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by Rajah Kuruppu

A doctrine in Buddhism that is most important but difficult to comprehend is Anatta. In most scholarly studies on Buddhism, Anatta is defined as the absence or denial of a permanent, enduring, abiding self, soul, ego or individuality. On this simple definition all appear to be agreed and there is no controversy.

The foundation of Buddhism is anicca or the impermanence of all existence, both animate and inanimate. If all things are impermanent and changing, it is argued, how could only self or ego be permanent and unchanging?

However, in the further analysis of this all important term Anatta there is controversy. Many scholars contend that there is nothing called self, permanent and unchanging or otherwise. A living being consists of five Aggregates, namely, body, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness, which are changing all the time, individually and collectively.

And consequently there is no self even of a consistently changing nature in actual reality. It is argued since the so called living being with the five aggregates is changing all the time there is no doer of an action nor an experiencer of its result.

Two other important doctrines in Buddhism is Rebirth and the Law of Kamma. All beings are caught in Samsara, a cycle of births and deaths, whose beginning is inconceivable. Kamma is a word in Pali, the language of Theravada Buddhism, meaning action.

However, in the Buddhist perspective all actions are not Kamma but only intentional activities, mental, verbal or physical. Under the Law of Kamma wholesome actions lead to pleasant results and unwholesome actions to unpleasant consequences either in this life or future lives.

If there is no self altogether, it is questioned as to who travels in Samsara with all its unsatisfactory features and who eventually realises the Buddhist goal of Nibbana, the escape from Samsara for all time? It is also asked who experiences the results of one's actions under the Law of Kamma.

Absolute no-self

Ven. Walpola Rahula Thera in what could be considered one of his outstanding publications, 'what the Buddha Taught', translated to several languages, is strongly of the view that there is no self at all.

In His Chapter on Anatta in that book, hailed by many subsequent scholars as an excellent exposition of Anatta, he is very hard on what he calls recent attempts "by a few scholars to smuggle the idea of self into the teachings of the Buddha quite contrary to the spirit of Buddhism" These scholars respect, admire and venerate the Buddha and his teachings.

They look up to the Buddha, whom they consider the most clear and profound thinker. But they cannot imagine that He could have denied the existence of an atman or a permanent, unchanging soul or self, which they need so much. They unconsciously seek the support of the Buddha for this need for eternal existence - of course not the petty individual self with a small 's' but the big self with a capital 'S'".

The objection here appears to be against an individual self with a capital 'S' and not the small 'S'. Unfortunately, there is no elaboration of the words petty individual self with a small 's'.

Regarding the total absence of a self and who experiences the results of Kamma, Ven. Rahula refers to the answer given by the Buddha to the same question raised by a Bhikkhu - "I have taught you, O Bhikkhus, to see conditionality everywhere in all things" - Ven. Walpola Rahula Thera, What the Buddha Taught, P. 66. Conditionality everywhere in everything is most acceptable but does not answer satisfactorily the question of reconciling the Law of Kamma with the Anatta doctrine.

Samsara

The question also arises that if there is absolutely no self, then who journeys in Samsara, the cycle of births and deaths. The Buddha declared, as recorded in the Samyutta Nikaya as follows.

"Monks, it is through not understanding, not penetrating the Four Noble Truths that we have run so long, wandered so long in Samsara, in this cycle of continuity, both you and I." The continuity of life in the Samsaric Journey is not denied even by those who hold that there is no self at all, even a changing self.

Prof. Gunapala Malalasekera, the well-known Pali and Buddhist scholar, in the section on Anatta authored by him in the Encyclopedia of Buddhism remarks as follows: "When he (man) began his present life he brought as his inheritance the Kamma of his many previous lives.

During the course of his existence in this world he is always accumulating fresh Kamma, through his actions, his thoughts and desires, his affections and passions, and these affect every moment of his life, constantly changing its character. At death when the corporeal bond, which held him together, falls away, he undergoes only a relatively deeper change.

The unseen potencies of his Kamma begets a new person. His new body, determined by his Kamma, becomes one fitted to that sphere to which he is born." He adds.

