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By Jayaram V
According to the Buddha, self is not truth. He
declared," Where self is,
truth is not. Where truth is, self is not.
Self is the fleeting error of samsara; it is individual separateness and that
egotism which begets envy and hatred."
He defined self as "that yearning which
seeks pleasure and lusts after vanity where as Truth is the correct
comprehension of things, which is the permanent and everlasting, the real in
all existence and the bliss of righteousness."
The very existence of self is an illusion,. It
is the Self, which through its activity, produces all the wrongs, vice and
evil in the world. One can attain truth only when one accepts the self as an
illusion. Righteousness can be practiced only when the mind is freed from the
influence of egotism. Perfect peace comes only when all the vanity of the
self has disappeared.
The Buddha therefore preached that one should
aim to remove the very idea of self from the consciousness which is possible
only by removing all forms of desires, feelings and sensations through the
practice of the eightfold path.
It is to be noted that when Buddha is speaking
of self, he is not referring to the ordinary self or the egoistic self that
is driven by pleasure and pain. According to the Buddha, the ego centric view
of the world, which the self perpetrates, is an obstacle to seeing the Truth
as it is. Self itself is an illusion and therefore it cannot be relied upon
to understand Truth. Realization comes when pure awareness is cultivated
through the practice of the eightfold path.
The Buddha's Sermon on the Not-Self
In Buddha's own words (Anattalakkhana Sutta, Samyutta Nikaya
XXII, 59) self is explained thus :
'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."'
List of related articles
The following articles throw further light on the concept of not
self.
The Question of not self: The Buddha taught the existence of
neither Soul nor God. According to early Buddhism there is no
such element as eternal soul in man. The world is empty of self. So
does a being. It is not possible to believe that a soul, that is
permanent and stable can exist in a being, because all beings are
subject to continuous change, death and decay. They are
"becoming" continuously.
More...
No-Self
or Not-Self : One of the first stumbling blocks that
Westerners often encounter when they learn about Buddhism is the
teaching on anatta, often translated as no-self. This teaching is a
stumbling block for two reasons. First, the idea of there being no
self doesn't fit well with other Buddhist teachings, such as the
doctrine of kamma and rebirth: If there's no self, what experiences
the results of kamma and takes rebirth? Second, it doesn't fit well
with our own Judeo-Christian background, which assumes the existence
of an eternal soul or self as a basic presupposition: If there's no
self, what's the purpose of a spiritual life?. More...
Anicca, Dukha,
Anatta: Investigation of Dhamma for full liberation also must
include, in addition to the Four Noble Truths, a study of the Three
Universal Characteristics or Signata of existence, (ti-lakkhana):
anicca — impermanence, dukkha — suffering, and anatta —
essencelessness. Everything in the universe, mental or physical,
inside or outside of us, real or imaginary, that comes into being due
to causes and conditions, has these three traits as its nature. And
since there is nothing that exists without depending on other things,
there is absolutely nothing which we can determine to be permanent,
full of happiness only, or having any real substance. We must examine
these three truths very carefully to know how thoroughly and totally
they apply in all cases. Once there is this deep insight into the
nature of reality, detachment and thereby liberation follow.The first
of these to be investigated and in some ways the characteristic that
underlies the other two is anicca — the utterly transitory,
ephemeral, unstable nature off all mental and physical phenomena. More....
Vipasana
Meditation: Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta — Impermanence, suffering
and Egolessness — are the three essential characteristics of things
in the Teaching of the Buddha. If you know Anicca correctly, you will
know Dukkha as its corollary and Anatta as ultimate truth. It takes
time to understand the three together. Impermanence (anicca)
is, of course, the essential fact which must be first experienced and
understood by practice. Mere book-knowledge of the Buddha-Dhamma will
not be enough for the correct understanding of Anicca because the
experiential aspect will be missing. It is only through experiential
understanding of the nature of Anicca as an ever-changing process
within you that you can understand Anicca in the way the Buddha would
like you to understand it. As in the days of the Buddha, so too now,
this understanding of Anicca can be developed by persons who have no
book-knowledge whatsoever of Buddhism. More...
Meditating
on No-Self: In Buddhism we use the words "self" and
"no-self," and so it is important to understand just what
this "no-self," anatta, is all about, even if it is first
just an idea, because the essence of the Buddha's teaching hinges on
this concept. And in this teaching Buddhism is unique. No one, no
other spiritual teacher, has formulated no-self in just this way. And
because it has been formulated by him in this way, there is also the
possibility of speaking about it. Much has been written about no-self,
but in order to know it, one has to experience it. And that is what
the teaching aims at, the experience of no-self. More...
The Burden of
the Aggregates What is the heavy burden? The khandhas3 are the
heavy burden. Who accepts the heavy burden? Tanha, craving, accepts
the heavy burden. What is meant by throwing down the burden?
Annihilation of tanha is throwing down the burden. Heavy is the burden
of the five khandhas. Acceptance of the burden is suffering; rejection
of the burden is conducive to happiness. When craving is uprooted from
its very foundation, no desires arise. An old burden having been laid
aside, no new burden can be imposed. Then, one enters Nibbana, the
abode of eternal peace. More...
The
Self in Buddhism and Christianity: All this touches on anatta,
the Buddhist concept of no-self or no-soul. Anatta was seized on by
nineteenth century Christian missionaries to Sri Lanka as something
which proved Buddhism was absolutely nihilistic. For instance, Rev.
Thomas Moscrop, a Methodist missionary, claimed in 1889 that Buddhism
"is too pessimistic, too cold, too antagonistic to the
constitution of human nature to take the world captive" (The
Ceylon Friend, 16 October 1889). But I have not found nihilism in what
Buddhists have said to me about anatta. Some years ago, one friend
said, "If there is no belief in self, there is no worry; there is
no reason to become angry or hurt." To her, the idea was
liberating. It was freedom from being tied to self-promotion and
self-protection. More...
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