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Buddhism
“Everything that arises also passes away,
so strive for what has not arisen.” - Buddha
Three Marks of Existence
Impermanence (anicca)
No Self (anatta)
Suffering (dukkha)
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
Dependent
Arising
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 Things
are
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 Buddhism
Buddhism maintains that a person is a dynamic aggregation of
five different elements (skandhas), together called Nama-Rupa
Vinnana
Consciousness
Sankhara
Dispositions or Tendencies
Sanna
Perception or recognition
of sensation
Vedana
Feelings or Sensations
Rupa
The Physical Body
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.”
Buddhaghosa, 5th century CE
Buddhist Philosopher
“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
The Chariot Analogy
Verses of Sister Vajira
“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).
Substantialist Tendencies?
In some branches of Buddhism,
something similar or functionally
equivalent to atman seems to be
affirmed.
The Buddha-Nature
Mahayana Buddhism
In Mahayana Buddhism, the “Buddha-nature”
typically refers to an innate potentiality in all
sentient beings for becoming enlightened.
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.
This Buddha-nature is said to be uncreated,
immutable, and immortal.
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 noneternal, 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 cryptoBuddhist.
Nirvana
The Goal, The Attainment
Nirvana - “to be blown out.”
What is 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)
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 . . .
Dukkha
False Ego
Greed – Hate - Delusion
Craving for Identity and Permanence
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 God
While 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 Eternal
Immovable or Unchanging
Power
Secure Refuge and Shelter
Peace
Truth
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
The skandhas, which together constitute an individual personality,
are severally and collectively impermanent. Hence, they cannot
survive death, individually or collectively.
At the time of death, the nama-rupa disintegrates. The individual
psycho-physical person that once existed, no longer exists.
What Survives Death?
Not any soul or enduring mind.
The doctrine of anatta prevents
this understanding of rebirth.
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 Approximation
One’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