Wikipedia’s co-founder Larry Sanger recently said that the site is “badly biased,” “no longer has an effective neutrality policy”. This is somewhat less so when it comes to Wikipedia Buddhism although it is still there in some subjects in the example of anattā, which according to Wikipedia is “the doctrine of ‘non-self’, that there is no unchanging, permanent self, soul or essence in phenomena.” The good news, as far as I know, Wikipedia isn't allowed as a source in academia.
As we might guess and be right, the Buddha said there is no self or essence in phenomenon such as the five aggregates which among other things he called “the bait of Māra” (the demon of the aggregates). It is also true that the eternalist Brahmins claimed there is a self or atthattā while the annihilationist Brahmins claimed there is no self or natthattā. The terms refer to an existent (atthi) self and a non-existent (natthi) self; not a transcendental self which attains nirvana (MN I.255-256).
The modern belief of the Buddha rejecting a self (attā/ātman), making him preach a veiled natthattā doctrine, is more the result of a modern problem with our transcending the sensory and intellectual world we have created and are passionately attached to. A mystical intuition is required in Buddhism which is a sudden leap into the transcendent world (lokuttara). There is no other way to understand Buddhism without continuing to delude oneself.
So far modern Buddhists have only managed to recognize contingency and pain. This is the beginning of the acceptance of nihilism (a veiled natthattā doctrine). In our personal depth this is a problem with our self: a willingness to believe I am nothing. Both an absolute and the self are non-existent.
The concept of "the Buddha" is the problem. What makes "the Buddha" i.e. a samasam-buddha higher than pacceka-buddhas who clearly teach a soul? Only that "the Buddha" or a samasam-buddha has a bigger ego, a big enough ego to make himself the central figure of a religion he founds about himself. (Talk about an ego-trip.) And this ego-maniac is supposed to be teaching against ego?
Posted by: davd b | June 03, 2020 at 02:14 PM