Anattā

Anattā is a composite Pali word consisting of an (not) and attā (self-existent essence).{{cite book|author1=Thomas William Rhys Davids|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Guw2CnxiucC|title=Pali-English Dictionary|author2=William Stede|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1921|isbn=978-81-208-1144-7|pages=22|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207070637/https://books.google.com/books?id=0Guw2CnxiucC|url-status=live}} The term refers to the central Buddhist concept that there is no phenomenon that has a permanent, unchanging "self" or essence.{{sfn|Gombrich|2009|p=69–70}} It is one of the three characteristics of all existence, together with dukkha (suffering, dissatisfaction) and anicca (impermanence).

Anattā is synonymous with Anātman (an + ātman) in Sanskrit Buddhist texts.{{cite book|author=Johannes Bronkhorst|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mhuabeq5-cAC|title=Buddhist Teaching in India|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2009|isbn=978-0-86171-566-4|pages=124–125 with footnotes|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207124439/https://books.google.com/books?id=Mhuabeq5-cAC|url-status=live}} In some Pali texts, ātman of Vedic texts is also referred to with the term Attan, with the sense of "soul". An alternate use of Attan or Atta is "self, oneself, essence of a person", driven by the Vedic-era Brahmanical belief that atman is the permanent, unchangeable essence of a living being, or the true self.

In Buddhism-related English literature, Anattā is rendered as "not-Self", but this translation expresses an incomplete meaning, states Peter Harvey; a more complete rendering is "no-Self" because from its earliest days, Anattā doctrine denied that there is anything called a "Self" in any person or anything else, and that a belief in "Self" is a source of Dukkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness).{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC|title=An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4|pages=57–62|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2020-07-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727192540/https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ|title=A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2015|isbn=978-1-119-14466-3|editor=Steven M. Emmanuel|pages=34–37|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2017-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323185852/https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{Refn|Buddha did not deny a being or a thing, referring it to be a collection of impermanent interdependent aggregates, but denied that there is a metaphysical self, soul or identity in anything.{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|editor=Steven M. Emmanuel|title=A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-14466-3|page=36|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2017-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323185852/https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}|group=note}} Buddhist scholar Richard Gombrich, however, argues that anattā is often mistranslated as meaning "not having a self or essence", but actually means "is not ātman" instead of "does not have ātman."{{sfn|Gombrich|2009|p=69–70}} It is also incorrect to translate Anattā simply as "ego-less", according to Peter Harvey, because the Indian concept of ātman and attā is different from the Freudian concept of ego.{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC|title=An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4|page=62|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2020-07-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727192540/https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC|url-status=live|quote=Again, anatta does not mean 'egoless', as it is sometimes rendered. The term 'ego' has a range of meanings in English. The Freudian 'ego' is not the same as the Indian atman/atta or permanent Self.}}{{Refn|The term ahamkara is 'ego' in Indian philosophies.{{cite book|author=Surendranath Dasgupta|title=A History of Indian Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoaMFmS1_lEC|year=1992|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass (Republisher; Originally published by Cambridge University Press)|isbn=978-81-208-0412-8|page=250|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602132449/https://books.google.com/books?id=PoaMFmS1_lEC|url-status=live}}|group=note}}

The concept of Anattā appears in numerous Sutras of the ancient Buddhist Nikāya texts (Pali canon). It appears, for example, as a noun in Samyutta Nikaya III.141, IV.49, V.345, in Sutta II.37 of Anguttara Nikaya, II.37–45 and II.80 of Patisambhidamagga, III.406 of Dhammapada. It also appears as an adjective, for example, in Samyutta Nikaya III.114, III.133, IV.28 and IV.130–166, in Sutta III.66 and V.86 of Vinaya.{{cite book|author=Johannes Bronkhorst|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mhuabeq5-cAC|title=Buddhist Teaching in India|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2009|isbn=978-0-86171-566-4|pages=124–125 with footnotes|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207124439/https://books.google.com/books?id=Mhuabeq5-cAC|url-status=live}} It is also found in the Dhammapada.{{cite book|author1=John Carter|author2=Mahinda Palihawadana|title=Dhammapada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAcWDAAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-955513-0|pages=30–31, 74, 80|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223092932/https://books.google.com/books?id=AAcWDAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}

The ancient Buddhist texts discuss Attā or Attan (self), sometimes with alternate terms such as Atuman, Tuma, Puggala, Jiva, Satta, Pana and Nama-rupa, thereby providing the context for the Buddhist Anattā doctrine. Examples of such Attā contextual discussions are found in Digha Nikaya I.186–187, Samyutta Nikaya III.179 and IV.54, Vinaya I.14, Majjhima Nikaya I.138, III.19, and III.265–271 and Anguttara Nikaya I.284.{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|pages=71–81|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501235302/https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC|url-status=live}} According to Steven Collins,{{non sequitur|date=October 2024}} the inquiry of anattā and "denial of self" in the canonical Buddhist texts is "insisted on only in certain theoretical contexts", while they use the terms atta, purisa, puggala quite naturally and freely in various contexts. The elaboration of the anattā doctrine, along with identification of the words such as "puggala" as "permanent subject or soul" appears in later Buddhist literature.

According to Collins, the Suttas present the doctrine in three forms. First, they apply the "no-self, no-identity" investigation to all phenomena as well as any and all objects, yielding the idea that "all things are not-self" (sabbe dhamma anattā). Second, states Collins, the Suttas apply the doctrine to deny self of any person, treating conceit to be evident in any assertion of "this is mine, this I am, this is myself" (etam mamam eso 'ham asmi, eso me atta ti).{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|pages=96–97|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126112421/https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|url-status=live}} Third, the Theravada texts apply the doctrine as a nominal reference, to identify examples of "self" and "not-self", respectively the Wrong view and the Right view; this third case of nominative usage is properly translated as "self" (as an identity) and is unrelated to "soul", states Collins. The first two usages incorporate the idea of soul.{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|pages=3–5, 35–36, 109–116, 163, 193|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126112421/https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|url-status=live}}

