BUDDHIST IDEAS ABOUT NO SELF, NO SOUL, IMPERMANENCE, ILLUSIONS

BUDDHIST IDEAS ABOUT NO SELF

Tibetan diety, Vaisravana, God of Wealth

According to the Buddha, humans mistakenly posit the existence of an autonomous, permanent self. As such, they inevitably experience suffering as they try to maintain a permanent hold on things that are constantly changing and impermanent. Instead, the Buddha’s teachings advanced the doctrine of “no-self” and insisted on the impermanence of all things.

The doctrine of "no-self" (anatman; Hinduism: atman; Pali:, anatta) is one of the most important, and hard to grasp, of all all Buddhist teachings. One of The Buddha's teachings about the cause of suffering was that it was a result of false illusions about the self. The self, or soul, or "essential person", was an illusion. Thus Buddhism does not teach that "you" are "soul" which is "reborn" (although certain forms of Hindu teaching may be understood in this way. Rather Buddhism teachers the "Mind" and "Mindfulness" exist, and that there is a karmic continuity between incarnations of mind. The link then is karmic, not essential. The Anattalakkhana Sutta is a document from the Pali canon of Buddhist scriptures in which the Buddha argues for this idea. [Source: Brooklyn College]

The doctrine of no self doesn’t mean that humans have no personality. Rather it posits that because everything in the world is impermanent (See impermanence below), there can be no permanent self. In this way, Buddhism differs significantly from Hindu doctrine, which states that a permanent self is reborn repeatedly in samsara. According to the Buddha's second sermon, the self is merely a collection of personality traits (skandas). The text already meets the desired characteristics and is error-free. No changes were made. [Source: Jacob Kinnard, Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices, 2018, Encyclopedia.com]

The idea of no self is illustrated in a conversation between the monk Nagasena and King Milinda, contained in the Milindapanha. Nagasena uses the example of a chariot to explain the idea of no self to Milinda, saying that although one see a chariot, it only exists as a collection of parts — axles, wheels, and the like — and thus because no single part can be called the chariot, there is “no essential, independent thing called a chariot, just as there is no essential, independent self.”

One introductory text on Buddhism says: "The sense of self that we naively cling to is seen by the naked eye of meditation to be only a tenuous, ever-shifting amalgam of psychological elements, known traditionally as the five skandhas, or "heaps." . . . A key point is duality, which arises at the first skandha, form. Duality is a description for the most basic characteristic of the confused world of ego, the rudimentary building block of the suffering world of samsara.” [Source: Samuel Bercholz and Sherab Chödzin Kohn, eds., Entering the Stream: An Introduction to the Buddha and His Teachings, Shambala, 1993, p. 73.]

Websites and Resources on Buddhism: Buddha Net buddhanet.net/e-learning/basic-guide ; Internet Sacred Texts Archive sacred-texts.com/bud/index ; Introduction to Buddhism webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/buddhaintro ; Early Buddhist texts, translations, and parallels, SuttaCentral suttacentral.net ; East Asian Buddhist Studies: A Reference Guide, UCLA web.archive.org ; View on Buddhism viewonbuddhism.org ; Tricycle: The Buddhist Review tricycle.org ; BBC - Religion: Buddhism bbc.co.uk/religion

Absence of a Soul in Buddhism

The Buddha taught that separate souls for individuals that remained distinct after death do not exist. Instead, he taught that each person is part of the rest of humanity, just as one candle flame is part of the general class of fire. This is related to the concept of emptiness, or sunyata, which means that things do not exist on their own but are part of a larger universal network or web of all things and beings. The world exists as it does because of everything within it. The Buddha also observed that there are corresponding opposites in the universe. The Buddha concluded that if there is suffering, there must also be an absence of suffering.. [Source: Encyclopedia.com]

The Buddha said: [T]he belief in an [individual soul] is merely an illusion. Just as that which we designate by the name of "chariot," has no existence apart from axle, wheels, shaft, and so forth: or as the word "house" is merely a convenient designation for various materials put together after a certain fashion so as to enclose a portion of space, and there is no separate house-entity in existence:- in exactly the same way, that which we call a "being," or an "individual," or a "person," or by the name "I," is nothing but a changing combination of physical and psychical phenomena, and has no real existence in itself. [Source: Mario Bussagli, “5000 Years of the Art of India” (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., n.d.). Internet Archive, from CCNY]

The Sri Lankan monk Aryadasa Ratnasinghe wrote: “Buddhism stands unique since it denies in the existence of a soul (ego). Buddha said that the idea of a soul is an imaginary, false and baseless belief, which has no corresponding reality, but produces harmful thoughts, selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism and other defilements, impurities and problems. In short, to this false view can be traced all the evils in the world which we experience. Soul is usually explained as the principle of life, the ultimate identity of a person or the immortal constituent of self.”

