Buddhism“Everything that arises also passes away, so strive for what has not arisen.” - Buddha

Three Marks of Existence

Suffering (dukkha)

Impermanence (anicca)

No Self (anatta)

Buddhist Conception of Reality

Doctrine of Dependent Arising

Reality is a flow of multiple momentary mutually conditioned

events.

Impermanence is a pervasive feature of the universe.

Impermanence

(1) All things come into existence and go out of existence.

(2) While things exist, they undergo constant change.

The 12 Links in the Causal Chain of DependentArising

John Holder Observation

The Buddhist view of reality stands in between the extremes of theories that postulate a transcendent absolute reality (e.g., Brahman

in Hinduism) and those that postulate that nothing exists (metaphysical nihilism).

“From the point of view of dependent arising, things do exist, but only as complex, interdependent, changing

processes.” (Holder, p. 26)

Discourse to Kaccayana

“‘Everything exists’ – this is one extreme. ‘Everything does not exist’ –

this is the second extreme. Without approaching either of these extremes, the Tathagata teaches dhamma by the middle.” (Buddha, in Holder, p. 83)

No Self (Anatta)

All Thingsare

Impermanent

There is No Self

There is no permanent self or enduring mind.

“For the Buddhist there is no atman or essential self underlying the changing stream of events which constitute the mind-body complex. The

Buddhist doctrine of no-abiding-self (Pali: anatta; Sanskrit: anatman) provided a stark

philosophical contrast to brahmanical notions of a substantial self (atman).”

– Richard King, Indian Philosophy, p. 78)

What is the human person?

Personhood in BuddhismBuddhism maintains that a person is a dynamic aggregation of five different elements (skandhas), together called Nama-Rupa

Rupa

Vedana

Sanna

Sankhara

Vinnana Consciousness

Dispositions or Tendencies

The Physical Body

Feelings or Sensations

Perception or recognition of sensation

The Skandha-Identity Argument

(1) “The self” is not anything other than the five skandhas (individually or collectively considered).

(2) None of the skandhas is permanent.Therefore(3) “The self” is not permanent.

The Five Elements (skandhas) constitute “the individual person,” though not in any substantial

sense. “Self” is simply a name given to the aggregate of skandhas.

There is no soul or permanent self residing in or behind the skandhas. There is no “atman.”

“The words ‘living entity’ or ‘ego’ are but a mode of expression for the presence of the five

aggregates, but when we come to examine the elements one by one, we discover that, in the

absolute sense, there is no ‘living entity’ there to form the basis for such figments as ‘I am’ or ‘I’’ in other words, that in the absolute sense, there is only

Nama and Rupa.” - Buddhaghosa

Buddhaghosa, 5Buddhaghosa, 5thth century CE century CE Buddhist PhilosopherBuddhist Philosopher

The Chariot Analogy

“Why do you assume a ‘person’? Mara, you have adopted a wrong speculative view. This is only a heap of processes. There is no person to be found here.”

“Just as the word ‘chariot” refers to an assemblage of parts, so, ‘person’ is a convention used when the aggregates are present.”(Holder, p. 87).

Verses of Sister Vajira

Substantialist Tendencies?

In some branches of Buddhism, something similar or functionally equivalent to atman seems to be

affirmed.

The Buddha-NatureMahayana Buddhism

In Mahayana Buddhism, the “Buddha-nature” typically refers to an innate potentiality in all

sentient beings for becoming enlightened.

This Buddha-nature is said to be uncreated, immutable, and immortal.

In several scriptures, though, the Buddha-nature appears to refer to an underlying ontological reality, a single essence shared by all sentient

beings. It seems to be functionally equivalent to a transcendental Self.

