Buddhist materialists are dead wrong

Very seldom, if at all, do modern Buddhists spend a lot of time studying the Five Aggregates despite the fact that they are not infrequently mentioned in the Pali Nikayas, especially in the Samyutta-Nikaya.  

I have always found them to be fascinating to explore and worthy of study which leads me to say, somewhat offhandedly, that the Buddhism of the canon centers more on the problem the aggregates present to us, and our connection with them, than on whether or not there is a self or atman.  It is only by really knowing what the aggregates are, that we can begin to look at the self, and the self's relation to them which will lead us to conclude that the Buddha never denied the self.

Looking at the aggregates themselves, they are never more than something we should abandon.  As a matter of fact the Noble Eightfold Path is intended to help us abandon them.

"These are the five aggregates subject to clinging.  This Noble Eightfold Path is to be developed for direct knowledge of these five aggregates subject to clinging, for the full understanding of them, for their utter destruction (parikkhayâya), for their abandoning (pahânâya)" (S. v. 60-61).

To digress somewhat, isn't it somewhat odd that modern Buddhists use the Five Aggregates as a standard by which to determine if the self or atman is to be rejected?  From the above passage which comes from the Samyutta-Nikaya, the Five Aggregates are the bad boys; something to be destroyed and abandoned!

Just as odd, the Five Aggregates consisting of material shape, feeling, perception, habitual tendencies and consciousness, are treated by the Buddha as illusory—not real.

"Material shape is like a lump of foam, feeling like a water bubble; perception is like a mirage; habitual tendencies like a plantain trunk, and consciousness like an illusion, so explained the Kinsman of the Sun" (S .iii. 142).

Looking at the above, if we said that foam is not the self (anattâ) all the way to an illusion is not the self, it would be clear to any rational person that the Buddha is telling them that our self is not to be mistaken with illusory phenomena—they are not our self.  The rule being laid down by the Buddha is this:  we are not to identify our self with the Five Aggregates which constitute our psychophysical body.  The aggregates are to be destroyed and abandoned, they are illusory and they even belong to Mara the Evil One (cp. S. iii.189). By default what exists after their abandonment is the self and only the self. 

In light of this, I have to admit that modern Buddhists don't get it.  Are they imbeciles? No, I don't think so.  I think they are, for the most part, materialists who want a religion sympathetic with their views. So they picked Buddhism.  But they are dead wrong to believe that the Buddha denied the self. 

 

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