Buddhist scholars Richard Gombrich and Alexander Wynne argue that the Buddha's descriptions of no-self in early Buddhist texts do not deny that there is a self.{{sfn|Gombrich|2009|p=69–70}}{{sfn|Wynne|2009|p=59–63, 76–77}} Wynne and Gombrich both argue that the Buddha's statements on anattā were originally a "not-self" teaching that developed into a "no-self" teaching in later Buddhist thought.{{sfn|Wynne|2009|p=59–63, 76–77}}{{sfn|Gombrich|2009|p=69–70}} According to Wynne, early Buddhist texts such as the Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta do not deny that there is a self, stating that the five aggregates that are described as not-self are not descriptions of a human being but descriptions of the human experience.{{sfn|Wynne|2009|p=59–63, 76–77}} According to Johannes Bronkhorst, it is possible that "original Buddhism did not deny the existence of the soul", even though a firm Buddhist tradition has maintained that the Buddha avoided talking about the soul or even denied its existence.{{cite book|author= Johannes Bronkhorst|title= The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AZbZDP8MRJoC|year= 1993|publisher= Motilal Banarsidass|isbn= 978-81-208-1114-0|pages= 99 with footnote 12|access-date= 2016-10-23|archive-date= 2018-11-20|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181120063417/https://books.google.com/books?id=AZbZDP8MRJoC|url-status= live}}

Tibetologist André Migot states that original Buddhism may not have taught a complete absence of self, pointing to evidence presented by Buddhist and Pali scholars Jean Przyluski and Caroline Rhys Davids that early Buddhism generally believed in a self, making Buddhist schools that admit an existence of a "self" not heretical, but conservative, adhering to ancient beliefs.{{Cite journal|last=Migot|first=André|date=1954|title=XV. Un grand disciple du Buddha : Sâriputra. Son rôle dans l'histoire du bouddhisme et dans le développement de l'Abhidharma|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1954_num_46_2_5607|journal=Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient|volume=46|issue=2|pages=492|doi=10.3406/befeo.1954.5607|access-date=2020-03-07|archive-date=2020-04-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420204636/https://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1954_num_46_2_5607|url-status=live}} While there may be ambivalence on the existence or non-existence of self in early Buddhist literature, Bronkhorst suggests that these texts clearly indicate that the Buddhist path of liberation consists not in seeking Atman-like self-knowledge, but in turning away from what might erroneously be regarded as the self. This is a reverse position to the Vedic traditions which recognized the knowledge of the self as "the principal means to achieving liberation."{{cite book|author= Johannes Bronkhorst|title= Buddhist Teaching in India|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fjU6AwAAQBAJ|year= 2009|publisher= Wisdom Publications|isbn= 978-0-86171-811-5|pages= 25|access-date= 2016-10-23|archive-date= 2019-12-17|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191217052728/https://books.google.com/books?id=fjU6AwAAQBAJ|url-status= live}}

According to Harvey, the contextual use of Attā in the Nikāyas is two-sided. In one, it directly denies that anything can be found called a self or soul in a human being that is a permanent essence of a human being, a theme found in Brahmanical traditions.{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78336-4|pages=1–2, 34–40, 224–225|access-date=2016-09-27|archive-date=2016-09-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901015629/https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} In another, states Peter Harvey, such as at Samyutta Nikaya IV.286, the Sutta considers the materialistic concept in the pre-Buddhist Vedic period of "no afterlife, complete annihilation" at death to be a denial of Self, but still "tied up with belief in a Self".{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78336-4|pages=39–40|access-date=2016-09-27|archive-date=2016-09-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901015629/https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} "Self exists" is a false premise, assert the early Buddhist texts. However, adds Peter Harvey, these texts do not admit the premise "Self does not exist" either because the wording presumes the concept of "Self" before denying it; instead, the early Buddhist texts use the concept of Anattā as the implicit premise.{{cite book|author= Johannes Bronkhorst|title= Buddhist Teaching in India|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fjU6AwAAQBAJ|year= 2009|publisher= Wisdom Publications|isbn= 978-0-86171-811-5|pages= 23–25|access-date= 2016-10-23|archive-date= 2019-12-17|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191217052728/https://books.google.com/books?id=fjU6AwAAQBAJ|url-status= live}}

{{Main|Buddhist Paths to liberation|Personal identity#Theories}}

According to Peter Harvey, while the Suttas criticize notions of an eternal, unchanging Self as baseless, they see an enlightened being as one whose empirical self is highly developed.{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|year=1995|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78336-4|pages=54–56|access-date=2016-09-27|archive-date=2016-09-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901015629/https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} This is paradoxical, states Harvey, in that "the Self-like nibbana state" is a mature self that knows "everything as Selfless". The "empirical self" is the citta (mind/heart, mindset, emotional nature), and the development of self in the Suttas is the development of this citta.{{cite book| author=Peter Harvey| title=The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ| year=1995| publisher=Routledge| isbn=978-1-136-78336-4| pages=111–112| access-date=2016-09-27| archive-date=2016-09-01| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901015629/https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ| url-status=live}}

One with "great self", state the early Buddhist Suttas, has a mind which is neither at the mercy of outside stimuli nor its own moods, neither scattered nor diffused, but imbued with self-control, and self-contained towards the single goal of nibbana and a 'Self-like' state. This "great self" is not yet an Arahat, because he still does small evil action which leads to karmic fruition, but he has enough virtue that he does not experience this fruition in hell.

An Arahat, states Harvey, has a fully enlightened state of empirical self, one that lacks the "sense of both 'I am' and 'this I am'", which are illusions that the Arahat has transcended.{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|year=1995|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78336-4|pages=31–32, 44, 50–51, 71, 210–216, 246|access-date=2016-09-27|archive-date=2016-09-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901015629/https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} The Buddhist thought and salvation theory emphasizes a development of self towards a Selfless state not only with respect to oneself, but recognizing the lack of relational essence and Self in others, wherein states Martijn van Zomeren, "self is an illusion".{{cite book| author=Martijn van Zomeren| title=From Self to Social Relationships: An Essentially Relational Perspective on Social Motivation| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XXkZDAAAQBAJ| year=2016| publisher=Cambridge University Press| isbn=978-1-107-09379-9| page=156| access-date=2016-09-27| archive-date=2019-12-21| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221135824/https://books.google.com/books?id=XXkZDAAAQBAJ| url-status=live}}, Quote: Buddhism is an example of a non-theistic religion, which underlies a cultural matrix in which individuals believe that the self is an illusion. Indeed, its anatta doctrine states that the self is not an essence.