Buddha's Sermon on the No-Self

Samyutta Nikaya XXII, 59 in the Anattalakkhana Sutta reads:One of the most important, and hard to grasp, of all all Buddhist teachings is the doctrine of anatta, or "no-self". One of Sakyamuni Buddha's teachings about the cause of suffering was that it was a result of false illusions about the self. The self, or soul, or "essential person", was an illusion. Thus Buddhism does not teach that "you" are "soul" which is "reborn" (although certain forms of Hindu teaching may be understood in this way. Rather Buddhism teachers the "Mind" and "Mindfulness" exist, and that there is a karmic continuity between incarnations of mind. The link then is karmic, not essential. The Anattalakkhana Sutta is a document from the Pali canon of Buddhist scriptures in which the Buddha argues for this idea. [Source: Brooklyn College]

Teaching Buddha: Mindfulness and Wisdom

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Varanasi in the Game Refuge at Isipatana. There he addressed the group of five monks: 'The body, monks, is not self. If the body were the self, this body would not lend itself to dis-ease. It would be possible (to say) with regard to the body, "Let my body be thus. Let my body not be thus." But precisely because the body is not self, the body lends itself to dis-ease. And it is not possible (to say) with regard to the body, "Let my body be thus. Let my body not be thus."

'Feeling is not self.... Perception is not self.... Mental processes are not self.... 'Consciousness is not self. If consciousness were the self, this consciousness would not lend itself to dis-ease. It would be possible (to say) with regard to consciousness, "Let my consciousness be thus. Let my consciousness not be thus." But precisely because consciousness is not self, consciousness lends itself to dis-ease. And it is not possible (to say) with regard to consciousness, "Let my consciousness be thus. Let my consciousness not be thus."

'How do you construe thus, monks — Is the body constant or inconstant?' 'Inconstant, Lord.' 'And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?' 'Stressful, Lord.' 'And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: "This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am"?' 'No, Lord.' '...Is feeling constant or inconstant?.... Is perception constant or inconstant?.... Are mental processes constant or inconstant?.... 'Is consciousness constant or inconstant?' 'Inconstant, Lord.' 'And is that which is inconstant easeful or stressful?' 'Stressful, Lord.' 'And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: "This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am"?' 'No, Lord.' 'Thus, monks, any body whatsoever — past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near: every body — is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: "This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am." 'Any feeling whatsoever.... Any perception whatsoever.... Any mental processes whatsoever....

'Any consciousness whatsoever — past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle, common or sublime, far or near: every consciousness — is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: "This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am." 'Seeing thus, the instructed Noble disciple grows disenchanted with the body, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with perception, disenchanted with mental processes, and disenchanted with consciousness. Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is released. With release, there is the knowledge, "Released." He discerns that, "Birth is depleted, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world."' That is what the Blessed Onesaid. Glad at heart, the group of five monks delighted at his words. And while this explanation was being given, the hearts of the group of five monks, through no clinging (not being sustained), were released from the mental effluents.

Impermanence in Buddhism

20120430-pecha three baskets texts kala.jpg
three baskets texts Another major principle of Buddhism is the idea of the impermanence of all things, anicca. By failing to understand that existence is impermanent, people suffer. For the Buddha the idea of emptiness means that there is no separate self. Rather, people are all part of the same network or fabric. In a sense, reaching nirvana means losing one's individual identity.

Jacob Kinnard wrote in the Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices: The doctrine of impermanence (anitya) is rooted in the four visions that prompted Siddhartha to abandon his life in the palace. What he realized, when he saw old age, disease, and death, was that all beings are in a fundamental state of flux and, ultimately, decay. This is, in an important sense, a fundamental corollary to the reality of samsara — the human being, just as the world, is constantly evolving, decaying, and reforming. [Source: Jacob Kinnard, Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices, 2018, Encyclopedia.com]

Furthermore, it is the failure to recognize this flux that causes beings to suffer, since they grasp on to that which is impermanent — life, love, material objects, and so on — wishing it will last. The Buddha condenses this basic idea in a simple pronouncement (in Pali): yad aniccam tam dukkham (whatever is impermanent is suffering). Since everything is necessarily impermanent, then everything ultimately involves suffering, which he succinctly expresses in the phrase sabbam dukkham (everything is suffering).

