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anātman

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Also known as no-self doctrine, no-soul doctrine, nonself, non-self, anattā

In Buddhism, the term anattā () is the doctrine of "non-self" – that no unchanging, permanent self exists, and is the absence of essence in any phenomenon. While often interpreted as a doctrine denying the existence of a self, anatman is more accurately described as a strategy to attain non-attachment by recognizing everything as impermanent, while staying silent on the ultimate existence of an unchanging essence. In contrast, dominant schools of Hinduism assert the existence of Ātman as pure awareness or witness-consciousness, "reify[ing] consciousness as an eternal self".

Key facts

Buddhist term.title
Anatta
Buddhist term.en
Not self, nonself
Buddhist term.pi Latn
anatta
Buddhist term.sa
अनात्मन्
Buddhist term.sa Latn
anātman
Buddhist term.bo
བདག་མེད་པ
Buddhist term.bo Latn
bdag med
Buddhist term.ko
무아
Buddhist term.ko Latn
mua
Buddhist term.zh
無我
Buddhist term.zh Latn
wúwǒ
Buddhist term.ja
無我
Buddhist term.ja Latn
muga
Buddhist term.vi
vô ngã

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Religion
Buddhism
Show 5 more facts
facet of
Buddhism
native label
무아
opposite of
Ātman
depicted by
Dhammapada
different from
impermanence
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~26 min read

Encyclopedic overview

23 sections
Contents
  • Etymology and nomenclature
  • In early Buddhism
  • In early Buddhist texts
  • No denial of self
  • Developing the self
  • Karma, rebirth and anattā
  • In Theravada Buddhism
  • Traditional views
  • Current disputes
  • Anātman in Mahayana Buddhism
  • Nāgārjuna
  • Yogācāra
  • Tathāgatagarbha Sutras: Buddha is True Self
  • Vajrayāna
  • Difference between Buddhism and Hinduism
  • Atman in Hinduism
  • Anatman and Niratman
  • Correspondence in Pyrrhonism
  • See also
  • Notes
  • References
  • Sources
  • External links

In Buddhism, the term anattā () is the doctrine of "non-self" – that no unchanging, permanent self exists, and is the absence of essence in any phenomenon. While often interpreted as a doctrine denying the existence of a self, anatman is more accurately described as a strategy to attain non-attachment by recognizing everything as impermanent, while staying silent on the ultimate existence of an unchanging essence. In contrast, dominant schools of Hinduism assert the existence of Ātman as pure awareness or witness-consciousness, "reify[ing] consciousness as an eternal self".

== Etymology and nomenclature == Anattā is a composite Pali word consisting of an (not) and attā (self-existent essence). The term refers to the central Buddhist concept that there is no phenomenon that has a permanent, unchanging "self" or essence. It is one of the Three Marks of Existence, along with dukkha ("suffering, dissatisfaction") and anicca ("impermanence").

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “anātman” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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