{{StagesFettersRebirths|group=note}}

The Buddha emphasized both karma and anattā doctrines.Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, [https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/selvesnotself.html "Selves & Not-self: The Buddhist Teaching on Anatta"]. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204143026/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/selvesnotself.html |date=2013-02-04 }} The Buddha criticized the doctrine that posited an unchanging essence as a subject as the basis of rebirth and karmic moral responsibility, which he called "atthikavāda". He also criticized the materialistic doctrine that denied the existence of both soul and rebirth, and thereby denied karmic moral responsibility, which he calls "natthikavāda".David Kalupahana, Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism. The University Press of Hawaii, 1975, page 44. Instead, the Buddha asserted that there is no essence, but there is rebirth for which karmic moral responsibility is a must. In the Buddha's framework of karma, right view and right actions are necessary for liberation.{{cite book|author=Malcolm B. Hamilton|title=The Sociology of Religion: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANaHAgAAQBAJ|date=12 June 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-97626-3|pages=73–80|access-date=23 October 2016|archive-date=22 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222020415/https://books.google.com/books?id=ANaHAgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{cite book | last =Raju | first =P. T. | year =1985 | title =Structural Depths of Indian Thought | publisher =State University of New York Press | isbn =978-0-88706-139-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/structuraldepths0000raju| url-access =registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/structuraldepths0000raju/page/147 147]–151}}

Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism all assert a belief in rebirth, and emphasize moral responsibility in a way different from pre-Buddhist materialistic schools of Indian philosophies.{{cite book|author1=Robert E. Buswell Jr.|author2=Donald S. Lopez Jr.|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8|pages=708–709|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2020-05-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517114246/https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4|pages=32–33, 38–39, 46–49|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2020-07-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727192540/https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC|url-status=live}} The materialistic schools of Indian philosophies, such as Charvaka, are called annihilationist schools because they posited that death is the end, there is no afterlife, no soul, no rebirth, no karma, and death is that state where a living being is completely annihilated, dissolved.{{cite book |author=Ray Billington |title=Understanding Eastern Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8KGAgAAQBAJ |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-79349-5 |pages=43–44, 58–60 |access-date=2016-10-23 |archive-date=2016-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222020421/https://books.google.com/books?id=q8KGAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}

Buddha criticized the materialistic annihilationism view that denied rebirth and karma, states Damien Keown. Such beliefs are inappropriate and dangerous, stated Buddha, because they encourage moral irresponsibility and material hedonism.{{cite book|title=Ucchedavāda, śāśvata-vāda, rebirth, in A Dictionary of Buddhism|author=Damien Keown|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-860560-7}} Anattā does not mean there is no afterlife, no rebirth or no fruition of karma, and Buddhism contrasts itself to annihilationist schools. Buddhism also contrasts itself to other Indian religions that champion moral responsibility but posit eternalism with their premise that within each human being there is an essence or eternal soul, and this soul is part of the nature of a living being, existence and metaphysical reality.{{cite book|author=Norman C. McClelland|title=Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC|year=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5675-8|page=89|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126104519/https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Hugh Nicholson|title=The Spirit of Contradiction in Christianity and Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bSbnCwAAQBAJ|year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-045534-7|pages=23–25|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2017-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122091643/https://books.google.com/books?id=bSbnCwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Gananath Obeyesekere|title=Karma and Rebirth: A Cross Cultural Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEK4Qgm7Z0kC|year=2006|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-2609-0|pages=281–282|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2017-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122122215/https://books.google.com/books?id=IEK4Qgm7Z0kC|url-status=live}}

Theravada Buddhism scholars, states Oliver Leaman, consider the Anattā doctrine as one of the main theses of Buddhism. The Buddhist denial of an unchanging, permanent self is what distinguishes Buddhism from major religions of the world such as Christianity and Hinduism, giving it uniqueness, asserts the Theravada tradition. With the doctrine of Anattā, stands or falls the entire Buddhist structure, asserts Nyanatiloka Mahathera.{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|page=5|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126112421/https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|url-status=live}}

According to Collins, "insight into the teaching of anattā is held to have two major loci in the intellectual and spiritual education of an individual" as s/he progresses along the Path. The first part of this insight is to avoid sakkayaditthi (Personality Belief), that is converting the "sense of I which is gained from introspection and the fact of physical individuality" into a theoretical belief in a self. "A belief in a (really) existing body" is considered a false belief and a part of the Ten Fetters that must be gradually lost. The second loci is the psychological realization of anattā, or loss of "pride or conceit". This, states Collins, is explained as the conceit of asmimana or "I am"; (...) what this "conceit" refers to is the fact that for the unenlightened, all experience and action must necessarily appear phenomenologically as happening to or originating from an "I". When a Buddhist gets more enlightened, this happening to or originating in an "I" or sakkdyaditthi is less. The final attainment of enlightenment is the disappearance of this automatic but illusory "I".{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|pages=93–94|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501235302/https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC|url-status=live}}

The Theravada tradition has long considered the understanding and application of the Anattā doctrine to be a complex teaching, whose "personal, introjected application has always been thought to be possible only for the specialist, the practising monk". The tradition, states Collins, has "insisted fiercely on anattā as a doctrinal position", while in practice it may not play much of a role in the daily religious life of most Buddhists.{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|pages=94–96|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-05-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501235302/https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC|url-status=live}} The Theravada doctrine of Anattā, or not-self not-soul, inspire meditative practices for monks, states Donald Swearer, but for the lay Theravada Buddhists in Southeast Asia, the doctrines of kamma, rebirth and punna (merit) inspire a wide range of ritual practices and ethical behavior.{{cite book|author=Donald K. Swearer|title=Buddhist World of Southeast Asia, The: Second Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Op4dM8QQy0AC|year=2012|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-3252-6|pages=2–3|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222103840/https://books.google.com/books?id=Op4dM8QQy0AC|url-status=live}}