Illusions in Buddhism

Buddhists believe all things are ultimately illusions and there are only sequences of appearances that appear as reality. Death represents the trading of old appearances for new ones. Even gods are only temporary forms of appearance. The belief that the world is not real but is a world of illusion lies at the heart of Mahayana Buddhist thought. Religious scholar Edward Conze wrote: “In actual reality there are no Buddhas, no Bodhisattvas, no perfections, no stages and no paradise — none of all this. All these conceptions have no reference to anything that is actually there. They are just expedients, concessions of the multitude of ignorant, provisional constructs of thought, which become superfluous after having served their purpose.”

Nirvana, as the true Reality, is one single and has no second. All multiplicity, all separation, all duality is a sign of falseness. Everything apart from the One, also called “Emptiness” or “Suchness” is devoid of real existence.”

True understanding of this reality is extremely subtle and abstruse and is said to take not just many years but many lifetimes to comprehend. According to the Perfect Wisdom sutra: “No one can grasp the perfection of wisdom, for no Dharma at all has been indicated, lit up or communicated. So there will be on one who can even grasp it.” Those taken into the consciousness of the gods found: “There is nothing at all to be understood! For nothing in particular has been indicated, nothing in particular has been explained.”

Illusion of Soul

Sanskrit scholar R.P. Hayes wrote: The Buddha taught that there is no soul, no essential and permanent core to a living being. Instead, that which we call a 'living being', human or other, can be seen to be but a temporary coming together of many activities and parts - when complete it is called a 'living being', but after the parts separate and the activities cease it is not called a 'living being' anymore. Like an advanced computer assembled of many parts and activities, only when it is complete and performs coherent tasks is it called a 'computer', but after the parts are disconnected and the activities cease it is no longer called a 'computer'. No essential permanent core can be found which we can truly call 'the computer', just so, no essential permanent core can be found which we can call 'the soul'. [Source: R.P. Hayes, Buddhist Society of Western Australia, Buddha Sasana =|=]

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“Yet Rebirth still occurs without a soul. Consider this simile: on a Buddhist shrine one candle, burnt low, is about to expire. A monk takes a new candle and lights it from the old. The old candle dies, the new candle burns bright. What went across from the old candle to the new? There was a causal link but no thing went across! In the same way, there was a causal link between your previous life and your present life, but no soul has gone across. =|=

“Indeed, the illusion of a soul is said by the Buddha to be the root cause of all human suffering. The illusion of 'soul' manifests as the 'Ego'. The natural unstoppable function of the Ego is to control. Big Egos want to control the world, average Egos try to control their immediate surroundings of home, family and workplace, and almost all Egos strive to control what they take to be their own body and mind. Such control manifests as desire and aversion, it results in a lack of both inner peace and outer harmony. It is this Ego that seeks to acquire possessions, manipulate others and exploit the environment. Its aim is its own happiness but it invariably produces suffering. It craves for satisfaction but it experiences discontent. Such deep- rooted suffering cannot come to an end until one sees, through deep and powerful meditation, that the idea 'me and mine' is no more than a mirage.

According to “Topics in Japanese Cultural History”: “We have seen that desires cause suffering, but to eliminate desires, we must first understand their source. What causes desires? From where do they originate? The basic answer is our sense of existence as a distinct individual, in other words, our sense of self. Nirvana is the complete absence of this sense of self. Without any sense of self whatsoever, a person cannot exist as a distinct individual. In our present state of self-ish existence, nirvana is inconceivable. But suffering is easily conceivable, and characterizing nirvana as the complete absence of suffering or liberation from suffering made its attainment an appealing goal to many in ancient India and elsewhere. [Source: “Topics in Japanese Cultural History” by Gregory Smits, Penn State University figal-sensei.org ~]

“If the sense of self is the source of desires that make our lives constant suffering, we must inquire into what constitutes this sense of self. What makes the thought "I am" seem natural, obvious, and unproblematic? According to basic Buddhist teaching, it is the "Five Heaps" called the "Five Aggregates" or "five skandhas") (1) matter or form; (2) sensation or perception; (3) conception; (4) volition; and (5) consciousness. The teaching that the Five Heaps constitutes our sense of self is extremely difficult to comprehend because it is so foreign to our common-"sensical" feeling that "of course, I am, I really am."~

Emptiness, Wisdom and Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana Buddhism is very much preoccupied with the idea of “Emptiness” — which one scholar described as “absolute transcendental reality beyond the grasp of intellectual comprehension and verbal expression” — and reaching an “empty” selfless state by purging oneself of one’s self through self-sacrifice, service, insight and wisdom to penetrate to true reality or the “own-being” of things

Conze, wrote: “The perfection of wisdom finally is the ability to understand the essential properties of all processes and phenomena, their mutual relations, the conditions which bring about their rise and fall, and the ultimate unreality of their environmental existence. At the highest point it leads right into the Emptiness which is the one and only reality.”

