Atman
The Hindu term for the innermost self — and, in Advaita Vedanta, identical with Brahman, the ultimate reality.
Atman is the Sanskrit word for self, used in the Upanishads and subsequent Hindu philosophy for the innermost reality of the human person — the witness consciousness that underlies and survives the changing states of body, sense, and mind. The atman is not the empirical self of personality, memory, and biography, but the deeper subject of which these are appearances.
The philosophical interpretation of atman is the central dispute within Vedanta. Adi Shankara's Advaita Vedanta holds that atman is identical with Brahman, the ultimate reality: the apparent multiplicity of individual selves is the product of cosmic illusion (maya), and liberation (moksha) is the recognition of the underlying non-duality. Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita Vedanta holds that the individual atman is real and distinct from but qualifiedly non-dual with Brahman. Buddhist philosophy rejects the doctrine of atman altogether: the early Buddhist analysis of anatta (non-self) holds that what we call the self is a stream of conditioned states with no underlying substantial subject.
The Upanishads develop the concept of atman through a series of philosophical investigations into the nature of the self. The early Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads explore atman through analyses of waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep, treating the persistent witness of these changing states as the deeper reality of the person. The famous mahavakya tat tvam asi (that thou art) of the Chandogya Upanishad expresses the identification of atman with Brahman that becomes the central doctrine of Advaita Vedanta.
The Buddhist rejection of atman in the doctrine of anatta (non-self) is one of the central philosophical disputes of Indian philosophy. Buddhist analysis treats what we call the self as a stream of five aggregates (skandhas) — form, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness — none of which is permanent or substantial. The dispute between Hindu and Buddhist philosophers over atman / anatta runs through a millennium of Indian philosophical commentary and remains one of the most sophisticated debates over personal identity in the history of philosophy.
How philosophers have framed atman
| Philosopher | Position |
|---|---|
| Adi Shankara | Identical with Brahman; the apparent multiplicity of selves is the product of cosmic illusion. |
| Ramanuja | Real and distinct from Brahman, but qualifiedly non-dual with the divine. |
| Buddha | Rejected: what we call the self is a stream of conditioned states (anatta). |
| Swami Vivekananda | The infinite self of every human being; ground of universal religion. |
| Ramana Maharshi | Realized through self-inquiry: the question 'who am I?' returns to the source. |
Representative quotes
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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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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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Ramana Maharshi
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“Who am I?”
Self-Inquiry
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