Tantric Scripture exalts the “beginningless Self,” “the Self of primordial unity,” and “the

Supreme Being,” each in contrast to the empirical or phenomenal self. ~ Jeff Hopkins

(Mountain Doctrine, pp. 279-294)

“Permanent is the Self; the Self is thoroughly pure. The thoroughly pure is called ‘bliss’. Permanent, blissful, Self,

and thoroughly pure is the one-gone-thus [i.e. Buddha].” ~ Jeff Hopkins

(Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, Trans. Hopkins in Mountain Doctrine, p. 129)

“The Buddha-nature is eternal bliss, the Self, and the Pure. Buddha-Nature is not non-

eternal, not non-bliss, not the non-Self, and not non-purity”

~ Buddha (Mahayana Mahaparinirvana, Trans. Kosho Yamaoto in

Mahanaya Mahabarinirvana, vol. 8, p. 23)

What about Anatta?Can this Buddhist view of a transcendent Self

be reconciled with the anatta doctrine?

Yes.

Anatta can be interpreted as “no individual, enduring self” or “no individual

soul.”The term “atman” in the Upanishads

sometimes refers to the individual soul, sometimes called jivatman.

Within the framework of Buddhism, Anatta can mean (i) no permanent

individual self or (ii) no permanent self of any sort.

“No self means to awaken to a Self that is so vast and limitless that it cannot be seen.” ~ Sekkei Harada

(Essence of Zen, p. 63)

Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta

• So the Buddhist anatta doctrine may be compatible with the conception of Atman affirmed in Advaita Vedanta, namely a single, pure undifferentiated consciousness.

• This may explain why bhakti vedantins accused Sankara of being a crypto-Buddhist.

NirvanaThe Goal, The Attainment

Nirvana - “to be blown out.”

“A man comes to believe in his essential nature, to know that what exists is the erroneous activity of the mind and that the world of objects in front of him is non-existent. . .this is called gaining nirvana.”

Asvaghosa (2nd century CE Buddhist philosopher)

What is blown out?

Nirvana is “an indefinable state, independent of all worldly ties, beyond all earthly passion, freedom from all egotistical, false ideas, - in short, it is the exact opposite of everything known to the conditioned, individual existence between birth and death.”

Von Glasenapp, modern Buddhist commentator

Nirvana is the blowing out of . . .

Craving for Identity and Permanence

Greed – Hate - Delusion

False Ego

Dukkha

Nirvana does not mean unqualified cessation of existence, annihilation, or extinction. Only the

extinction of a false ego.

What remains after such extinction?

“Bliss, yes bliss, my friends is nirvana.” - Buddha

As in Vedanta, “bliss” (ananda) does not mean a temporary pleasant or happy feeling. It just means satisfaction, fullness, completeness, or not needing. This state is compatible with pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

Nirvana and GodWhile nirvana may be described as an ultimate reality, it is not a personal Supreme being or creator. It is not God as understood in the theistic traditions of the east and west.

Nirvana plays a functional role similar to God in the theistic traditions. It is spoken of with language parallel to God in the theistic traditions:

Imperishable and the EternalImmovable or Unchanging

PowerSecure Refuge and Shelter

PeaceTruth

Nirvana most closely resembles nirguna Brahman of the Vedanta traditions and God as understood in the mystical traditions of the west as a being beyond all positive description.

“There is, O Monks, an unborn, neither become nor created nor formed.

Were there not, there would be no deliverance

from the formed, the made, the compounded.”

– Buddha

Buddhism and the Doctrine of Rebirth

Physical Death

At the time of death, the nama-rupa disintegrates. The individual psycho-physical person that once existed, no longer exists.

The skandhas, which together constitute an individual personality, are severally and collectively impermanent. Hence, they cannot

survive death, individually or collectively.

What Survives Death?

The doctrine of anatta prevents this understanding of rebirth.

Not any soul or enduring mind.

Buddhaghosa considers it a “confusion” to suppose that rebirth involves a “being’s

transmigration to another incarnation. . . .a lasting being’s manifestation in a new body.”

(Buddhaghosa, Visuddhimagga 17.113-114)

First ApproximationFirst ApproximationOne’s individual karma survives the death of the self, and provides the basis for the emergence of a new personality.

What is reborn is a cluster of dispositions or tendencies that constituted the character of the formerly living person. The person has ceased to exist with death, but his or her character persists and becomes integrated with a new psycho-physical person.

"There is rebirth of character, but no transmigration of a self. Thy thought-forms reappear, but there is no ego-entity

transferred. The stanza uttered by a teacher is reborn in the scholar who repeats the words” ~ Buddha, The Gospel