Pure Consciousness: The nondual Reality prior to the appearance of the ‘I’:

• • Nisargadatta Maharaj calls it the Absolute or Parabrahman, the source from which Beingness and the knowledge ‘I AM’ arise.
  • Ramana calls it the Self, the Heart, or the unbroken shining ‘I-I.’
  • The Buddha expresses this realization through Suññatā, the direct seeing that all phenomena are empty of self and anything belonging to self. The consummation of Suññatā is Nibbāna, the complete cessation of craving, I-making, mine-making, and conceit.

Witness Consciousness: The first subtle emergence of ‘I’ that witnesses manifestations without yet becoming a particular identity; it is the root of the ego:

• • Nisargadatta Maharaj calls it Beingness, Consciousness, the knowledge ‘I AM’, ‘Main hoon’, ‘Mee aahe’, ‘I-Sense ‘, or the sense of existing.
  • Ramana Maharshi describes it as the inwardly shining awareness of Being that witnesses the Waker, Dreamer, and Sleeper, the root of individuality, the I-thought.
  • The Buddha identifies it as asmimāna, a refined sense of individuality even after gross identification has weakened and dissolved through directly seeing the arising and passing of the five aggregates.

Ego: When the Witness identifies with a manifestation and becomes the Waker, Dreamer, Sleeper:

• • Nisargadatta Maharaj describes the ego as the impersonal ‘I AM’ identifying with the body-mind and becoming ‘I am this person.’
  • Ramana Maharshi describes the root I-thought attaching itself to the body, mind, and other objects and becoming ‘I am this’ or ‘I am the body.’
  • The Buddha describes it as I-making, mine-making, and conceit expressed through appropriating the five aggregates as: ‘This is mine, this I am, this is my self.’