user11541: After attaining Nibbana, Buddha had realized that there is no self. However due to practical difficulties of communication, he had to use personal pronouns like 'I' , 'me' , 'myself' many times during conversation.
My question is: whether Buddha ever thought about himself? Because if he thought about himself then he must have had a self.
You can not think of yourself and simultaneously claim that there is no self.
In the book, Manual of Buddhism by Hardy Spence , it is written how Buddha thought about himself.
From p 181 :

After the repetition of these stanzas, Budha thought thus : " I have
attained the Budhaship ; I have overcome Mara ; all evil desire is
destroyed ; I am lord of the three worlds ; I will therefore remain
longer at this place, which has been to me so propitious." Thus
reflecting, he remained in a sitting posture upon the throne for the
space of seven days.

It is clear from the above translation that Buddha had a self because his thoughts bore witness to the self and declare that "I have attained Budhaship".
This proves that personal pronouns used by Buddha were not just used for convenience but were honestly projecting the reality that there is a self.
In thoughts there was no necessity to fake self for sake of communication.

user43: Great question. In my opinion, he assembled a sense of identity as needed, to overcome doubts and accumulate energy.
In other words, he did not have a self, he was no longer a self, he artfully utilized a constructed form of self, out of wisdom and compassion for the students. 
This is known as the Rainbow Body but it's purpose is not just to convince others, it is also a form of self-generation meant for self-empowerment. 

user-1: Assuming there is no self, and he had fully realised that and attained nirvana, then no, not in the sense of considering himself as a self. I'm sure he understood interlocutors that asked if he had a self, though. 
And assuming we can talk about the Buddha "thinking" about "sense objects", he would think about the things that unenlightened persons consider to make up a self.
If you mean think about himself as in value himself over anyone else, I think no, Buddhas are meant to be entirely compassionate and altruistic,
Some Mahayana sutras teach that there is a Buddha self, one that Shakyamuni has fully realised. But given that there is nothing except the skandhas, and the skandhas are not a self, it's not at all obvious to me what that is. 

user-1: Buddhism does not argue with reality. When one is awake, one understands ones true nature, that's all. One still has body, feeling, mental formation, consciousness and perception. And yes one can still think of themselves, one still needs to eat and talk and move around and be nice to people. However when this life ends you know it will be the end. Awakening is simply understanding. You simply understand what you are and this greatly impacts they way you behave in the world. I'm sure in your life you have realised a lot of things about yourself, even as a child growing up. All these realisations inform the way you are and how you interact with others. Awakening is the ultimate realisation that's all, you still need to use the toilet and go to work. 

user16683: Thế self Buddha mentioned in “ No self “ is a unchanged , everlasting , pẻmanent self . Thế self everybody are clinging is a temporary self . We have many lifetime , for each lifetime we have each self . So via many lifetime we have many different self depending on our past karma , our background of that life . 
Self is delusion , we have been reborn because we attache to our self . Immediately after enlightenment , the Buddha uttered this pane of joy : 
Through many a birth , I wandered in samsara , 
Seeking but not finding , the builder of the House 
Sorrowful it is to be born again and again 
The architect was craving or attachment ( tanHà ), A sẽ
Self- created force , a latent element in all . The rafters of this self-created house is defilement ( kilesa ) - the ridge pole that support the rafters is ignorance ( avijjà) , thế root cause of all defilements . The shattering of the ridge-pole of ignorance by wisdom results in complete demolition of the house . With the demolition of the house , the mind attains the uncondition which is Nibbãna 
Oh house builder ! Thou art seen - 
Thou shall build no house again , 
All thy rafter aérea broken .
Thy ridge - pole is shattered 
My mind has attained the unconditioned .
Achieved is the end of Craving . 

