we are but a temporary composition of the five aggregates, and as these change every moment, so does the composition. Therefore all that we are is but a continuous living entity which does not remain the same for any two consecutive moments, but which comes into being and disappears as soon as it arises.

"Why then should we attach so much importance to this transitory entity, in which there is no permanent self or soul? Once we accept this truth of the non-existence of a permanent self, when we see that  what we call the self is nothing but a stream of perishing physical phenomena, then we destroy our selfish desires and self-interests, and instead of suffering from anxieties and disappointments, we will enjoy peace of mind and tranquility."  This is another truth revealed by the cultivation of insight-wisdom.

One should not think I am in pain, but rather there is pain; not that I am angry but rather that there is anger; not that I am joyful but rather that there is joy. In short, not "I am" but rather "there is". One should realise that whatever arises, i.e. whatever "there is" such as pain, feelings, sensations, thoughts, emotions soon passes away. It is the law of impermanence: What arises passes away. Thus, one should realise that I, although a useful and necessary social-communicative term, cannot be regarded as a permanent self. It should not, and cannot, be clung to.

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