ASR100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Annihilationism, Anatta, Visuddhimagga
Deakin University ASR100 World Religions Trimester Two 2017
Week Five: Buddhism II - No self and Nibbana
Three Marks of Existence
1. Impermanence
2. The absence of self - no self (anatta)
3. Suffering, dissatisfaction (dukkha )
Anatta (No-Self)
• No atman
• Hinduism: atman as the 'true' self - permanent
• Buddhism: no 'true' self - self is impermanent
• What does it mean to say that there is no self?
Misery only doth exist
–
none miserable
No doer is there; naught save the deed is found
Nirvana is, but not the man who seeks it
The Path exists, but not the traveler on it
- Buddhaghosa, Visuddhi-magga
("Path of Purification")
The Problem of Personal Identity
Traditional Western View:
• Humans are selves that are ontologically distinct and endure through time. Two ideas:
1. The self ontologically distinct; might be enmeshed in casual relations, but remains distinct
from other entities.
2. The self persists in time. You are today the same person you were in earlier life, despite
changes you undergo
In what sense am I the same person I was when I was born?
Possible Answers:
The Body:
o A person is identical with their body (materialism)
o At death the body goes out of existence
The Soul/mind:
o Immaterial, spiritual substance (the soul) is the 'me' who lives inside my body
o Plato in Phaedo & The Republic - idea of immortal soul, that can continue to exist after the
body dies
o Descartes in Medittations - the self is a thinking thing, the mind or soul endures over time
Problems
• self is the body: what about physical change? Physical changes and growth (baby vs old age), dramatic
hages i oe’s od e.g. drasti eight loss, iapaitatio, aputatio, etesie plasti surger?
Is this still the same self, despite drastic changes in the body?
• self is the id or soul: What happens if the mind or soul undergoes dramatic change?
Alzheier’s, rai traua, religious oersio? Is this still the sae self?
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Document Summary
Week five: buddhism ii - no self and nibbana. Impermanence: the absence of self - no self (anatta, suffering, dissatisfaction (dukkha ) No doer is there; naught save the deed is found. Nirvana is, but not the man who seeks it. The path exists, but not the traveler on it. Traditional western view: humans are selves that are ontologically distinct and endure through time. Two ideas: the self ontologically distinct; might be enmeshed in casual relations, but remains distinct from other entities, the self persists in time. You are today the same person you were in earlier life, despite changes you undergo. The body: a person is identical with their body (materialism, at death the body goes out of existence. He, however, who abandons this knowledge of the truth and believes in a living entity must assume either that this living entity will perish or that it will not perish.
