Anatta
The Buddhist doctrine that what we call the self is not a permanent substance but a stream of conditioned mental and physical states.
Anatta (Pali; Sanskrit anatman) is the Buddhist doctrine that what we call the self is not a permanent, unchanging substance but a stream of five aggregates (skandhas) — form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness — none of which is permanent or substantial. The doctrine is one of the three marks of existence in Buddhist analysis, alongside impermanence (anicca) and unsatisfactoriness (dukkha).
Anatta directly contradicts the Hindu doctrine of atman, the witness consciousness that underlies and survives the changing states of body and mind. The Buddhist analysis treats the apparent unity of the self as a cognitive distortion produced by clinging to the aggregates. Liberation requires the experiential recognition that there is no enduring self to which suffering happens; what we call I is a process, not a thing. The doctrine has been developed differently in Theravada, Yogacara, and Madhyamaka traditions, but the rejection of a substantial self is common to all.
The Buddhist analysis of anatta proceeds through close examination of what we ordinarily take to be the self. The Sutta Pitaka's standard analysis takes each of the five aggregates in turn and shows that none can be the self because each is impermanent, conditioned, and a source of suffering. The discourse on the marks of non-self (Anattalakkhana Sutta) is the canonical statement: form is not self, feeling is not self, perception is not self, mental formations are not self, consciousness is not self.
The doctrine generates a deep philosophical question about who or what is liberated, who or what undergoes rebirth, and who or what bears the consequences of action. Buddhist philosophers have responded in different ways. The Theravada Abhidhamma analyzes personhood as a stream of momentary mental and physical events linked by causation. The Mahayana traditions emphasize that the very framework of self vs non-self requires further deconstruction; clinging to non-self as a doctrine reproduces the cognitive error that anatta was meant to undo.
How philosophers have framed anatta
| Philosopher | Position |
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| Buddha | What we call the self is a stream of conditioned aggregates; clinging to it produces suffering. |
| Nagarjuna | Even the doctrine of non-self must be held with care; clinging to it reproduces cognitive error. |
| Dogen | Practice-realization: the self is dropped off in zazen, not refuted in argument. |
| Adi Shankara | Rejected: atman is the witness consciousness underlying all changing states. |
| Ramanuja | Rejected: individual selves are real and persist in eternal devotional relation to Brahman. |
Representative quotes
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Buddha
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“There are these four ways of answering questions . Which four? There are questions that should be answered categorically [straightforwardly yes, no, this, that]. There are questions that should be answered with an analytical (qualified) answer [defining or redefining the terms]. There are questions that should be answered with a counter-question. There are questions that should be put aside . These are the four ways of answering questions.”
As quoted in: Ṭhānissaro (Bhikkhu.) (2004) Handful of leaves. Vol. 3, p. 80
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Nagarjuna
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“No suffering is self-caused. Nothing causes itself. If another is not self-made, How could suffering be caused by another? If suffering were caused by each, Suffering could be caused by both. Not caused by self or by other, How could suffering be uncaused?”
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 14.8–9 | trans. Jay Garfield, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way (1995), ISBN 0195093364
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Dogen
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“To study the Buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.”
Fascicle 1 ( Genjokoan ) of Shobogenzo , trans. Paul Jaffe (1996), in Yasutani, Flowers Fall (Boston: Shambhala), 101-107.
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Adi Shankara
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“Knowledge of the Self is the only means to liberation.”
p. 4: Quote nr. 2.
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Ramanuja
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“When the food is pure the Sattva element gets purified, the memory becomes unwavering.”
Ramanuja quotes from the Chandogya Upanishad ; Quoted in: Vivekananda (1913) Vedanta Philosophy: Lectures on Raja Yoga . p. 293.
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