buddhist solution to human nature

Through meditation we confront our selfish desires and recognize that the "self" is the core of the problem. So we strive, in various ways, to eliminate this self and achieve its extinction. In effect, we seek to become nothing. We can advance toward this goal not merely through meditation but also through disciplined self-renunciation: renunciation of possessions, renunciation of sensual pleasure, and so on. This is a supremely, difficult project. Among Buddhists only the monks claim to even approach nirvana.