"The new person psychologically, if not physically, is continuous with the deceased and suffers and enjoys what his 'predecessor' had prepared for him by his behaviour." To emphasise that there is no unchanging, unconditioned being in Samsara, he further states as follows.

"There is no indication at all of an autonomous consciousness persisting unchanged but only a continuity of consciousness." Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Reprinted 1997, PP. 572 and 573.

Kamma and memory

It is admitted that Kamma and memory, according to Buddhism, are two things that one brings from previous lives. In order to provide scientific evidence of rebirth, an essential ingredient in Buddhism, Buddhist scholars and investigators maintain that under hypnosis some recall their experiences in previous lives and a few children do so spontaneously. They recall memories of their previous lives although they are changing all the time in this life and in their Samsaric journey.

In this connection, a well-known Buddhist scholar, Prof. P.D. Premasiri, Prof. of Pali and Buddhist Studies of the University of Peradeniya, had stated at an international seminar on Rebirth Research conducted by the University of Peradeniya in March 2000 in Kandy as follows.

"While denying that there is a metaphysical self, soul or spirit, Buddhist philosophy affirms that there is an identity of a person established through the continuity of memory. Strictly speaking it may not be proper to characterise the person who is reborn either as a same person or another.

The aggregates of the past... that existed as an organic unit in the nevertheless transient series reconnect after the death of the body retaining still that organic unity as a transient series. In this process Buddhism recognises the important role played by the volitional activities of the psychophysical organism, which in ordinary parlance is referred to as the person."

Prof. Premasiri further adds. "Thus Buddhism offers an explanation in terms of psychological causation for the continuity of the individual life. According to Buddhism the strong, latent desires charged with volitional energy cause the mind to cling to life, craving for a new base for life's continuity.

This is the sequential process of craving, clinging, becoming and rebirth mentioned in the Dependent origination formula." Proceedings of the Seminar on Rebirth Research published in "Trends in Rebirth Research", Edited by Prof. Nimal Senanayake, P. 86.

Thus, one could conclude that there is a continuous and unbroken stream of life in Samsara until the Buddhist goal of Nibbana is realised.

Dying and reborn

With regard to the connection between the dying individual and the individual reborn, perhaps the best explanation reconciling the impermanence and continuous change on the one hand and the doctrine of rebirth and Kamma on the other was given by Ven. Nagasena to King Milinda. The latter asked the former "is he who uprises the same or is he another?" The reply was that "neither the same nor another."

Ven. Nagasena added "It uprises as one and ceases as another, linked together as though there were no before or no after. Hence, it is neither the same nor another but the subsequent consciousness reckoned (together with) the preceding consciousness." - The Questions of King Milinda, Edited N.G.K. Mendis, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 1993, PP. 39 and 40.

On this same subject, the well-known Buddhist writer, V.F. Gunaratne has stated as follows: "The terminal mental state of the dying individual and the initial mental state of the individual reborn, belong to the same current of cause and effect. Hence, it would not be accurate to say that there is no identity whatsoever between the individuals." - V.F. Gunaratne, Rebirth Explained, Wheel Publication 167/168/169, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy 1980, P. 79.

The Buddhist process of rebirth, without the transmigration of anything from one life to another, is also explained by Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy by a series of billiard balls. If, for instance, another ball is rolled against the last stationary ball, the moving ball will stop dead, and the foremost stationary ball will move on.

The first moving ball does not pass over, it remains behind, it dies; but it is undeniably the movement of that ball, its momentum, its Kamma, and not any newly created movement, which is reborn in the foremost ball." - Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy, Buddha and the Gospel of Buddhism, P. 106.

Ven. Narada Maha Thera explains this process in the following words. "To use conventional terms, the body dies and its Kammic Force is reborn in another without anything transmigrating from this life to the other. The last thought - moment of this life perishes conditioning another thought-moment in a subsequent life.

This new being is neither absolutely the same - since it has changed - nor totally different - being the same stream of kamma energy. There is merely a continuity of a particular life - flux; just that and nothing more."

Ven. Narada Maha Thera, The Buddha and His Teachings, 1964, P. 467. Thus, although nothing passes from one life to another, the continuity of an individual from one life to another is maintained.

