15
votes
If there is no soul or self, why did the Buddha speak of his past lives?
How is it possible that he had past lives?
Because until he became the Buddha he hadn't eliminated craving.
Craving leads to clinging, clinging leads to becoming, becoming leads to birth.
how did ...
- 25.7k
10
votes
Accepted
Why is "I have no self" a wrong view?
It is wrong view because of the "I" (bolded): "I have no self". This view still believes in self. It thinks: "myself has no self". This is the wrong view of the befuddled wanderer Vacchagotta in SN 44....
- 40.5k
9
votes
Is rebirth essential to Buddhist philosophy?
From Ven. Bodhi's excellent short essay "Dhamma Without Rebirth?":
The aim of the Buddhist path is liberation from suffering, and the Buddha makes it abundantly clear that the suffering from which ...
- 9,707
8
votes
What is the meaning of Anicca and Anatta?
It is 'anatta' that means our inability to control the five aggregate, as found in the Pali as follows, where the word 'anicca' is not found at all:
Rūpaṃ, bhikkhave, anattā. Rūpañca hidaṃ, ...
- 40.5k
8
votes
Hesitation between Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta
If you want to know the truth about reality, you have to learn how to make impartial observations of nature. When you ask questions like "Who is waking up? Who is witnessing?", you have already made ...
- 25.7k
7
votes
Is Anatman the most important concept in Buddhism?
If someone can realize Anatman then is this not basically the whole teaching?
It's certainly a great step forward on the path, but it is not the whole teaching.
This is the whole teaching.
That was ...
- 1,099
7
votes
Should I identify myself as formless?
I think the doctrine is saying that you shouldn't "identify yourself" at all. Quoting from this answer
"You may well accept, monks, the assumption of a self-theory[27] from the acceptance of which ...
- 46.3k
6
votes
Have any Buddhist thinkers responded to the critique of the Brahma Sutras?
I think Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika is the work you are looking for. Just like Brahma-sutras does not mention specific Buddhist sutras it debates with, Mulamadhyamakakarika does not mention ...
- 58.3k
6
votes
How is it wrong to believe that a self exists, or that it doesn't?
You should not believe or hold a view that:
there is a self
there is no self
But whatever you consider as self is not worthy of being called self as:
you cannot control it to your will
it is ...
6
votes
Accepted
Questions about strong acceptance of rebirth?
The question is basically, why is belief in literal rebirth (reincarnation) a problem. I won't address every OP point here, just make four theses:
Rebirth is self. Self is rebirth. Whenever there is ...
- 58.3k
6
votes
Anatta & Atman the same thing?
I have never read 'anatta' is 'pure bliss'. 'Bliss' is a feeling where as 'anatta' is a characteristic of things that is realised by wisdom.
As for 'Atman', this appears to be a concept that changed ...
- 40.5k
6
votes
Accepted
How does *Buddhist* meditation differ from others and lead to awakening?
Very good question.
Buddhist meditation is based on the understanding of the mechanism of arising and cessation of suffering. Suffering arises whenever there is a conflict between "is" and "should". ...
- 58.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Why is there no self in the container of the 5 aggregates?
This is the problem with mixing up ultimate reality with conventional reality. In ultimate reality, the cat does not exist. What is real is the tactile experience of the touch. That experience is an ...
- 25.7k
5
votes
Is Anatman the most important concept in Buddhism?
No, anatta is not the key point of Buddhism, and Buddhism is not nondualism.
That would be too easy ;)
Shunyata, the Mahayana extrapolation of anatta principle, is getting closer.
If I had to pick ...
- 58.3k
5
votes
Understanding anatta via "there are no computer programs" analogy
I find it helps to try to relate things back to the core teachings: suffering, the cause of suffering, the extinction of suffering and the way to achieve that. So the relevant teaching here as I ...
- 376
5
votes
Am I "fooling" myself?
Here is the simple answer to what you feel...
We are in constant pain and suffering.
As to lord Buddha
Eyes,Ears,Tongue,Nose,Body & Mind are Burning from three things (Lust,Anger,Confusion -[...
- 3,953
5
votes
Accepted
How is it wrong to believe that a self exists, or that it doesn't?
Buddha kept silent in response to Vacchagotta’s question because answering it in either way, it would have been misunderstood. This nature of the self is beyond the level of understanding of ...
- 9,695
5
votes
Accepted
How does Buddhism explain consciousness if there is no self?
Acts of cognition do not require a "cogniser, a subject" that knows (apart from the mind itself), because consciousness belongs to the body & mind.
The original question contains an implicit ...
- 40.5k
5
votes
Did the Buddha leave room for the possibility of a self?
Buddha did not teach that things exist (that's one extreme) or that things do not exist (that's another extreme). Buddha teaches that things exist to some extent, in some context, relative to some ...
- 58.3k
5
votes
Is the Mind (Citta) the Self? If not, what is it?
1. If this mind is already not-Self, why it needs to be emptied and what is to be emptied?
The mind is only 'not-self' from the viewpoint of enlightenment & truth. But for the unenlightened mind, ...
- 40.5k
5
votes
Why is "I have no self" a wrong view?
"1. Why is "I have no self" a wrong view?"
If the view "I have no self" arises as true & established, this view comes from the view "I have a self".
Why is that so?
In order for the view "I ...
- 2,657
5
votes
Annatta and taking responsibility
How do you take responsibility for your actions if you don't see them as your actions but just a process happening?
A medical doctor has more than one medicine, for example one to make you vomit and ...
- 46.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Rebirth, nibbana, and anatta
Anatta isn't something which continues- it just refers to the lack of an inherent (non-dependent) self nature, which is true of everything, everywhere and always.
Contemplating dependent origination ...
- 796
5
votes
Is this talk just a convention?
It's all about mental context, my friend. If in your mind there's a (silent) conviction that you see, you act, you were born, you will die, this is you etc. - if your subjective experience is like ...
- 58.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Difference between Theravada's self and Mahayana's intrinsic essence
1. Do other Mahayana Buddhists apart from the commentator above, also call the intrinsic essence (svabhava) of a chair, as the "self of chairs"?
Yes, this is a common expression in Mahayana texts on ...
- 58.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Does false self = no self?
Imagine a river flowing over some rocks. At one point where the river bed makes a sudden turn, the flowing water forms eddies - little spinning whirlpools of water.
Does an Eddy exist? Well, yeah. Is ...
- 58.3k
5
votes
How to stop rejecting / avoiding things?
Very good question, focused on real and useful problem.
Mind generates aversion when things go contrary to what it believes is "right". This belief is called "attachment". For ...
- 58.3k
5
votes
3 marks of existence: conditioned vs unconditioned things?
Imagine you were looking for Nirvana, Enlightenment, Liberation - whatever you want to call it. As a rational man you are, you would think logically:
Regardless of what Nirvana actually is (whatever ...
- 58.3k
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