ANATTA
| The 'notself' nature of
"Myself" The characteristic of selflessness, non-self, is the deepest and the most difficult of the characteristics. In the teaching of Anatta, the Buddha proclaims that there is nothing that can be identified as self, that all the things that we take to be ourself, to be I and mine, are really not self. This teaching cuts sharply against the traditional forms of thinking and makes Buddhism a distinctly unique teaching. Almost all of our thoughts and activities are centred around the idea of "I" and "mine" and "myself". Yet the Buddha holds that these notions are deceptive. They are delusions that lead us into conflicts and suffering. And he teaches further that, in order to get free from Dukkha, we have to break out of the clinging to the idea of self. The only way to do this is to penerate the mark of selflessness, to see with insight the selfless nature of all phenomena. |