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
12
votes
Accepted
How come enlightened people don't have any laziness?
Speaking from the first hand experience, laziness comes from attachment, fear, or ignorance. No attachment, no fear, and no ignorance - translates to no laziness.
And how does attachment cause ...
- 58.3k
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
If there is no soul, how can there be rebirth?
First, you need to understand that Buddhist texts operate on two levels of description: the conventional truth and the ultimate truth. The contradiction disappears when you realise that anatta (the ...
- 2,710
8
votes
How to live life after acknowledging anatta?
Let’s get this straight. This is the problem when your mind is active and you’re reading all this stuff and thinking about it. The mind can only be confused. Because “moving above your intellect” is ...
- 2,234
8
votes
If there is no self, why do anything?
It essentially doesn't change anything. If you look hard, that "I" was always an illusion. No matter where you try to draw a boundary - it is artificial:
Does the body belong to the self or not? How ...
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
If there's no "self" then why should I care about the future lives and nirvana?
Whether you believe in a 'self' or not, suffering is very real. You experience it on a daily basis. It is this suffering that makes beings look for an end to it. There's only one permanent end to ...
- 25.7k
7
votes
Accepted
Is society the follower of Mara?
If society is collectively wrong about me then ,myself is an error , illusion or dream, not just for me but for the entire society...
Yes. Correct. The Buddha said:
174. Blind is the world; here ...
- 40.5k
6
votes
If there is no soul, how can there be rebirth?
In original Pali Buddhism, there are two levels of teaching: (i) mundane, for the purpose of nurturing morality; and (ii) supramundane, for the purpose of enlightenment (MN 117; MN 60). The teachings ...
- 40.5k
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
How to handle contrition
In suttas Buddha says this to people feeling remorseful about their past: there is no use worrying about the past you can't change. Focus on acting with skill going forward.
One of the most ...
- 58.3k
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
How can Buddhism help with bad habits?
My first Buddhist teacher was extremely helpful with this. Basically, he explained that all these problems come from attachments. "Ego" is just a name for a tangle of attachments. Someone says ...
- 58.3k
6
votes
Did the Buddha according to the suttas mean anything else by the word "self" beyond simply the aspect of control/power?
This is a very famous line of argumentation in Buddhism, especially in Theravada, about no-self. The basic idea is that according to common sense, we can control ourselves by the power of will - move ...
- 58.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Is the Buddhist path one of 'selfless offering' or 'inner kindness'?
The two contradict only to a "confused" (=normal) mind - in which "self" and "others" are two separate things. To the enlightened mind, what's good for one is good for the other, because they ...
- 58.3k
6
votes
Why does 'thoughts' and 'memories' not part of aggregates?
It's all included, it's just a slightly different structure.
Latent memories just sitting there are included in "samskara" (what's incorrectly translated as "choices" in your copy)....
- 58.3k
6
votes
Non-Self vs. depersonalization disorder
In depersonalization and derealization disorders one recognizes a self that one is not, and that one believes one should be. This creates stress and anxiety, along with distortions of one's perception ...
- 5,015
5
votes
If there's no "self" then why should I care about the future lives and nirvana?
The questions are illogical. It was asked: If there's no "self'" then why should I care about his life if I will no longer exist?
The question is loaded with 'self', even though it claims there is no ...
- 40.5k
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
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
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
How many times has someone taken birth into samsara?
According to the Assu Sutta:
There the Blessed One said: "From an inconstruable beginning comes
transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings
hindered by ignorance and ...
- 37.4k
5
votes
If there is no self, why do anything?
No matter if we do or do not have a self
The view that we "surely have a self or soul",
drives our desire to propel through life.
We want to be & to do & to exist.
So the goal of the ...
- 7,144
5
votes
If there is no self, why do anything?
It is not that you existed and then you ceased to be after learning Buddhism. You never existed. You did no action. Your identity of self was an illusion. If you did not do any anything in the past ...
- 4,358
5
votes
If there is no self, why do anything?
It is not that there is no self. There is no self in the way you think of a self. That is, there in nothing inherent in what you refer to as "I".
When you understand this, you free yourself and your ...
- 151
5
votes
Accepted
Buddha's self-declaration without identity view and without conceit
SN 1.25
[Deva:] He who's an Arahant, his work achieved, Free from taints, in
final body clad, That monk still might use such words as "I." Still
perchance might say: "They call this mine." .....
- 40.5k
5
votes
Did the Buddha ever define what he meant by "self"?
"Self" is this highly childish, simplified, vague, unexamined idea in your mind: "This is me". It's not a concrete thing, it's an overall thing, it's a blob: "I am such, overall". It's an ...
- 58.3k
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