The Diamond Sutra treats what is ordinarily called “self” or personal identity as a conceptual construct rather than an ultimately real entity. It systematically denies the existence of a permanent, independent self (ātman) and repeatedly warns against clinging to the four notions of self, person, being, and lifespan or soul. These categories are presented as mental fabrications imposed upon a flow of impermanent phenomena, and the sutra insists that taking them as solid realities is a fundamental error. In this way, personal identity is revealed as empty of inherent existence, a label applied to a collection of changing aggregates rather than a fixed core.

At the same time, the text acknowledges a distinction between conventional and ultimate perspectives. In ordinary communication, terms such as “I,” “you,” and “sentient being” continue to function, yet the sutra insists that, when examined deeply, no enduring entity corresponding to these names can be found. This is expressed in its characteristic formula: something “is not X; therefore it is called X,” indicating that beings and selves exist only as designations, not as self-sufficient essences. Recognizing this emptiness (śūnyatā) does not amount to nihilism; rather, it loosens the grip of clinging to a false, reified self that is taken to be separate and permanent.

This insight has profound implications for spiritual practice and for the way compassion is understood. The bodhisattva is portrayed as one who vows to liberate all beings, yet realizes that, ultimately, there is no fixed savior and no fixed beings to be saved. By seeing through the illusion of a solid self and other, the bodhisattva acts without ego-investment, without the conceit “I am saving beings” or “I have attained realization.” Even the identity of being a bodhisattva or an enlightened person is to be relinquished, because attachment to any spiritual status is still a subtle form of self-grasping. In this non-abiding wisdom, the mind does not rest in any fixed notion of self, attainment, or status, and from that freedom, compassion can flow without obstruction.