The Anattā doctrine is key to the concept of Nibbana in the Theravada tradition. The liberated nirvana state, states Collins, is the state of Anattā, a state that is neither universally applicable nor can be explained, but can be realized.{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|pages=82–84|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126112421/https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|url-status=live}}{{Refn|group=note|This is a major difference between the Theravada Buddhists and different Hindu traditions which assert that nirvana is realizing and being in the state of self (soul, atman) and is universally applicable. However, both concur that this state is indescribable, cannot be explained, but can be realized.{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|pages=81–82|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126112421/https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|url-status=live}}{{cite journal | last=Loy | first=David | title=Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta | journal=International Philosophical Quarterly | publisher=Philosophy Documentation Center | volume=22 | issue=1 | year=1982 | pages=65–74 | doi=10.5840/ipq19822217 }}}}

{{See also|Buddhism in Thailand}}

The dispute about "self" and "not-self" doctrines has continued throughout the history of Buddhism.{{cite book|author=Potprecha Cholvijarn|title=Nibbāna as True Reality beyond the Debate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FkXJVKnjw3kC|publisher=Wat Luang Phor Sodh|isbn=978-974-350-263-7|page=45|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-05-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502000929/https://books.google.com/books?id=FkXJVKnjw3kC|url-status=live}} In Thai Buddhism, for example, states Paul Williams, some modern era Buddhist scholars have claimed that "Nirvana is indeed the true self", while other Thai Buddhists disagree.{{sfn|Williams|2008|pp=125–7}} For instance, the Dhammakaya tradition in Thailand teaches that it is erroneous to subsume nirvana under the rubric of anattā (no-self); instead, nirvana is taught to be the "true self" or dhammakaya.{{sfn|Mackenzie|2007|pp=100–5, 110}} The Dhammakaya tradition teaching that nirvana is atta, or true self, was criticized as heretical in Buddhism in 1994 by Ven. Payutto, a well-known scholar monk, who stated that 'Buddha taught Nibbana as being no-self".{{sfn|Mackenzie|2007|p=51}}{{Sfn|Williams|2008|p=127-128}} The abbot of one major temple in the Dhammakaya tradition, Luang Por Sermchai of Wat Luang Por Sodh Dhammakayaram, argues that it tends to be scholars who hold the view of absolute no-self, rather than Buddhist meditation practitioners. He points to the experiences of prominent forest hermit monks such as Luang Pu Sodh and Ajahn Mun to support the notion of a "true self".{{Sfn|Williams|2008|p=127-128}}{{sfn|Seeger|2009|pp=13 footnote 40}} Similar interpretations on the "true self" were put forth earlier by the 12th Supreme Patriarch of Thailand in 1939. According to Williams, the Supreme Patriarch's interpretation echoes the tathāgatagarbha sutras.{{sfn|Williams|2008|p=126}}

Several notable teachers of the Thai Forest Tradition have also described ideas in contrast to absolute no-self. Ajahn Maha Bua, a well known meditation master, described the citta (mind) as being an indestructible reality that does not fall under anattā.pp. 101–103 Maha Boowa, Arahattamagga, Arahattaphala: the Path to Arahantship – A Compilation of Venerable Acariya Maha Boowa's Dhamma Talks about His Path of Practice, translated by Bhikkhu Silaratano, 2005, http://www.forestdhammabooks.com/book/3/Arahattamagga.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327073822/http://www.forestdhammabooks.com/book/3/Arahattamagga.pdf |date=2009-03-27 }} (consulted 16 March 2009) He has stated that not-self is merely a perception that is used to pry one away from infatuation with the concept of a self, and that once this infatuation is gone the idea of not-self must be dropped as well.Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/1S40nS_0R9Y Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20180829045355/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S40nS_0R9Y&t=4545s Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Citation|last=UWE STOES|title=Thanassaro Bhikkhu|date=2015-04-22|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S40nS_0R9Y&t=4545s|access-date=2017-09-30}}{{cbignore}} American monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu of the Thai Forest Tradition describes the Buddha's statements on non-self as a path to awakening rather than a universal truth. Bhikkhu Bodhi authored a rejoinder to Thanissaro, agreeing that anattā is a strategy for awakening but stating that "The reason the teaching of anattā can serve as a strategy of liberation is precisely because it serves to rectify a misconception about the nature of being, hence an ontological error."{{citation|last=Bodhi|first=Bhikkhu|title=Investigating the Dhamma|date=January 2017|page=25|chapter=Anatta as Strategy and Ontonology|publisher=Buddhist Publication Society|isbn=978-1-68172-068-5|author-link=Bhikkhu Bodhi}} Thanissaro Bhikkhu states that the Buddha intentionally set aside the question of whether or not there is a self as a useless question, and goes on to call the phrase "there is no self" the "granddaddy of fake Buddhist quotes". He adds that clinging to the idea that there is no self at all would actually prevent enlightenment.{{Cite news|last=Bhikkhu|first=Thanissaro|title=There is no self.|work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/there-no-self/|url-status=live|access-date=2018-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819114904/https://tricycle.org/magazine/there-no-self/|archive-date=2018-08-19}} Thanissaro Bhikkhu points to the Ananda Sutta (SN 44.10), where the Buddha stays silent when asked whether there is a 'self' or not,{{Cite web|title=Ananda Sutta: To Ananda|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.010.than.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510092025/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.010.than.html|archive-date=2017-05-10|access-date=2017-05-14|website=www.accesstoinsight.org}} as a major cause of the dispute.{{Cite web|title=Introduction to the Avyakata Samyutta: (Undeclared-connected)|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.intro.than.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508212946/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.intro.than.html|archive-date=2017-05-08|access-date=2017-05-14|website=www.accesstoinsight.org}}

{{Main|Madhyamaka}} {{see also|śūnyatā}}

Anātman is one of the main bedrock doctrines of Buddhism, and its discussion is found in the later texts of all Buddhist traditions.{{cite book |author=Oliver Leaman |title=Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vK-GAgAAQBAJ |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-68919-4 |pages=23–27 |access-date=2016-10-23 |archive-date=2016-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126130803/https://books.google.com/books?id=vK-GAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}

There are many different views of anātman ({{zh|c=無我|p=wúwǒ}}; Japanese: 無我 muga; Korean: 무아 mu-a) within various Mahayana schools.King, R., Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism: The Mahayana Context of the Gaudapadiya-Karika (Albany: SUNY Press, 1995), [https://books.google.com/books?id=p1bASTAOhjoC&pg=PA97 p. 97] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161101164333/https://books.google.cz/books?id=p1bASTAOhjoC&pg=PA97 |date=2016-11-01 }}.

