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What Is the Concept of No-Self?

soul

Concept of No-Self

Not everyone resonates with the concept of an individual soul or self. The consensus of the mainstream scientific community seems to be that there is no measurable or reproducible scientific evidence that indicates a soul exists separately from the physical body. They assert that each of us are simply a big collection of elementary particles arranged to form the human body. This is actually consistent with Buddhism which explains there is some form of renewed animation that ensures the continuity of existence throughout lives — but not an individual soul or self as it’s currently defined.

To dive into this further, Buddhism adheres to the concept of not-self (anatma) or no-self, meaning there isn’t a self, soul, essence, or core of personal experience in the body or mind apart from the ever-changing, interdependent physical and mental factors of personal experience such as our feelings, ideas, thoughts, habits, and attitudes. Buddhism’s rejection of “I” or “self” doesn’t seem to be a rejection of material and spiritual existence. Ergo, it doesn’t seem to be saying temporary human beings and eternal souls don’t exist. Instead its focus is more pragmatic. Its simply rejecting the use of the terms “I” or “self” to represent a permanent, eternal entity. Is this simply a question of semantics?

In Buddhism, the terms self and soul are considered names for a collection of physical and mental factors, relationships, or processes – similar to how the name forest is a convenient term for a collection of trees. And it’s this ever-changing collection of physical and mental processes that form our conscious, illusionary material existence. These processes are called the five aggregates or skandhas – form, feeling, cognition, mental formations, and consciousness – which are conditioned by karma. 

Ergo, it’s thought that this collection of processes – not a fixed entity – is what moves from one life to the next creating the illusion of material existence. So essentially, there isn’t an “I”, but just different streams of the five aggregates flowing in time. Could this be related to, what is referred to in the mainstream scientific community as, our DMN (default mode network) which is associated with egoistic, self-referential thought and mind wandering?

This isn’t all that different from the hologram concept which suggests that the higher self uses a temporary hologram to understand its own nature. Based on this concept, the higher self projects the lower self as a temporary, holographic image onto planes of existence in the material universe. This way, both the higher and lower selves can exist at the same time. Through its lower self, the higher self can watch its own holographic image — reactions, mistakes, and triumphs — during an incarnation. Even though the lower self thinks the material universe is solid and real, it’s actually just an outward projection of the soul’s information tucked away inside the higher self.

Self -> Ignorance -> Suffering

Dependent Co-Arising

Buddhism suggests that we shift our focus away from the concept of a permanent self. It’s suggested that once we identify ourselves as a separate entity, we respond to everything around us with either desire or aversion. Ergo, the sense of being an “I” only exists in relationship to something else. And it’s these conditions and relationships that are said to be the cause of our suffering. So instead of asking ourselves who is suffering, which The Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) would say is not a valid question, we should focus on why suffering occurs, replacing the notion of self with a series of relationships.

Buddhism refers to the mechanism by which suffering arises and ends as dependent co-arising (origination). Dependent co-arising is seen as the fundamental blueprint of reality — a precise algorithm of relationships where everything stems from conditions, meaning nothing has independent existence (Paṭiccasamuppāda Vibhaṅga Sutta, SN 12:2-12). Let’s walk through the relationships:

  • Suffering occurs as a condition of birth,
  • Birth occurs as a condition of existence (becoming),
  • Existence occurs as a condition of clinging (attachment),
  • Clinging arises as a condition of desires (likes and dislikes),
  • Desires arise as a condition of feelings,
  • Feelings arise as a condition of contact between sense organs and sense objects,
  • Contact arises as a condition of the six sense media,
  • Six sense media arises as a condition of the body/mind (name/form),
  • The body/mind arises as a condition of consciousness,
  • Consciousness arises as a condition of karma formations (fabrications), and
  • Karma formations arise as a condition of ignorance.

Buddhism further explains that ignorance drives the intentional actions and desires that perpetuate suffering. Ignorance is considered an existential delusion that fails to recognize the four noble truths. The four noble truths are existence is suffering, suffering arises from desires, desires can be stopped, and the way to stop suffering is the eightfold path — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, SN: 56:11). 

Ergo, because we don’t recognize the truth (ignorance), we chase satisfaction in a world of dissatisfaction, perpetuating the cycle of rebirth. Understanding these relationships is considered essential for liberation because when we see the relationships clearly, their power over us weakens. Ignorance can’t survive awareness fellow souls.

Transcendental Dependent Origination

If everything in the material universe is conditioned, then is there a way out of this madness? How can liberation occur? According to Buddhism, transcendental dependent origination offers a way out, demonstrating how suffering can lead to liberation (Upanisa Sutta, SN 12:23). Consider this sequence of relationships:

  • Suffering conditions faith (conviction),
  • Faith conditions joy,
  • Joy conditions ecstasy (rapture),
  • Ecstasy conditions calm,
  • Calm conditions pleasure,
  • Pleasure conditions concentration,
  • Concentration conditions insight,
  • Insight conditions disenchantment,
  • Disenchantment conditions detachment,
  • Detachment conditions liberation, and
  • Liberation conditions knowledge of ending.

Consider this fellow souls. What if liberation isn’t separate from the conditioned material universe? What if it arises from within it? Ergo, when suffering is seen clearly, it becomes a condition or catalyst for faith and the possibility of freedom. This does raise an interesting question. If everything derives from Source and everything is Source, then yes, distinctions like the self or soul could be seen as purely semantics. Ergo, we won’t spend too much time on trying to intellectually understand self versus no self or soul versus no soul. 

What resonates with us is that Buddhism, The Bible, the Vedas, the Law of One, and other resources seem to agree that everything of material existence is temporary or impermanent. They also seem to share the same basic concept that some form of individual continuity remains throughout material existence. Whether it’s called a soul, self, or five aggregates is debatable, but interesting to contemplate.