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Implications of the Buddhist “no-self” concept
From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee
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| Chum For Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters |
Implications of the Buddhist “no-self” concept
The Hindu concept of atman is the indestructible essential
self, which is reincarnated in a series of corporeal physical existences.
The Buddhist concept of “an-atman” (or no-atman) refutes the
idea of an irreducible unitary essence that sustains an existence. An-atman
presumes total dissipation at death and rebirth as a new constitution from
previous cause.
The implication of an-atman is that no thing or person is
special. Wealth accumulated for the sole benefit of self or favored others is
meaningless because we are not only related to all else, but are nothing but
“all else.”
With the distinction of all things and selves being
illusion, there is no need to cling or grasp for anything desired but perceived
to be unobtained. In fact, the desire for things-not-had defines the dukkha
(“suffering”) of the human condition.
Since the accumulation of ever-increasing possessions and
the
