Development of a Buddhist Self

I will now briefly survey the development of the later Buddhist conceptions of self in India. Since Mahāyāna and non-Mahāyāna scriptures were introduced to China almost simultaneously, and Mahāyāna Buddhism became the mainstream in China from an early stage, it is essential to examine the later Buddhist conceptions of self, in order to understand how Chinese Buddhists came to form their own ideas of self. I cannot survey the whole development of later Buddhist ideas in detail, so I will focus on how the basic premises and principles that structured the early Buddhist conception of self were maintained, revised and abandoned by later Buddhists.