Anatman and What it Means to Buddhism
Anatman, or Anatta, is the Buddhist concept of “no-self”. What this means specifically is that a human being, or any living being for that matter, does not have a permanent soul in his/herself and that our inner being is constantly changing, whether we notice or not. When the Buddha taught that our inner being is constantly evolving, he meant that because our everyday experiences in life are different, we are not bound to act the same all the time. Therefore, the way we look at life now may very well be totally different several years from now, if not tomorrow. When we look at life from a different perspective, we may do things differently altogether. With this happening, our physical and mental being changes as well. For example, a teenager who goes through a traumatic experience growing up may look at the world very differently than how his parents taught him to look at it. He may choose two paths among many: absorb the situation and look at it as an isolated incident or let what happened affect the way he decides to look at life for the rest of his life. The Buddha understood how life and our lives can change any time, and went into great details to explain fully what Anatman means. His life changed itself when “confronted with the reality of life and the suffering of mankind, he decided to find the solution-the way out of this universal suffering” (Rahula, xv). According to the Buddha, “the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief” (Rahula, 51).Such an idea only encourages selfishness, which has destroyed humanity in many parts of the world. The “me” mentality is often what causes people to wonder why their lives don’t feel completed, and often causes despair when individuals think their life isn’t as good as someone else. When this mentality is encouraged in materialistic societies, problems can only persist. One is going to wonder how come they are not as wealthy, good looking, or have any luck period compared to people they envy. This often causes conflicts that forces people to fight for power, land, wealth, and members of the opposite sex. Because the selfish mindset can be overwhelming and extremely disappointing, man has decided to create a “God” that will reward him in the afterlife by giving them things they never had on Earth. Man also “conceived the idea of an immortal Soul or Atman” (Rahula 51), which will live on forever. The Buddha believed ideas of an eternally living soul and a God that will watch over us is foolishness that will only contribute to the misery and fear on Earth. There is no I or being. The world makes us who we are, so free will is a fantasy, since everything in this planet is interdependent on everything else.
This includes human actions. One must rely on developing oneself, specifically, understanding the Four Noble Truths, if one is to truly have a chance of being happy in this lifetime. The first of the Four Noble Truths is duhkka, “loosely translatable as ‘suffering'” (Watts, 46). When the Buddha used the word duhkka, he meant anything that can be seen to our eyes as something that causes us pain or frustration. Specifically, the first truth of Buddhism is that suffering exists and that nothing is permanent. A friend or loved one dying is proof nothing in life is permanent. All people are pained and hurt at one point in our lives, and it will consciously or subconsciously affect us, therefore affecting our inner being mentally and physically. This is part of the concept of no-self, in that no individual is the same person all his/her life. If one was happy all his life and is suddenly faced by suffering, it just emphasizes how there is no concrete “self”. Our being is totally dependent on our life circumstances and how much suffering one went through in his life. For example, children living in two parent households with good education have shown to be less likely to be involved in a life of crime than single parents with little education. Some have fair lives, others don’t, so the idea that an individual holds all power in his life is foolish at best.
The Second Noble Truth is that suffering is caused by attachment and desire. This happens when the mind is “hypnotized or spellbound by maya, so that it mistakes the abstract world of things” (Watts, 48) for reality. What this means is that suffering is bound to happen when we are too attached to this world and all of its possessions. For example, if one is constantly obsessed with getting a gold watch but cannot afford it, he will suffer. This selfish mentality of getting an earthly possession may lead him to do destructive things, such as him robbing anyone he sees with a gold watch. This behavior may satisfy him in the short term but he will be a slave to his own greed, and will never be satisfied. This is because since he has a gold watch, he will want something else, maybe a platinum watch this time. Eventually, he may end up in jail and will suffer even more than he ever had before. The reason the Buddha stresses there is no “I” or self is because when one keeps thinking of himself as a sole entity, he will feel he is entitled to almost everything that is on Earth. This causes a slave mentality that helps increase the suffering that is going on everywhere, more suffering than is necessary. Perhaps it is no coincidence the words “entitled” and “entity” sound so similar. The Third Noble Truth is realizing that one can get away from suffering and frustration, and that is by eliminating attachment to earthly desires and possessions. This is not easy, of course, but the rewards one can gain from eliminating attachment to desires are limitless. Doing this can lead one to something called nirvana. Nirvana “is the equivalent of moksha, release or liberation” (Watts, 50). In detail, it is the liberation of the need to always want something or someone all the time. After all, human existence is often about wanting, even if we know we cannot get something currently. Even worse, humans suffer because of this. Nirvana frees us from this foolishness. The Fourth and final Noble Truth is realizing the path that leads us to detach ourselves from desire and earthly possessions, and that is the Eightfold Path. Before each individual path, there is the word “samyak, which has the meaning of ‘perfect’ or ‘complete'”(Watts, 51). In order, there is complete view, understanding, speech, action, vocation, application, recollectedness, and contemplation. It is exactly as it says, which means for example, one must have the most complete understanding of the Four Noble Truths to have one of the eight paths down. Failure to get these eight paths down may result in an individual getting bad karma in his present life or afterlife. Karma is simply consequences of an individual’s life, and is very related to one’s conduct on Earth. If one disobeys Buddhism’s idea of good behavior, such as “taking what is not given” (Watts, 52), then bad karma will follow that person. It is not so much one is doing something immoral, but when someone keeps doing acts that are harmful to others, it is bound to catch up to him. For example, he may go to prison one day or he may victimize the wrong person, resulting in a serious injury. This is the basic form of karma.
The advanced form of karma relates heavily to another idea in Buddhism: re- birth. In the re-birth concept, one lives the life of karma he chose for himself right before he died. If he led a life full of crime hurting individuals on an almost daily basis, chances are his karma will be extremely negative. This is because Buddhism teaches karma extends to the afterlife as well, despite the anatman concept. Although individuals do not have a soul, they still belong to nature, and when someone dies, they will go back to where they were born: Earth. If someone gave this planet nothing but misery for its inhabitants, than nature will pay the individual back with a re-birth as unpleasant as one he/she showed Mother Nature’s residents. However, if someone paid attention to the Eightfold Path and completely followed it through, one has a great chance to escape the re-birth that follows all who do not follow the path. An individual who shows nothing but love and attachment to Earth’s desires will be reborn in Earth in another body or being. It is another chance to try to disavow all attachments and follow the Eightfold Path once again. If one still chooses to not obey the path, he will be reborn again. This is when karma plays an especially important role. Someone who has horrible karma will have an extremely hard time trying to follow the path to nirvana, because he or she is suffering so much. Someone who may be very materialistic but at heart a good person stands a much better chance of achieving permanent nirvana than someone who has done many bad things in his past life. If an individual can somehow extinguish all of his/her bad karma and follow the Eightfold Path completely, that person stands an excellent chance of not only achieving nirvana, but breaking the brutal cycle of rebirth. Re-birth, no matter how pleasant it may or not be, will lead to suffering eventually. To live is to suffer.
In my opinion, Buddhism is one of the most enlightening religions the world has ever seen. It makes perfect sense that attachment to desire and worldly possessions cause suffering, because it is true. If anything, I have learned to become less dependent on material objects for happiness because it will only cause me suffering in the long run. I can honestly say I am very glad to have written this essay and taken this class, because I will take more from this experience than I can ever give back. I look forward to learning more and more about this great religion.