The early Mahayana Buddhist texts link their discussion of "emptiness" (śūnyatā) to anātman and nirvana. They do so, states Mun-Keat Choong, in three ways: first, in the common sense of a monk's meditative state of emptiness; second, with the main sense of anātman or 'everything in the world is empty of self'; third, with the ultimate sense of Nirvana or realization of emptiness and thus an end to rebirth cycles of suffering.{{cite book| author=Mun-Keat Choong| title=The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJafx7uO0VsC| year=1999| publisher=Motilal Banarsidass| isbn=978-81-208-1649-7| pages=1–4, 85–88| access-date=2016-10-23| archive-date=2016-11-27| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127014854/https://books.google.com/books?id=HJafx7uO0VsC| url-status=live}} The anātman doctrine is another aspect of śūnyatā, its realization is the nature of the nirvana state and to an end to rebirths.{{cite book |author=Ray Billington |title=Understanding Eastern Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dACFAgAAQBAJ |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-79348-8 |pages=58–60 |access-date=2016-10-23 |archive-date=2016-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126130919/https://books.google.com/books?id=dACFAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}{{cite book|author=David Loy|title=Awareness Bound and Unbound: Buddhist Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5KHnVVjwKQC|year=2009|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-2680-8|pages=35–39|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217044109/https://books.google.com/books?id=R5KHnVVjwKQC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author= Stephan Schuhmacher|title= The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vpP8770qVakC|year= 1994|publisher= Shambhala|isbn= 978-0-87773-980-7|page= 12|access-date= 2016-10-23|archive-date= 2019-12-18|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191218171940/https://books.google.com/books?id=vpP8770qVakC|url-status= live}}

The Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna (~200 CE), the founder of Madhyamaka (middle way) school of Mahayana Buddhism, analyzed dharma first as factors of experience. David Kalupahana states that Nāgārjuna analyzed how these experiences relate to "bondage and freedom, action and consequence", and thereafter analyzed the notion of personal self (ātman).{{cite book|author1=Nāgārjuna|translator=David J. Kalupahana|title=Mūlamadhyamakakārikā of Nāgārjuna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38WJRwP3nLgC|year=1996|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0774-7|page=56|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222023944/https://books.google.com/books?id=38WJRwP3nLgC|url-status=live}}

Nāgārjuna extensively wrote about rejecting the metaphysical entity called ātman (self, soul), asserting in chapter 18 of his Mūlamadhyamakakārikā that there is no such substantial entity and that "Buddha taught the doctrine of no-self".{{cite book|author1=Nāgārjuna|translator=David J. Kalupahana|title=Mūlamadhyamakakārikā of Nāgārjuna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38WJRwP3nLgC|year=1996|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0774-7|pages=56–57|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222023944/https://books.google.com/books?id=38WJRwP3nLgC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author1=Brad Warner|translator=GW Nishijima|title=Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pn5YBQAAQBAJ|year=2011|publisher=Monkfish|isbn=978-0-9833589-0-9|pages=182–191|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219214618/https://books.google.com/books?id=pn5YBQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author1=Nāgārjuna|translator=Jay Garfield|title=The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfsyfoO1IlYC|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-976632-1|pages=xxxiv, 76|chapter=Chapters XVIII, XXVII (see Part One and Two)|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221011410/https://books.google.com/books?id=kfsyfoO1IlYC|url-status=live}}

Nāgārjuna asserted that the notion of a self is associated with the notion of one's own identity and corollary ideas of pride, selfishness and a sense of psychophysical personality. This is all false, and leads to bondage in his Madhyamaka thought. There can be no pride nor possessiveness, in someone who accepts anātman and denies "self" which is the sense of personal identity of oneself, others or anything, states Nāgārjuna.{{cite book|author=David Loy|title=Awareness Bound and Unbound: Buddhist Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5KHnVVjwKQC|year=2009|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-2680-8|pages=105–106|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217044109/https://books.google.com/books?id=R5KHnVVjwKQC|url-status=live}}, Quote: Nāgārjuna, the second century Indian Buddhist philosopher, used śūnyatā not to characterize the true nature of reality but to deny that anything has any self-existence or reality of its own. Further, all obsessions are avoided when a person accepts emptiness (śūnyatā).{{cite book|author=David Loy|title=Awareness Bound and Unbound: Buddhist Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5KHnVVjwKQC|year=2009|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-2680-8|pages=36–38|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217044109/https://books.google.com/books?id=R5KHnVVjwKQC|url-status=live}} Nāgārjuna denied there is anything called a self-nature as well as other-nature, emphasizing true knowledge to be comprehending emptiness.{{cite book|author=Diane Morgan|title=The Buddhist Experience in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SqwzJt9XGpoC|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood|isbn=978-0-313-32491-8|page=46|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222013718/https://books.google.com/books?id=SqwzJt9XGpoC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=David F. Burton|title=Emptiness Appraised: A Critical Study of Nagarjuna's Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8zMCgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-72322-6|pages=31–32, 48 with footnote 38|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218163823/https://books.google.com/books?id=w8zMCgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} Anyone who has not dissociated from their belief in personality in themselves or others, through the concept of self, is in a state of avidya (ignorance) and caught in the cycle of rebirths and redeaths.{{cite book|author1=Nāgārjuna|translator=David J. Kalupahana|title=Mūlamadhyamakakārikā of Nāgārjuna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38WJRwP3nLgC|year=1996|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0774-7|pages=56–59|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222023944/https://books.google.com/books?id=38WJRwP3nLgC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Ian Harris|title=The Continuity of Madhyamaka and Yogācāra in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fLZeKatsbaYC|year=1991|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=90-04-09448-2|pages=146–147|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2017-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224112124/https://books.google.com/books?id=fLZeKatsbaYC|url-status=live}}

