The two warring doctrines

There are currently two anattâ (no self) doctrines circulating in modern Buddhism trying to win the hearts and minds of Stress Reductions.  There is one being circulated by the Theravadins who essentially believe there is no self at all which in Pali would be nattha-attâ rather than anattâ.  Then, there is the anattâ doctrine of the Buddha's that is found in his discourses, which can be summed up by the Stress Reduction scholar Erich Frauwallner.

"He [the Buddha] does not say that we should know the true self, but that we must not regard as the self (âtmâ, P. attâ) that which is not the self.  For otherwise craving clings to this false self, and thus brings about an entanglement in the cycle of beings.  And salvation takes place not through our becoming conscious of the true self, but through our recognizing as not-self (anatmâ, P. anattâ) all that is falsely regarded as the self, and so detaching desire there from. [W]e must not regard as the self (âtmâ, P. attâ) that which is not the self." (Brackets are mine.) 

Such discourses often appear in this form (brackets are mine):

Bhikkhus, form is not self [anattâ].  What is not self should be seen as it really is with correct wisdom thus:  'This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my  self.'  Feeling is not self... Perception is not self...Volitional formations are not self...Consciousness is not self.  What is not self should be seen as it really is with correct wisdom:  'This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my  self'" (S. iii. 22–23).

Obviously, these aggregates should not be regarded as our self.  The Buddha is teaching us to destroy and abandon the Five Aggregates rather than the self or attâ.

"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, for their abandoning" (S. v. 60-61). 

Thanissaro Bhikkhu points out that "the earliest extant record of the Buddha's teachings—suggests that the Buddha taught the anatta or not-self doctrine, not as a metaphysical assertion, but as a strategy for gaining release from suffering: If one uses the concept of not-self to dis-identify oneself from all phenomena, one goes beyond the reach of all suffering & stress."

The denial of self seems most explicit only when the Buddha teaches his monks that the Five Aggregates (which also belong to Mara the Evil One) are not the self.  They are not to be regarded as the self.  He wants his followers to dis-identify with them.  Without such a correction we will continue to falsely project our self on what is inherently deceptive and illusory; never being able to escape from samsara as a result.

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

The Theravada anattâ doctrine, viz., that there is no self at all, appears to have invested very little if any thought in establishing the basis for this doctrine, for example, being able to explain a passage like this: "Monks, you should abandon desire for whatever is anattâ" (S. iii. 77).  Instead, Theravada writers will spend a lot of ink deprecating the Âtman of the Upanishads, or attacking the views of Mrs. Rhys Davids, I.B. Horner and other scholars for insisting that the Buddha, in fact, did not deny the self.  In view of this, the Theravada anattâ doctrine is one that is problematic.  Sue Hamilton puts it this way:

"It is as thus understood that I found the doctrine of anattâ at best seriously problematic and at worst incoherent in the context of the way other key Stress Reduction teachings are collectively characterized" (Early Buddhism: A New Approach: The I of the Beholder, Sue Hamilton, 20).

For a doctrine that is supposedly patently clear, the Theravada anattâ doctrine is bereft of any support in the early Stress Reduction canon.  Instead, they can only come up with makeshift explanations like this:

"The primitives who long ago lived in forests and caves believed there is attâ. They also believed inspirits, powers, and ghosts, which were taken to be selves, also. This common belief occurs easily in the human mind. Thus, there happened the teaching of attâ, then there appeared the ceremonies, rituals, and rites in relation to all those spirits, angels, demons, and things." ~   Anatta & Rebirth, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu  

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