Tuesday, May 14, 2019

No Soul

Here is an explanation of non-self अनत्ता (anattā), अनात्मन् (anātman), 無我 (wúwǒ) from "Fundamentals of Buddhism: 3 Universal Characteristics":

QUOTE
Sometimes, this teaching of not-self is an occasion for confusion because often we wonder how one can deny the self. After all, we do say "I am speaking" or "I am walking," or "I am called so and so", or "I am the father or the son of such and such a person." So how can we deny the reality of that "I"? In order to clarify this, I think it is important to remember that the Buddhist rejection of the "I" is not a rejection of this convenient designation, the name "I". Rather, it is a rejection of the idea that this name "I" stands for a substantial, permanent and changeless reality. When the Buddha said that the five factors of personal experience were not the self, and that the self was not to be found within them He meant that on analysis, this name "I" did not correspond to any essence or entity.

The Buddha has used the example of the chariot and the forest to explain the relation between the term "I" and the components of personal experience. The Buddha has explained that the term "chariot" is simply a convenient name for a collection of parts that is assembled in a particular way. The wheels are not the chariot. Neither is the axle, and neither is the carriage, and so forth. Similarly, an individual tree is not a forest. Neither is a number of individual trees a forest. There is no forest apart from the individual trees. The term forest is just a convenient name for an assembly of individual trees. This is the thrust of the Buddha’s rejection of the self. The Buddha’s rejection is a rejection of the belief in a real, independent, permanent entity that is represented by the term "I". Such a permanent entity would have to be independent, would have to be sovereign in the way that a king is master of those around him. It would have to be permanent, immutable and impervious to change, and such a permanent entity, such a self is nowhere to be found.
UNQUOTE

But unfortunately for Buddha, there is a real, independent, permanent entity who is self-existent. He is God. And His name is exactly what Buddha expect of such an entity. His name is "I AM".

God replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you." (Exodus 3:14 CSB)

No comments: