The doctrine of no - self denies not only the self within the personality but also the substance of the phenomenal world. It is opposed to the Uppanisadic view that atman is the substance of the person and Brahman is the substance of the universe. Buddhism rejects the substance view of the world. For the Buddhist, everything is empty of self - reality. Nothing exists i n itself, for each existence is conditioned by the cause outside itself. Since all phenomena have nothing substantial or perdurable in them, they are in the condition not of static being but of perpetual becoming [ bhava ]. According to Buddhist philosophy, there is no Being, there is only Becoming. The phenomenal world, therefore, is in a state of continuous flux or flow. All things, without exception, are nothing but chain of momentary [ khanika ]. In the Buddhist view, not only are eternal entities such as God, or matter, denied reality, but even the simple stability of empirical objects is regarded as imaginary. We can easily see that the Uppanisadic notion of being [ sat ] and the Sartrean conception of being - in - itself are not acceptable to the Buddhist. A belief either in absolute being or in absolute nothingness is considered to be an extreme view.
The doctrine of the middle teachings is generally known as Dependent Origination [ Paticcasamuppada ] in Buddhism. It clearly shows the laws of causation. There is nothing haphazard or predetermined. Every element, though appearing only for a single moment, is a dependently originating element because it depends for it rising on what has gone before it, That is the meaning of Dependent Origination, which is described by a series of twelve conditioned factors without the beginning , the end or the first cause as follow;
1. Conditioned by ignorance [ avijja ] are karma - formations [ sankhara ].
2. Conditioned by karma - formation is consciousness [ vinnana ].
3. Conditioned by consciousness is name - and form [ nama - rupa ].
4. Conditioned by name - and - form are the six faculties [ salayatana ].
5. Conditioned by the six faculties is contact [ phassa ].
6. Conditioned by contact is feeling [ vedana ].
7. Conditioned by feeling in desire [ tanha ].
8. Conditioned by desire is grasping [ upadana ].
9. Conditioned by grasping is becoming [ bhava ].
10. Conditioned by becoming is birth [ jati ].
11. Conditioned by birth is old age, death, grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation, and despair.
This is how suffering arises, exists, and continues. If we put this formula in its reverse order, we come to the cessation of the process. Through the cessation of ignorance, karma - formation cease, through the cessation of karma - formations, consciousness ceases, through the cessation of birth, old age, death, grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation and desire cease.
It should be emphasized here that each of these factors is both conditioned [ paticcasamuppanna ] and conditioning [ paticcasamuppada ]. Hence they are all relative and interdependent, nothing is absolute or exists as independent substance. Thus no first cause is accepted. Ignorance should not be viewed as the first cause of the whole process because the cankers [ asava ] condition ignorance itself. From the uprising of the cankers is the uprising of the ignorance, from the cessation of the cankers is the stopping of ignorance.
The law of causality in early Buddhism is not subjective. Nor is it a category imposed by the mind on phenomena. Its objectivity is emphasized, " Dependent Origination is said to have the characteristics of objectivity, necessity, invariability and conditionality. " The Buddha says :
" What is dependent Origination ? Conditioned by birth are old age and death. Whether the Tathagata arises or not, this order exists, namely, the fixed nature of phenomena, the regular pattern of phenomena or conditionality. This the Tathagata discovers and comprehends. "
The doctrine of Dependent Origination and the analysis of five aggregates give support to the theory of anatta. The person is analyzed into five constituent parts and these parts are combined to constitute the personality, not by the unifying ego - principle, but by the causal law. The self is not required for effecting the synthesis of the five aggregates. It is the law of dependent Origination that unified them. Moreover the law of Dependent Origination determines that the five aggregated are dependently originated [ paticcasamupanna ]. No aggregate arises without caused. The Buddha says :
" And also the cause and conditions of the arising of these aggregates are impermanent, painful and not self. How could that which has arisen through something impermanent, painful and not self as its root, be itself permanent, blissful and a self ? "
The Buddha denies that there exists a permanent self in the collection of these impersonal aggregates in place of the Uppanisdic teaching ;
" Let no man try to find what speech is, let him know the speaker, let him not try to find what the seen - things is, let him know the seer, not what the doing is, but the doer, etc. "
According to Buddhaghosa, there is no doer, only doing exists, no seer, only seeing, etc.
" In all becomings, place of birth, durations and abode there appears just by the name - and - form proceeding by the cause and effects. Beyond the cause, he seer not a doer, beyond the proceeding of the results, he seer not anymore to enjoy the results. "
To show the impersonality and utter emptiness of existence, Buddhaghosa quotes the following verse :
" Mere suffering exists, no suffer.
The deed is, but no doer.
Nirvana is but, not is who enters it.
The path is, but no traveller. "
Also Fritjof Capra, a prominent physicist at Berkley shares the Buddhist concept of anatta that ;
" At the subatomic level, the interrelations and interactions between the parts are fundamental than the parts themselves. There is motion, but there are, ultimately, no moving objects : there is activity but there are no actors ; there are no dancers, there is only the dance. "
Please observe that, according to Uppanisadic thinkers, as we saw, agree with the Buddhist in admitting that all phenomena are impermanent and liable to change. The Uppanisadic thinkers, however, believe that beneath changing phenomena lies an eternal entity, identified as Brahman, and that behind the stream of discrete experiences, exist an abiding principle called atman. The Buddhist, on the contrary, contends that all phenomena are in the state of flux and nothing is behind them. There is no thinker behind the through. As William James says " the through is itself the tinker. " If the though is removed, there is no thinker to be found. Here the Buddhist view is diametrically opposed to the Cartesian " cognito ergo sum, I think therefore I am." But it is rather close to Sartre's concept, according to which there is no thinker apart from the objects thought.
By denying the existence of the self, the Buddha is said to have avoided two extreme views, namely : eternalism and annihilationism. These views are related to the self - theory. Those who believe that the self exists have to admin that it is perishable, then they are annihiliationists. If they admit that the self is imperishable, then they are eternalists. The Buddha regards the two extremes as wrong view or micchadithi. He say :
" Both these extremes, monks, have been avoided by the Tathagata, and it is a middle doctrine he teaches.
By THE BUDDHA'S Core Teachings
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