Anatta, Anatta

Anatta in sutra is often used in conjunction with the terms dukkha (imperfection) and anicca (impermanence), and all three terms are often used in triplet in making a blanket statement as regards any and all compounded phenomena. All these aggregates are anicca, dukkha and anatta. The one scriptural passage where Gautama is asked by a layperson what the meaning of anatta is as follows: Nikaya At one time in Savatthi, the venerable Radha seated himself and asked of the Blessed Lord Buddha: Anatta, anatta I hear said venerable. What pray tell does Anatta mean? Just this, Radha, form is not the self (anatta), sensations are not the self (anatta), perceptions are not the self (anatta), assemblages are not the self (anatta), consciousness is not the self (anatta). Seeing thusly, this is the end of birth, the Brahman life has been fulfilled, what must be done has been done. MN 3.196 (PTS) The nikayas state that certain things (the five aggregates), with which the unlearned man identifies himself, do not constitute a personal essence and that is why one on the path to liberation should grow disgusted with them, become detached from them and be liberated.

The relationship between nibbana and the anatta is a different matter. Walpola Rahula shows that the early attempts of Western scholars to find the atman doctrine in the Pali canon are a result of mistranslations of the original Pali. Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha taught.

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