The texts attributed to the 5th-century Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu of the Yogācāra school similarly discuss anātman as a fundamental premise of the Buddha.{{cite book|author=Steven M. Emmanuel|title=A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-14466-3|pages=419–428|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2017-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323185852/https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} The Vasubandhu interpretations of no-self thesis were challenged by the 7th-century Buddhist scholar Candrakīrti, who then offered his own theories on its importance.{{cite book |author=James Duerlinger |title=The Refutation of the Self in Indian Buddhism: Candrakīrti on the Selflessness of Persons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_7xHiGXEv_8C |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-65749-5 |pages=52–54 |access-date=2016-10-23 |archive-date=2019-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222025451/https://books.google.com/books?id=_7xHiGXEv_8C |url-status=live }}{{cite book|author=Ronald W. Neufeldt|title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments|date=31 May 1986 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qWNaXD4o43cC|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-1445-4|pages=216–220|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225052954/https://books.google.com/books?id=qWNaXD4o43cC|url-status=live}}

Some 1st-millennium CE Buddhist texts suggest concepts that have been controversial because they imply a "self-like" concept.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|title=Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations|publisher=Routledge|year=2008|isbn=978-1-134-25056-1|pages=125–127|author=Paul Williams|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121014437/https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=S. K. Hookham|title=The Buddha Within: Tathagatagarbha Doctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JqLa4xWot-YC&pg=PA96|year=1991|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-0357-0|pages=100–104|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120220046/https://books.google.com/books?id=JqLa4xWot-YC&pg=PA96|url-status=live}} In particular are the tathāgatagarbha sūtras, where the title itself means a garbha (womb, matrix, seed) containing Tathāgata (Buddha). These Sutras suggest, states Paul Williams, that "all sentient beings contain a Tathagata" as their "essence, core or essential inner nature".{{cite book|author=Paul Williams|title=Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-25056-1|page=104|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121014437/https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} The tathāgatagarbha doctrine, at its earliest probably appeared about the later part of the 3rd century CE, and is verifiable in Chinese translations of 1st millennium CE. Most scholars consider the tathāgatagarbha doctrine of an "essential nature" in every living being is equivalent to "self",{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}}{{refn|group=note|Wayman and Wayman have disagreed with this view, and they state that the tathāgatagarbha is neither self nor sentient being, nor soul, nor personality.{{cite book|author=Paul Williams|title=Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-25056-1|page=107|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121014437/https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}}} and it contradicts the anātman doctrines in a vast majority of Buddhist texts, leading scholars to posit that the tathāgatagarbha sutras were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists.{{cite book|author=Paul Williams|title=Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-25056-1|pages=104–105, 108|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121014437/https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Merv Fowler|title=Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A7UKjtA0QDwC|year=1999|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-898723-66-0|pages=101–102|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121014528/https://books.google.com/books?id=A7UKjtA0QDwC|url-status=live}}, Quote: "Some texts of the tathāgatagarbha literature, such as the Mahaparinirvana Sutra actually refer to an atman, though other texts are careful to avoid the term. This would be in direct opposition to the general teachings of Buddhism on anātman. Indeed, the distinctions between the general Indian concept of atman and the popular Buddhist concept of Buddha-nature are often blurred to the point that writers consider them to be synonymous."

The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra explicitly asserts that the Buddha used the term "self" in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics.{{cite book|author=Paul Williams|title=Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-25056-1|page=109|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121014437/https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} Quote: "... it refers to the Buddha using the term "self" in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics."{{cite book|author=John W. Pettit|title=Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Kz4ox1vp5IC|year=1999|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-86171-157-4|pages=48–49|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222032453/https://books.google.com/books?id=6Kz4ox1vp5IC|url-status=live}} The Ratnagotravibhāga (also known as Uttaratantra), another text composed in the first half of 1st millennium CE and translated into Chinese in 511 CE, points out that the teaching of the tathāgatagarbha doctrine is intended to win sentient beings over to abandoning "self-love" (atma-sneha) – considered to be one of the defects by Buddhism.{{cite book|author=Paul Williams|title=Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-25056-1|pages=109–112|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121014437/https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author= Christopher Bartley|title= An Introduction to Indian Philosophy: Hindu and Buddhist Ideas from Original Sources|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=c3D5CQAAQBAJ|year= 2015|publisher= Bloomsbury Academic|isbn= 978-1-4725-2437-9|pages= 105|access-date= 2016-10-23|archive-date= 2019-05-02|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190502000942/https://books.google.com/books?id=c3D5CQAAQBAJ|url-status= live}} The 6th-century Chinese tathāgatagarbha translation states that "Buddha has shiwo (true self) which is beyond being and nonbeing". However, the Ratnagotravibhāga asserts that the "self" implied in tathāgatagarbha doctrine is actually "not-self".{{cite book|author=Paul Williams|title=Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-25056-1|page=112|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121014437/https://books.google.com/books?id=GMN-AgAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=S. K. Hookham|title=The Buddha Within: Tathagatagarbha Doctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JqLa4xWot-YC&pg=PA96|year=1991|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-0357-0|page=96|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120220046/https://books.google.com/books?id=JqLa4xWot-YC&pg=PA96|url-status=live}}

According to some scholars, the Buddha-nature discussed in these sutras does not represent a substantial self; rather, it is a positive language and expression of śūnyatā "emptiness" and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices. Other scholars do in fact detect leanings towards monism in these tathagatagarbha references.Jamie Hubbard, Absolute Delusion, Perfect Buddhahood, University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu, 2001, pp. 99–100 Michael Zimmermann sees the notion of an unperishing and eternal self in the Tathagatagarbha Sutra.Zimmermann, Michael (2002), [https://web.archive.org/web/20131111023508/http://iriab.soka.ac.jp/orc/Publications/BPPB/pdf/BPPB-06.pdf A Buddha Within: The Tathāgatagarbhasūtra], Biblotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica VI, The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, p. 64 Zimmermann also avers that "the existence of an eternal, imperishable self, that is, buddhahood, is definitely the basic point of the Tathāgatagarbha Sutra".Michael Zimmermann, A Buddha Within, p. 64 He further indicates that there is no evident interest found in this sutra in the idea of Emptiness (sunyata).Zimmermann, A Buddha Within, p. 81 Williams states that the "self" in tathāgatagarbha sutras is actually "non-self", and neither identical nor comparable to the Hindu concepts of brahman and self.

