I am that I am? Buddhism's No-Self Teaching

Seekertoseeker.com (YouTube), Oct. 9, 2021; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

"I Am That" | about a nun's awakening to life | Prime Video (amazon.com)

I thought I was consciousness itself. Isn't it so?

(SEEKER TO SEEKER) One says, "I am," but what does the word "I" refer to? According to the Buddhist Teaching of No-Self (the Anatta Doctrine), to answer this question correctly is to reach enlightenment and liberation.

It is to reach the end of all disappointment, suffering, pain, and unhappiness. To answer this is to explore the Buddha's teaching of the Five Aggregates (skandhas or khandhas), the categorical constituents of the ego, self, or soul:

1. form (body)
2. feeling (sensation)
3. perception (cognition)
4. formations (will)
5. consciousness (awareness).

This teaching is variously called anatta (Pali), anatman (Sanskrit), no-self, non-self, impersonality, soullessness, egolessness.

The essence of the teaching is that enlightenment (bodhi, awakening) and liberation (moksha, nirvana) come about when one realizes that every view of the self we can have is a wrong view.

When one lets go of grasping, of falsely identifying with the contents of experience, only then can one put an end to all suffering (dukkha) once and for all. That is bliss, this is peace, that is ultimate truth and happiness the Buddha called nirvana.

• Why did God call itself “I AM THAT I AM”? (chicagobible.org)
• Hebrew: "I will become whatsoever I will become"/"Whatever"
• Facebook: facebook.com/groups/32571...
• Website: seekertoseeker.com
• To learn more about the Five Aggregates (pancha khandha) as found in the original Buddhist texts, visit: accesstoinsight.org
• For an in-depth study into the Buddhist no-self doctrine, see:
• Identity and Experience by Sue Hamilton
• Selfless Persons by Steven Collins