Beoman Claudiu Beoman:
Ian And:
Beoman Claudiu Beoman:
Even Buddhism, with its beliefs in karma and reincarnation, states there is no such thing as a soul.
This may be a small point but where do you find evidence that "Buddhism" teaches "belief" in anything? I'd be interested to know the
sutta citation which states this.
Ah that's just me using imprecise language, thanks for calling me out on it. Equally imprecise would be 'Buddhism states'... it's not like Buddhism is a thing.
I know it's awful tempting to use imprecise language when answering someone's questions in fora like this, and that sometimes it gets downright frustrating when you can't come up with the right choice of words to describe the idea you'd like to get across. But you are better off taking the time to get it right rather than to risk misunderstanding from your readers because you were too lazy to be precise. Expect the best out of yourself at all times, and you might just surprise yourself at how well you can actually do toward achieving that!
Beoman Claudiu Beoman:
Ian And:
Beoman Claudiu Beoman:
What you might call a 'soul' is just another configuration of phenomena that is impermanent, suffering, and no-self, even though it might be re-born several times. At least, that's my understanding, and someone correct me if I'm wrong since I'm not sure about it.
What you refer to as "just another configuration of phenomena that is impermanent, suffering, and not-self," Gotama called the five k
handhas or the five aggregates. One is better off focusing on gaining insight into the
khandhas and their influence on personality view in order to attenuate and eventually let go of their influence on one's perception of phenomena.
Can you recommend some good suttas to read about this?I can do better than that. There's a whole volume in the
Samyutta Nikaya that addresses the
khandhas. It's called the
Khandhavagga ("The Connected Discourses on the Aggregates") and makes up a section in the third volume of the
Samyutta (SN 22.1-159). If you have the Wisdom books edition of Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation of the
Samyutta, it's between pages 853 and 983.
But to save you some time, I wrote an essay a few years ago discussing the five aggregates, how Gotama defined them as well as the role they play in personality view. In it there are quotes from a few of the suttas, but one in particular stood out to me and allowed me a glimpse of insight into the heart of the matter with regard to the
khandhas. The following is a section taken from the essay with the very quote in it that spurred the insight I had into the nature of the
khandhas:
IanAnd:
The whole of life’s activities, what most beings take to be life’s significant activities, arise and pass away based upon the conditions which constantly arise, endure for a while, and ultimately pass away. Beings are made aware of these conditions based upon which sense organ is contacted and becomes conscious of the activity. When the condition ceases, passing away, it creates a change in the life continuum, and consciousness of that condition also ceases. Something new, though, may arise to take the previous condition’s place and thus create a new condition with new elements to confront and of which to be conscious. Thus what we call life and consciousness is based upon this ever changing panorama of altering conditions and their impact upon our sense faculties. What the Buddha realized and declared in no uncertain terms was that consciousness, the fifth aggregate, depends on matter, feeling, perception, and mental formations, and that its existence independent of these factors is not possible.
He stated (at SN 22.53; III.53): “Consciousness may exist having matter as its means, matter as its object, matter as its support, and seeking delight it may grow, increase and develop; or consciousness may exist having feeling as its means . . . or perception as its means . . . or mental formations as its means, mental formations as its object, mental formations as its support, and seeking delight it may grow, increase and develop.
“Were a man to say: I shall show the coming, the going, the passing away, the arising, the growth, the increase or the development of consciousness apart from matter, feeling, perception, and mental formations, he would be speaking of something that does not exist.”
The greater implication here is that all life, and thus all consciousness, arises in dependence upon and in relation to all other life and consciousness. And because all life is a reflection of arisen conditions, both physical and mental, all life and consciousness is conditioned in one manner or another. In order to reach the exterior infinitude of the Unconditioned, i.e. Nirvana in the world, one must be able to let go of all conditions, of all preconceptions, to stop clinging to anything whatsoever and float in the ever changing here and now, simply observing whatever is happening, with neither liking nor disliking in one's heart. This is the path to the cessation and relinquishing of suffering. When this is seen and fully comprehended, then the truth of the Four Noble Truths is seen and comprehended, as well as that of the Three Characteristics of Existence. In other words, the whole essence of the Dhamma is comprehended in one act of realization.
Attached is the essay I wrote: