THE DOCTRINE OF NO-SOUL: ANATTA

What in general is suggested by Soul, Self, Ego, or to use the Sanskrit expression Atman, is that in man there is a permanent, everlasting and absolute entity, which is the unchanging substance behind the changing phenomenal world.  According to some religions, each individual has such a separate soul which is created by God, and which, finally after death, lives eternally either in hell or heaven, its destiny depending on the judgment of its creator.  According to others, it goes through many lives till it is completely purified and becomes finally united with God or Brahman, Universal Soul of Atman, from which it originally emanated.  This soul or self in man is the thinker of thoughts, feeler of sensations, and receiver of rewards and punishments for all its actions good and bad.  Such a conception is called the idea of self.

Buddhism stands unique in the history of human thought in denying the existence of such a Soul, Self, or Atman.  According to the teaching of the Buddha, the idea of self is imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding reality, and it produces harmful thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other defilements, impurities, and problems.  It is the source of all the troubles in the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations.  In short, to this false view can be traced all the evil in the world.

Two ideas are psychologically deep-rooted in man: self-protection and self-preservation.  For self-protection man has created God, on whom he depends for his own protection, safety and security, just as a child depends on its parent.  For self-preservation man has conceived the idea of an immortal Soul or Atman, which will live eternally.  In his ignorance, weakness, fear, and desire, man needs these two things to console himself.  Hence he clings to them deeply and fanatically.

The Buddha’s teaching does not support this ignorance, weakness, fear, and desire, but aims at making man enlightened by removing and destroying them, striking at their very root.  According to Buddhism, our ideas of God and Soul are false and empty.  Though highly developed as theories, they are all the same extremely subtle mental projections, garbled in an intricate metaphysical and philosophical phraseology.  These ideas are so deep-rooted in man, and so near and dear to him, that he does not wish to hear, nor does he want to understand, any teaching against them.

The Buddha knew this quite well.  In fact he said that his teaching was ‘against the current’ (patisotagami), against man’s selfish desires…

From “What the Buddha Taught” by Walpola Rahula, pages 51, 52

Copyright © 1959, 1967, 1978     First published in 1959  ISBN 967-9920-02-X

Printed and donated for free distribution the AMIDA Society, Temple City, CA