The primary ontological beliefs in Mahayana Buddhism are :1) Thought in its natural state of “own-being” is perfectly pure and translucent; 2) empirical knowledge is regarded with suspicion and, in the view of some, is factitious; 3) all things are “empty”; 4) Emptiness expressed as “Suchness” or “one,” implies meaning that alone is real and absolute; 5) if all is the same then absolute and relative; conditional and unconditional; true and false ; and yes and no are all the same. With ths being the case self-contradictory statements are often closest to the true reality.

Tibetan monks debating

Buddhist Philosophizing

Perry Garfinkel wrote in National Geographic: “Some people argue that the Buddha was right, that Buddhism should not be categorized as a religion but as a philosophy or form of psychology. After all, unlike other religions, there is no supreme being, and it encourages you to question — even challenge — authority. [Source: Perry Garfinkel, National Geographic, December 2005]

Buddhists believe you shouldn’t delve too deeply into the past, speculating about the future is pointless and the present should be experienced as a state of being rather than analyzed. Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk who was exiled from Vietnam in the 1960s for his nonviolent antiwar activities, told National Geographic, “It all starts with a spin on an old adage: “Don't just do something, sit there...First you must learn what the Buddha learned, to still the mind. Then you don't take action; action takes you." [Ibid]

Philosophical discussions are especially important with Mahayana Buddhists. Monks engage in long philosophical discussions about thing like “What is change?’ and “What is right?” Novice monks learn the subtle points of Buddhist theology by participating in debates on things like whether or not a rabbit has a horn and whether or not past and future events can be described as real.

Some say Buddhism is more a science of the mind than a religion. Describing the Buddhist form of discussion, one American Buddhist told the New Yorker, “The philosophy of the mind” was presented as “a kind of brick-by-brick construction of proper view of consciousness. Each point was introduced, examined from the point of view of several different schools of Buddhist thought, then synthesized into a conclusion that led to the next point.”

Interdependence — the idea that all beings are linked together in a network known as Indra’s Net — is a key concept in Buddhist. Alan Wallace of the Interdisciplinary Study of Consciousness told Smithsonian magazine, “The pursuit of knowledge in Buddhism in inextricably related to the pursuit of virtue, and the pursuit of virtue is inextricably related to the pursuit of happiness.

The Buddha said "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it; not in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations; not in anything because it is spoken and rumoured by many; not in anything because it is found written in your spiritual texts; not in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders, but only after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it". (Kalama Sutta).

Classification of possible positions about question "Why am I myself rather than someone else?" or "Why am I here and now ?" by Tsuneo Watanabe (pschologist, philosopher, professor at Toho University, Japan.) The arrow at left indicates direction of time. Past(top) to Future(down). (a) Pure solipsism (b) Solipsistic reincarnationism (c) Universal reincarnationism (d) Universal reincarnationism full of holes; Tsuneo Watanabe himself pushes position (c), because of he thinks that is most elegant

Existence, Mind and Thoughts

On the characteristics of existence, The Buddha said: Corporeality is transient, feeling is transient, perception is transient, mental formations are transient, consciousness is transient . . . . Suppose, a man who is not blind, were to behold the many bubbles on the Ganges as they are driving along; and he should watch them, and carefully examine them. After carefully examining them, they will appear to him empty, unreal, and unsubstantial. In exactly the same way, does the monk behold all the corporeal phenomena, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and states of consciousness- whether they be of the past, or the present, or the future, far, or near. And he watches them, and examines them carefully; and, after carefully examining them, they appear to him empty, void, and without an [individual soul]. Whoso delights in corporeality, or feeling, or perception, or mental formations, or consciousness, he delights in suffering; and whoso delights in suffering, will not be freed from suffering. . . . In deepest darkness you are wrapped! Why do you not seek for the light? . . . All life must truly end in death. [Source: Mario Bussagli, “5000 Years of the Art of India” (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., n.d.). Internet Archive, from CCNY]

On the Silent Thinker, The Buddha said: "I am" is a vain thought; "I am not" is a vain thought; "I shall be" is a vain thought; "I shall not be" is a vain thought. Vain thoughts are a sickness, an ulcer, a thorn. But after overcoming all vain thoughts, one is called "a silent thinker." And the thinker, the Silent One, does no more arise, no more pass away, no more tremble, no more desire. For there is nothing in him that he should arise again. And as he arises no more, how should he grow old again? And as he grows no more old, how should he die again? And as he dies no more, how should he tremble? And as he trembles no more, how should he have desire? All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. — Dhammapada Chapter 1:1-2

Like as a mother at the risk of her life watches over her only child, so also let every one cultivate towards all beings a boundless (friendly) mind.—Metta-sutta. [Source: “The Essence of Buddhism” Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius, 1922, Project Gutenberg]

With every desire to do good, the ignorant and foolish only succeed in doing harm.... 'Tis knowledge crowns endeavor with success.—Jataka.