File:Guimet Havajra y Nairatmya 01.JPG

The anātman doctrine is extensively discussed in and partly inspires the ritual practices of the Vajrayāna tradition. The Tibetan terms such as bdag med refer to "without a self, insubstantial, anātman".{{cite book|author=Garab Dorje|title=The Golden Letters: The Three Statements of Garab Dorje, the First Teacher of Dzogchen, Together with a Commentary by|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7_QKAAAAYAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Snow Lion Publications|isbn=978-1-55939-050-7|page=319|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222120955/https://books.google.com/books?id=7_QKAAAAYAAJ|url-status=live}} These discussions, states Jeffrey Hopkins, assert the "non-existence of a permanent, unitary and independent self", and attribute these ideas to the Buddha.{{cite book|author= Jeffrey Hopkins|title=Absorption in No External World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHqKPG77bd0C |year=2006|publisher=Snow Lion Publications |isbn=978-1-55939-946-3 |pages=400–405 }}

The ritual practices in Vajrayāna Buddhism employs the concept of deities, to end self-grasping, and to manifest as a purified, enlightened deity as part of the Vajrayāna path to liberation from rebirths.{{cite book|author=Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen|title=A Complete Guide to the Buddhist Path|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_joTwLLnYQC|year=2010|publisher=Snow Lion Publications|isbn=978-1-55939-790-2|pages=259–261|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2016-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222023911/https://books.google.com/books?id=x_joTwLLnYQC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author1=Karma-Ran-Byun-Kun-Khyab-Phrin-Las|author2=Denis Tondrup|title=Luminous Mind: The Way of the Buddha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gHmjOFefOmsC|year=1997|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-86171-118-5|pages=204–206|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221051248/https://books.google.com/books?id=gHmjOFefOmsC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Geshe Kelsang Gyatso|title=Essence of Vajrayana: The Highest Yoga Tantra Practice of Heruka Body Mandala|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNA4Iu35IOQC|year=2000|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1729-6|pages=140–143|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2018-12-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225065213/https://books.google.com/books?id=nNA4Iu35IOQC|url-status=live}} One such deity is goddess Nairatmya (literally, non-soul, non-self).{{cite book|author=John A. Grimes|title=A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qcoUFYOX0bEC|year=1996|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-3067-5|page=199|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221160523/https://books.google.com/books?id=qcoUFYOX0bEC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=A. K. Warder|title=Indian Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sE8MgUVGNHkC|year=2000|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1741-8|pages=473–474|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2017-02-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228004455/https://books.google.com/books?id=sE8MgUVGNHkC|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author1=Asaṅga|author2=Janice Dean Willis|title=On Knowing Reality: The Tattvārtha Chapter of Asaṅga's Bodhisattvabhūmi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_8ucGq5begC|year=2002|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1106-5|page=24|access-date=2016-10-23|archive-date=2019-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220022735/https://books.google.com/books?id=W_8ucGq5begC|url-status=live}} She symbolizes, states Miranda Shaw, that "self is an illusion" and "all beings and phenomenal appearances lack an abiding self or essence" in Vajrayāna Buddhism.{{cite book|author=Miranda Eberle Shaw|title=Buddhist Goddesses of India|url=https://archive.org/details/buddhistgoddesse00shaw|url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-12758-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/buddhistgoddesse00shaw/page/387 387]–390}}

The Buddhist concept of anattā or anātman is one of the fundamental differences between mainstream Buddhism and mainstream Hinduism, with the latter asserting that ātman ("self") exists.{{refn|group=note|name="atman_Hinduism"}}

In Hinduism, Atman refers to the essence of human beings, the observing pure awareness or witness-consciousness.{{sfn|Deutsch|1973|p=48}}{{sfn|Dalal|2010|p=38}}{{cite book |author=Norman C. McClelland |title=Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC |year=2010 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5675-8 |pages=34–35 |access-date=2016-10-23 |archive-date=2016-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126104519/https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC |url-status=live }}[a] {{cite book |author=Julius Lipner |author-link=Julius Lipner |title=Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oH1FIareczEC |year=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-24060-8 |pages=53–56, 81, 160–161, 269–270 |access-date=2021-08-17 |archive-date=2020-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617140727/https://books.google.com/books?id=oH1FIareczEC |url-status=live }};
[b] {{cite book|author=P. T. Raju|title=Structural Depths of Indian Thought|url=https://archive.org/details/structuraldepths0000raju|url-access=registration|year=1985|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-88706-139-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/structuraldepths0000raju/page/26 26]–37}};
[c] {{cite book |author=Gavin D. Flood |title=An Introduction to Hinduism |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo |url-access=registration |year=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-43878-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi0000floo/page/15 15], 84–85 }} It is unaffected by ego,James Hart (2009), Who One Is: Book 2: Existenz and Transcendental Phenomenology, Springer, {{ISBN|978-1402091773}}, pages 2–3, 46–47Richard White (2012), The Heart of Wisdom: A Philosophy of Spiritual Life, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, {{ISBN|978-1442221161}}, pages 125–131 distinct from the individual being (jivanatman) embedded in material reality, and characterized by Ahamkara ('I-making'), mind (citta, manas), and all the defiling kleshas (impurities). Embodied personality changes over time, while Atman doesn't.{{sfn|Plott|2000|p=60-62}}

According to Jayatilleke, the Upanishadic inquiry fails to find an empirical correlate of the assumed Atman, but nevertheless assumes its existence,{{sfn|Jayatilleke|1963|p=39}} and Advaitins "reify consciousness as an eternal self."{{sfn|Mackenzie|2012}} In contrast, the Buddhist inquiry "is satisfied with the empirical investigation which shows that no such Atman exists because there is no evidence" states Jayatilleke.{{sfn|Jayatilleke|1963|p=39}} According to Harvey, in Buddhism the negation of temporal existents is applied even more rigorously than in the Upanishads:

{{quote|While the Upanishads recognized many things as being not-Self, they felt that a real, true Self could be found. They held that when it was found, and known to be identical to Brahman, the basis of everything, this would bring liberation. In the Buddhist Suttas, though, literally everything is seen as non-Self, even Nirvana. When this is known, then liberation – Nirvana – is attained by total non-attachment. Thus both the Upanishads and the Buddhist Suttas see many things as not-Self, but the Suttas apply it, indeed non-Self, to everything.{{cite book |author=Peter Harvey |title=An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC |year=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85942-4 |pages=59–60 |access-date=2016-10-23 |archive-date=2020-07-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727192540/https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sg9LV_rEgC |url-status=live }}}}

Both Buddhism and Hinduism distinguish ego-related "I am, this is mine", from their respective abstract doctrines of "Anattā" and "Atman".{{sfn|Harvey|2013b|p=34, 38}} This, states Peter Harvey, may have been an influence of Buddhism on Hinduism.{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78336-4|page=34|access-date=2016-09-27|archive-date=2016-09-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901015629/https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}, Quote: "The post-Buddhist Matri Upanishad holds that only defiled individual self, rather than the universal one, thinks 'this is I' or 'this is mine'. This is very reminiscent of Buddhism, and may well have been influenced by it to divorce the universal Self from such egocentric associations".

The term niratman appears in the Maitrayaniya Upanishad of Hinduism, such as in verses 6.20, 6.21 and 7.4. Niratman literally means "selfless".{{cite book|author=Paul Deussen|title= Sixty Upanishads of the Veda| publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|author-link=Paul Deussen|year=1980|page=361|isbn=978-81-208-1468-4}}{{cite book|author=Thomas E. Wood|title=The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad and the Āgama Śāstra: An Investigation Into the Meaning of the Vedānta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OFRAh52rxjcC|year=1992|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0930-7|pages=67–68|access-date=2018-09-21|archive-date=2019-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220091459/https://books.google.com/books?id=OFRAh52rxjcC|url-status=live}} The niratman concept has been interpreted to be analogous to anatman of Buddhism.{{cite journal|author=Shinkan Murakami|title=Niratman and anatman|journal= Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (Indogaku Bukkyōgaku Kenkyū)|year = 1971|volume= 19| number= 2|pages=61–68}} The ontological teachings, however, are different. In the Upanishad, states Thomas Wood, numerous positive and negative descriptions of various states – such as niratman and sarvasyatman (the self of all) – are used in Maitrayaniya Upanishad to explain the nondual concept of the "highest Self". According to Ramatirtha, states Paul Deussen, the niratman state discussion is referring to stopping the recognition of oneself as an individual soul, and reaching the awareness of universal soul or the metaphysical Brahman.{{cite book|author=Paul Deussen|title= Sixty Upanishads of the Veda| publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|author-link=Paul Deussen|year=1980|pages=358–359 introductory note, 361 with footnote 1, 380|isbn=978-81-208-1468-4}}

{{main|Similarities between Pyrrhonism and Buddhism}}

The Greek philosopher Pyrrho traveled to India as part of Alexander the Great's entourage where he was influenced by the Indian gymnosophists,{{cite journal|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/pyrrho|title=Pyrrho|last1=Bett|first1=Richard|last2=Zalta|first2=Edward|date=Winter 2014|website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=February 19, 2018|archive-date=March 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318080500/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/pyrrho/|url-status=live}} which inspired him to create the philosophy of Pyrrhonism. Philologist Christopher Beckwith argues that Pyrrho based his philosophy on his translation of the three marks of existence into Greek, and that adiaphora (not logically differentiable, not clearly definable, negating Aristotle's use of "diaphora") reflects Pyrrho's understanding of the Buddhist concept of anattā.{{cite book |last=Beckwith |first=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2015 |pages=22–59 |url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s10500.pdf |isbn=9781400866328 |access-date=2019-05-13 |archive-date=2016-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130150905/http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s10500.pdf |url-status=live }}

{{div col|colwidth=18em}}

• Ahamkara
• Anicca
• Asceticism
• Atman (Buddhism)
• Atman (Hinduism)
• Buddhist logico-epistemology
• Catuṣkoṭi
• Dukkha
• Ego death
• Enlightenment (religious)
• Jiva
• Nirvana
• Non-essentialism
• Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta
• Mahaparinirvana Sutra
• Open individualism
• Philosophy of self
• Ship of Theseus – a related view in ancient Greek philosophy
• Skandhas
• Tathagatagarbha
• Teletransportation paradox
• Vertiginous question

{{div col end}}

{{reflist|group=note|30em|refs=

{{refn|group=note|name="anatman_definition"|Definition:

• [https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta Anatta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210185046/https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta |date=2015-12-10 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013): "Anatta, (Pali: “non-self” or “substanceless”) Sanskrit anatman, in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying substance that can be called the soul. Instead, the individual is compounded of five factors (Pali khandha; Sanskrit skandha) that are constantly changing."
• {{cite book|author=Christmas Humphreys|title=Exploring Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC |year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-22877-3 |pages=42–43 }}
• {{cite book|author=Brian Morris |title=Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85241-8|pages=51 }}: "...anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps—the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."
• {{cite book|author=Richard Gombrich|title=Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZyJAgAAQBAJ|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-90352-8|page=47}}: "...Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."}}

{{refn|group=note|name="atman_Hinduism"|Atman in Hinduism:

• [https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta Anatta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210185046/https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta |date=2015-12-10 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013): "The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman ("the self").";
• Steven Collins (1994), "Religion and Practical Reason" (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-2217-5}}, page 64; "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence.";
• Edward Roer (Translator), {{Google books|3uwDAAAAMAAJ|Shankara's Introduction|page=2}} to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, pages 2–4;
• Katie Javanaud (2013), [https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206211126/https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana |date=2015-02-06 }}, Philosophy Now;
• David Loy (1982), "Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?", International Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 23, Issue 1, pages 65–74;
• KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, {{ISBN|978-8120806191}}, pages 246–249, from note 385 onwards;
• {{harvtxt|Plott|2000}}}}

}}

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{{refend}}

• [https://nirvanasutranet.com/ Nirvana Sutra], Kosho Yamamoto's English translation of the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra

{{Buddhism topics}}

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Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts

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