The ancient Buddhist idea of no-self (anatta) becomes prominent in a time of radical change in India's religious outlooks (from 800 BCE and thereafter). The traditional Vedic religion that the Aryans brought to the Indus Valley around 2300 BCE was being transformed into what scholars now call Classical Hinduism.
Not only did Classical Hinduism emerge but so did the Buddhist and Jainist traditions, both of which are critical of aspects of Classical Hinduism. The Buddhist notion of no-self is a critique of the Hindu concept of the soul.
Classical Hinduism and the Soul
In Classical Hinduism, the soul (in Sanskrit, atman) is purely spiritual, eternal, and trans-migratory; in other words, atman is a spiritual substance that is embodied in humans and travels to another body after one's physical death.
This transmigration of the soul, commonly known as reincarnation, is literally called "wandering" (samsara). Although atman appears to people as individuated, it is actually part of the one, overarching reality called brahman according to the Chandogya Upanishad. The ultimate goal in Classical Hinduism is to break free from this wandering of atman from body to body and return brahman, and one performs this by a combination of renunciation of worldly things, performing meditation and yogic practices, and achieving the highest level of wisdom of atman and brahman.
The Five Aggregates
In the religious and intellectual environment of Classical Hinduism, Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) proposes his doctrine of no-self (in Pali, anatta) in the 5th Century BCE. In opposition to the purely spiritual and eternal soul, the Buddha argues that each human is a conglomeration of five aggregates: matter, sensations, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness.
In one discourse, the Buddha examines each of the aggregates looking for the self and concludes for each aggregate, "this is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self." This does not imply that the self is other than the aggregates or beyond them, but that there is no self to be found among the aggregates because there is no eternal, permanent self.
Each aggregate has no underlying, permanent essence. According to the Buddha, what is called the self or the soul is merely an idea created to identify this collective like one would use the term "chariot" to identify the individual parts that are assembled to create a chariot; there is no essence or self of the chariot beyond the conventional use of the term and the object created by its parts. The self or the soul has a similar conventional use. People label individuals as "selves," but there is no self behind or beyond holding the aggregates together.
No-Self as Therapeutic
For the Buddha, the idea of the self is a creation of the mind, "an imaginary false belief," writes Walopa Rahula. This false belief distorts how people see the world and how one may interact with others.
For the Buddha's religious purposes, this idea of the self creates a selfishness that is the cause of all human conflict. Through a religious therapy of ethical conduct, mental discipline, and wisdom (which includes the knowledge of no-self), a person can get rid of this false idea and the problems that come from it.
Sources:
- The Buddha. "Anatta-lakkhana Sutta: The Discourse on the Not-Self Characteristic." Access to Insight Website. Translated by Nanamoli Thera. 5 September, 2009.
- The Buddha. "Vipallasa Sutta: Distortions of the Mind." Access to Insight Website. Translated by Andrew Olendzki. 5 September, 2009.
- "The Chandogya Upanishad." The Upanishads. Translated by Eknath Easwaran. Berkeley, Nilgiri, 2007.
- Gowans, Christopher W. Philosophy of the Buddha. New York, Routledge, 2003.
- Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught. New York, Grove Press, 1974.
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