This is not gold

How did the Buddha know that the five khandhas or aggregates were not the self or in Pali, anattâ?  This is a question modern Buddhist don’t often pose, if at all—and they should.  This question is almost like asking, “How does one know this bag of rocks on the table is fool’s gold?”  Of course, the answer is easy if, beforehand, we know exactly what real gold is. When the Buddha says that our psychophysical body (the five khandhas) is not our real self, it is only because he as realized and actualized the real self.

Whatever some Buddhists may think, the Buddha does give us an answer as to why the five khandhas are not the self (anattâ) .  The most obvious answer is the aggregates are said by the Buddha to be suffering and impermanent which implies that the Buddha knows the difference between a psychological self, born of the aggregates which suffer, which is called sakkaya, and self, that is altogether transcendent and knows, above all else, of each aggregate, they are na meso attâ (not my self).

If someone were to ask the Buddha, “Is disease the self, or is being without protection and refuge the self, or is being what is murderous and evil the self?” the Buddha would have replied in the negative.  But all these conditions and many more, in fact, belong to the Five Aggregates!

Quite emphatically, the Buddha said that material shapes cannot be our self, for obvious reasons, such as material shape is impermanent, although we might believe otherwise.  He said the same thing about the rest of the aggregates.  For example, feeling is not our self because it is impermanent, and so on to the aggregate of consciousness which also cannot be a proper self. 

 

Comments

[thezennist]

Eidolon: Whatever this person's experience, it is outside of Buddhism. In my case, one of the side benefits (a major one in fact), I could see where the Buddha was coming from. The only reason more people don't have satori is because there are a lot of materialists in Buddhism who don't belong there. They are dogs in the manger.

[Eidolon]

Related to your comments here, and ones previously of course, I'd like to know what you think about this statement about satori:

http://peterrengel.com/articles/a-satori-experience/

(And just because I'm not commenting (or arguing with you), doesn't mean I'm not keeping an eye on what you're doing here (which is much appreciated).