Neither the same nor another

Many Buddhist scholars refrain from commenting on the seemingly incompatible doctrine of Anatta on the one hand and rebirth and Kamma on the other. However, outstanding Buddhist Scholar, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, considered by many as the best living exponent of Theravada Buddhism, has made a clear and precise statement on this subject.

In his introduction to The Questions of King Milinda, edited by N.G.K. Mendis and released in 1993, he states as follows: "Nagasena offers an innovative resolution of this problems from the Buddhist perspective with his famous dictum that the individual, through the course of his life, is "neither the same nor another" (na ca so na ca anno) at any two particular stages.

The Elder illustrates this thesis with the memorable simile of the flame that burns through the three watches of the night; a continuous process without any persisting substratum.

The apparently incompatible doctrines of non-self and rebirth are reconciled by pointing out that rebirth is an impersonal process which involves causal connection without transmigration of soul. Moral responsibility is rescued by underscoring the continuity and inheritance of Kamma across successive lives." The Questions of King Milinda, edited by N.K.G. Mendis P-9.

The outstanding Buddhist commentator, Ven. Buddhaghosa, in his magnum opus, "The Path of Purification", appears to broadly agree with this position.

"And with a stream of continuity there is neither the identity nor otherness. For if there were absolute identity in a stream of continuity, there would be no forming of curd from milk. And yet if there were absolute otherness, the curd would not be derived from milk. And so too with all causally arisen things.

And if that were so there would be an end to all worldly usage, which is hardly desirable. So neither absolute identity nor absolute otherness should be assumed here." - Ven. Buddhaghosa. The Path of Purification, 3rd Edition, 1975, P. 639.

On page 699 of the same publication, Ven. Buddhaghosa indicates the connection between Kamma and Kamma results as well as Kamma and the future becoming in the following words.

"Kamma - result proceeds from Kamma,
Result has Kamma for its source,
Future becoming springs from Kamma,
And this is how the world goes round."

The position taken by Ven. Narada Maha Thera is clear. "Buddhism does not totally deny the existence of a personality in an empirical sense. It denies, in an ultimate sense (Paramattha saccena), an identical being or a permanent entity, but it does not deny the continuity in process.

The Buddhist philosophical term for an individual is Santati, - that is, a flux or continuity. This uninterrupted flux or continuity of psycho-physical phenomena, conditioned by Kamma, having no perceptible source in the beginningless past nor any end to its continuation in the future, except by the Noble Eightfold Path, is the Buddhist substitute for the permanent ego or eternal soul in other religious systems." - Ven. Narada Maha Thera, The Buddha and His Teachings, 1964, P. 463.

Nevertheless, the Buddha emphasised in the Anatta Lakkhana Sutta that none of the five aggregates that constitute a living being could be considered as self since one does not have the power to obtain the fulfilment of one's wishes from any of them.

He added that since they are all impermanent, subject to suffering and change it is not right to consider them as "This is mine; this I am; and this is myself." yet, this does not preclude the continuity of the living being in Samsara until the realisation of Nibbana.

Reconciliation

The doctrine of Anatta denies the existence of a permanent, unchanging, eternal soul, ego, or an abiding self. The translation of Anatta as Non-Self perhaps tend to give the impression that there is no self at all.

However, it is clearly stated in the Dhamma that all living beings are caught in Samsara, the cycle of births and deaths, and the goal in Buddhism is the escape from Samsara, with all its unsatisfactory features, altogether by the realisation of Nibbana. Moreover, Buddhism does not deny the continuity of the living being, changing all the time, in Samsara.

The relationship between the dying personality and the one reborn was well expressed by Ven. Nagasena Thera as "na ca so na ca anno" or neither the same nor another. In the words of Ven. Buddhaghosa, with a stream of continuity there is neither the identity nor otherness. According to V.F. Gunaratne it would not be accurate to say that there is no identity whatsoever between the dying individual and the one reborn.

Thus, the apparently incompatible doctrines of Anatta on the one hand and rebirth and Kamma on the other are reconciled since rebirth involves causal connection without transmigration of a soul, while Kamma is rescued by the inheritance of Kamam across successive lives.

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