Is There a Self or Not?
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"Master Gotama, is there a self?" At these words the Exalted One was silent.
"Then, Master Gotama, is there not a self?" Again the Exalted One was silent.
Then the Wanderer Vacchagotta rose from his seat and went away.
Not long after his departure, Venerable Ananda said to the Exalted One:
"How is it, venerable sir, that the Exalted One gave no answer to the question of the Wanderer Vacchagotta?"
"If, Ananda, when asked by the wanderer, 'Is there a self?,' I had replied to him: 'There is a self,' then, Ananda, that would be siding with the recluses and Brahmins who are Eternalists.
"But if, Ananda, when asked, 'Is there not a self?' I had replied that self does not exist, that, Ananda, would be siding with those recluses and Brahmins who are Annihilationists.
"Again, Ananda, when asked by the wanderer, 'Is there a self?,' had I replied that there is, would my reply be in accordance with the knowledge that all things are impermanent?"
"Surely not, venerable sir."
"Again, Ananda, when asked by the Wanderer Vacchagotta, 'Is there a self?,' had I replied that there were not, it would have been more bewilderment for the already bewildered Vacchagotta.
"He would have said, 'Formerly, indeed, I had a self, but now I have not one anymore.'"
Anatta according to Theravada Buddhism
Anatta is the third of the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence (ti-lakkhana) or general characteristics (samanna-lakkhana). Like the teaching of the Four Enlightening Truths, it is the "teaching unique to Buddhas" (buddhanam samukkamsika desana, M. 56/vol. i. 380).
The most usual English rendering, which will be employed here, is "not-self" (or "not self"), though the words "soulless," "egoless," and "impersonal" are often used. (The rendering "Self" with a capital is not justified owing to the absence of capitals in Indian alphabets). More
- Ven. Ñanamoli Thera, The Three Basic Facts of Existence: III. Egolessness (Anatta) (SN 44.10); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
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