Watch your thoughts.—Dhammapada.

May my thoughts, now small and narrow, expand in the next existence, that I may understand the precepts ... thoroughly, and never break them or be guilty of trespasses.—Inscription in Temple of Nakhon Vat.

Use no perfume but sweetness of thoughts.—Siamese Buddhist Maxim.

A contented mind is always joyful.—Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king.

To feed a single good man is infinitely greater in point of merit, than attending to questions about heaven and earth, spirits and demons, such as occupy ordinary men.—Sutra of Forty-two Sections.

If you remove (from conduct) the purpose of the mind, the bodily act is but as rotten wood. Wherefore regulate the mind, and the body of itself will go right.—Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king.

The mind must be brought under perfect subjection.—Inscription on Votive Images.

He whose mind is subdued and perfectly controlled is happy.—Udanavarga.

If only the thoughts be directed to that which is right, then happiness must necessarily follow.—Fa-kheu-pi-u.

Buddhist Sources on The Self, Truth-Seeking, Salvation and Self Examination

Buddhism teaches inner peace leads to outer peace. The Buddha said: “The purpose of the Holy Life does not consist in acquiring alms, honor, or fame, nor in gaining morality, concentration, or the eye of knowledge. That unshakable deliverance of the heart: that, verily, is the object of the Holy Life, that is its essence, that is its goal. [Source: Mario Bussagli,”5000 Years of the Art of India” (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., n.d.). Internet Archive, from CCNY] The faults of others are easily seen; one's own faults are difficult to see.—Udanavarga. [Source: “The Essence of Buddhism” Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius, 1922, Project Gutenberg]

Self-examination is painful.—Pillar Inscriptions of Asoka.

The fool thinks himself alone and commits sin. But I know of no lonely place at all.... Of a bad action my "Self" is a witness far more sharp-sighted than any other person.—Jatakamala.

What has been designated "name" and "family" ... is but a term.—Vasettha-sutta.

Though a man conquer a thousand thousand men in battle, a greater conqueror still is he who conquers himself.—Udanavarga.

Root out the love of self.—Jataka.

The body may wear the ascetic's garb, the heart be immersed in worldly thoughts: ... the body may wear a worldly guise, the heart mount high to things celestial.—Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king.

A man winnows his neighbor's faults like chaff: his own he hides, as a cheat the bad die from the gambler.—Dhammapada.

Those who search after truth should have a heart full of sympathy.—Story of Virudhaka.

Let us then practice good works, and inspect our thoughts that we do no evil. —Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king.

Now, therefore, it behooves me to examine into my faults; and if I find anything wrong in me, to put it away, and practice virtue only.—Jataka.

He speaks truth unmixed with falsehood.—Samanna-phala-sutta.

Work out your own salvation with diligence.—Mahaparinibbana-sutta.

Have you not heard what Buddha says in the Sutra (where he bids his followers), not to despise the little child?—Ta-chwang-yan-king-lun.

In this mode of salvation there are no distinctions of rich and poor, male and female, people and priests: all are equally able to arrive at the blissful state.—From a Chinese Buddhist Tract.

Even the most unworthy who seeks for salvation is not to be forbidden. —Ta-chwang-yan-king-lun.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: East Asia History Sourcebook sourcebooks.fordham.edu , “Topics in Japanese Cultural History” by Gregory Smits, Penn State University figal-sensei.org, Asia for Educators, Columbia University; Asia Society Museum “The Essence of Buddhism” Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius, 1922, Project Gutenberg, Virtual Library Sri Lanka; “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “Encyclopedia of the World's Religions” edited by R.C. Zaehner (Barnes & Noble Books, 1959); “Encyclopedia of the World Cultures: Volume 5 East and Southeast Asia” edited by Paul Hockings (G.K. Hall & Company, New York, 1993); BBC, Wikipedia, National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Reuters, AP, AFP, and various books and other publications.

Last updated March 2024