Anattā (no-self)
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The Buddhist teaching that there is no permanent, independent self underlying a person.
Also: anatta, anātman, anatman, no-self, not-self
What it means
Anattā (Sanskrit anātman) holds that a person contains no permanent substance or soul. Instead, a person is a changing combination of five aggregates: material form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness. The Buddha argued that none of these is permanent, fully under our control or independent of causes, so none can be a true self. Scholars note that the target is a permanent, independent self, not the everyday self of a continuing process, which can be compared to a flame or a flowing river. Together with impermanence and suffering, it is one of the three characteristics of existence. It stands in direct contrast to the Hindu idea of ātman, and Nyāya philosophers argued against it.
The questions it belongs to
- 1.3.2 Personal IdentityAre you the same person you were at five?
Thinkers
Traditions
To read
- The Long Discourses of the Buddha (Dīgha Nikāya) — Pali Canon (the Buddha's discourses)
- The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Majjhima Nikāya) — Pali Canon (the Buddha's discourses)