11541: <p>After attaining Nibbana, Buddha had realized that there is no self. However due to practical difficulties of communication, he had to use personal pronouns like 'I' , 'me' , 'myself' many times during conversation.</p>
<p>My question is: whether Buddha ever thought about himself? Because if he thought about himself then he must have had a self.</p>
<p>You can not think of yourself and simultaneously claim that there is no self.</p>
<p>In the book, <a href="https://archive.org/details/manualofbudhism00hard" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Manual of Buddhism</a> by Hardy Spence , it is written how Buddha thought about himself.
From p 181 :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>After the repetition of these stanzas, Budha thought thus : &quot; I have
attained the Budhaship ; I have overcome Mara ; all evil desire is
destroyed ; I am lord of the three worlds ; I will therefore remain
longer at this place, which has been to me so propitious.&quot; Thus
reflecting, he remained in a sitting posture upon the throne for the
space of seven days.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is clear from the above translation that Buddha had a self because his thoughts bore witness to the self and declare that &quot;I have attained Budhaship&quot;.
This proves that personal pronouns used by Buddha were not just used for convenience but were honestly projecting the reality that there is a self.
In thoughts there was no necessity to fake self for sake of communication.</p>
 43: <p>Great question. In my opinion, he assembled a sense of identity as needed, to overcome doubts and accumulate energy.</p>

<p>In other words, he did not have a self, he was no longer a self, he artfully utilized a constructed form of self, out of wisdom and compassion for the students. </p>

<p>This is known as the Rainbow Body but it's purpose is not just to convince others, it is also a form of self-generation meant for self-empowerment. </p>
 -1: <p>Assuming there is <strong><em>no self</em></strong>, and he had fully realised that and attained nirvana, then no, not in the sense of considering himself as a self. I'm sure he understood interlocutors that asked if he had a self, though. </p>

<p>And assuming we can talk about the Buddha "thinking" about "sense objects", he would think about the things that unenlightened persons consider to make up a self.</p>

<p>If you mean think about himself as in value himself over anyone else, I think no, Buddhas are meant to be entirely compassionate and altruistic,</p>

<p>Some Mahayana sutras teach that there is a Buddha self, one that Shakyamuni has fully realised. But given that there is nothing except the skandhas, and the skandhas are not a self, it's not at all obvious to me what that is. </p>
 -1: <p>Buddhism does not argue with reality. When one is awake, one understands ones true nature, that's all. One still has body, feeling, mental formation, consciousness and perception. And yes one can still think of themselves, one still needs to eat and talk and move around and be nice to people. However when this life ends you know it will be the end. Awakening is simply understanding. You simply understand what you are and this greatly impacts they way you behave in the world. I'm sure in your life you have realised a lot of things about yourself, even as a child growing up. All these realisations inform the way you are and how you interact with others. Awakening is the ultimate realisation that's all, you still need to use the toilet and go to work. </p>
 16683: <p>Thế self Buddha mentioned in “ No self “ is a unchanged , everlasting , pẻmanent self . Thế self everybody are clinging is a temporary self . We have many lifetime , for each lifetime we have each self . So via many lifetime we have many different self depending on our past karma , our background of that life . 
Self is delusion , we have been reborn because we attache to our self . Immediately after enlightenment , the Buddha uttered this pane of joy : 
Through many a birth , I wandered in samsara , 
Seeking but not finding , the builder of the House 
Sorrowful it is to be born again and again </p>

<p>The architect was craving or attachment ( tanHà ), A sẽ
Self- created force , a latent element in all . The rafters of this self-created house is defilement ( kilesa ) - the ridge pole that support the rafters is ignorance ( avijjà) , thế root cause of all defilements . The shattering of the ridge-pole of ignorance by wisdom results in complete demolition of the house . With the demolition of the house , the mind attains the uncondition which is Nibbãna </p>

<p>Oh house builder ! Thou art seen - 
Thou shall build no house again , 
All thy rafter aérea broken .
Thy ridge - pole is shattered </p>

<p>My mind has attained the unconditioned .
Achieved is the end of Craving . </p>
