from: H.H. Dalai Lama.(2005). Lighting the Way. Geshe Thupten Jinpa (Trans.). www.snowlionpub.com :

Ego-attachment Cycle, Cause and Effect of Suffering

"Broadly speaking, there are two types of grasping at the self-existence of persons--those that focus on one's own self, and those that focus on others.

The first is known as the egoistic grasping at self-existence, within which there is the grasping at the thought 'I am' or 'me' On the one hand, and the grasping at 'mine' As the possessions of that self on the other.

• Working from this basis
  • we then extend the sense of self onto our belongingsand so forth, such as 'my house', 'my body' and 'my mind'.
  • Afflictions like attachment and anger arise on the basis of these possessive thoughts.

In order to bring about an end to this chain of afflictive causes and effects, we need to cultivate an understanding of the two selflessnesses = 'the selflessness of the person' and the 'selflessness of phenomena'.

• While many texts present the selflessness of phenomena first, it is said that in terms of Order of actual practice we should meditate first on the selflessness of the person