Following up the recent post, "Buddhism in One Sentence" -- I am stunned, and shocked, at the degree of misunderstanding and resistance to the teaching of anatta, or no self. Although there are many variations of this teaching, the basic doctrine of "no soul" or "no self" is absolutely essential, agreed upon by all schools, and foundational to understanding anything else about Buddhism.
I realize it's a very difficult doctrine, since it seems counter-intuitive and goes against the grain of how we understand ourselves. It often takes years of practice for the full significance of "no self" to sink in, so to speak. Until that happens, it is perfectly natural to be confused and full of doubts about what the bleep the teachers are going on about.
However, the proposition of no self is the foundation of the Buddha's teaching. Enlightenment itself can be defined as the direct and intimate realization that self is an illusion. This is a point the historical Buddha expounded many times in his teaching. So, we're going to review.
Start at the beginning, from the historical Buddha's first sermon. In his first sermon, he expounded the doctrine of the Four Noble Truths. The first truth is that life is dukkha, which is sometimes translated as "suffering." I have an article that explains dukkha in more detail, and I'm not going to repeat all that here.
In support of the First Noble Truth, the Buddha over the years taught a lot about the nature of existence. A very important supporting doctrine is that of the Five Skandhas. The Five Skandhas are form, sensation, perception, mental formation or discrimination, and awareness or consciousness. If you are not familiar with the skandhas, this is something you would do well to review.
The Buddha taught that we are, essentially, temporary assemblages of the Five Skandhas. The important thing to remember is that there is no "me" separate from the skandhas inhabiting them; no intrinsic or inherent self tying the skandhas together. Even our conscious awareness is just a kind of sense organ, like eyes or noses.
Instead, the skandhas work together to create the illusion of a permanent self that exists from moment to moment, day to day, year to year. The Buddha said this illusion is re-created every moment. "I" am a series of thoughts, one after another. In a sense, we die and are reborn every moment.
Then the Buddha went on to the Second Noble Truth, which is that dukkha is created by tanha, which means "thirst" or "craving." This thirst arises from the illusion of a self. This illusion is the source of all greed and hatred.
Note that this goes way beyond merely disbelieving in a soul. Even if you don't believe in an eternal soul, you still think of yourself as the same person who has existed through your life. We all tend to divide existence into "me" and "everything else." It's this idea of self the Buddha taught is an illusion.
At the center of the Wheel of Life traditionally you find pictures of a pig, a snake, and a cock. These represent ignorance, hatred, and greed, respectively. (In Asia, pigs tend to represent stupidity or ignorance rather than greed, as they do in the West.) Often ignorance is shown to be leading the snake and cock, because it is ignorance that gives rise to greed and hatred.
Greed, hatred, and ignorance are the three poisons that are at the source of all suffering, and which turn the wheel of samsara. The Buddha often spoke of enlightenment as "unbinding," because realizing the true nature of self sets one free from the wheel.
The Third Noble Truth is that there is a remedy to dukkha, and that remedy is the Eightfold Path. Practice of the path causes us to wake up to reality and free us from samsara. It's within the practice of the path that we find teachings about things like meditation and compassion. Compassion is necessary to realizing wisdom, or prajna, which means to realize the illusory nature of the self.
Now, merely believing in a doctrine of "not self" isn't the point. You can believe in anatta, and understand it intellectually, and still not be liberated. This is true because you will still perceive and experience yourself as a continuous entity. Only when the illusion is directly perceived to be an illusion is "unbinding" possible.
Now, everything I've said so far is Basic Buddhism 101, understood in all schools, both Theravada and Mahayana. If by chance you stumble onto a Buddhist teacher who is teaching something else, then he is not actually a Buddhist teacher. (See the Dharma Seals.)
That said, in many schools anatta is not trotted out and presented to the newbies, but if you keep practicing in any tradition, you get to it sooner or later. Only in Zen, I think, do they slap you with no-self on Day One.
As I've said, there are many variations on how anatta is understood. Here I'm just trying to lay out the basics of (a) what the historical Buddha taught, and (b) why it's important. And you don't have to believe or accept any of this. I am just saying this is what Buddhism is. Any so-called school of Buddhism that is not based on anatta is not a legitimate school of Buddhism.
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