The doctrines of Anicca and Anatta
Courtesy
World Buddhist, Vesak Annual 2514-1970
Ancient Greeks, without the aid of the then unborn
Freud, discovered and named the three impelling forces
that motivate man. These, according to them, are the
instincts of self-creation, self-preservation and
self-destruction. The Hindu Triad, Brahma, Vishnu and
Maheswara, can be considered as the personification of
the principles of Eros, Libidos and Thanatos.
On the nature of “self” however, thinkers, through the
ages, have held widely divergent views. The ancients in
India found a name for self. They termed it Atman and
attributed to it the qualities of externality,
immutability and immortality. In the Upanishads
reference is found to the Atman, which is the size of a
man’s thumb. At the moment of expiry, it ascends to the
head of the mortal. It’s egress is through the top of
the head.
According to later accounts, manifestation of Atman in
separate and individual forms is a relative truth,
within the realm of Maya - Illusion. The Atman or
permanent Essence originates from the Absolute. Its
seeming existence in diverse forms continues in the
chains of transmigration until it is liberated when it
re-unites or is merged with the God-head or Brahma
(Absolute).
Varying accounts of creation
In the Rig Veda, there are varying accounts of the
creation and the creator. The creator is Indra or Varuna
or Agni, Marut and Indra jointly.
According to the Upanishads, the Universal Soul took
upon itself the shape of man, and feeling lonesome
created woman from himself (reminiscent of the future
Eve’s emergence from Adam’s rib). In another account,
the primeval Lord is Narayana floating on a leaf in the
Void. From his navel a lotus emerges from which appears
Brahma, the self-created.
Buddhists do not admit of a first cause or an immortal
and eternal soul. The conception of immortality and
eternity is possible by a conception of something that
is neither, that is death and time. Time like space, is
in the realm of duality and relativity and of little
intrinsic worth. The conception of time and space is
possible so long as a being is bound in self which is
illusion. There is only reality and time and space are
not Reality. The Buddha expounded the doctrines of
Anicca (impermanence, or the perpetual state of flux)
and Anatta (non-existance of Atman or eternal soul). He
admits in the conceptual plane, of self or satta
(individuality), but even in this plane gives it a
different meaning - the most important of which is its
essential augustness and its subjection to the law of
impermanence.
Admitting death and rebirth, considering that one is
bound up in the rounds of Samasara - where did it all
begin? When or how or why did self originate? In short,
the finite mind craves to know of the first cause.
Buddhist cosmology admits of a cyclic integration and
disintegration of the universe, but not a first
beginning. Yet our literal and chronology-loving mind
presses for an answer. And the answer is: which came
first, the tree or the seed? Or when did electricity or
gravity begin? To those of us who have the time and
inclination it is enough of a riddle to keep us
occupied.
Metaphysical speculation
The Buddha, therefore, cautions man and discourages him
from indulging in abstruse metaphysical speculation. He
says that if a man came to you, mortally wounded and
with the shaft of an arrow protruding from his body,
would you take out the arrow first, or wait until you
found out the name and caste and creed of him who shot
the arrow?
In other words, “Get on with it”. And “it” is His
philosophy, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble
Eightfold Path that leads to salvation, to Nirvana.
Nothing exists without a cause and conditioned existence
is subject to the Law of Dependent Origination. Nothing
is self-existent. When life is manifested in a certain
form, the conditions necessary for that particular form
exist. If these conditions alter to a degree
incompatible with that form of life, the form changes.
Life ceases in that form, but manifests itself in
another form.
If the temperature on earth changed to boiling point and
mankind were wiped out, according to Buddhist thinking,
life would go on in other planes of existence so long as
the twin forces, Avidya (non-awareness of truth) and
Thrusna (desire or craving born of false views and
attachment) continue. The life of an individual goes on,
changing, but form merely, up and down the wheel of
existence (Samsara).
It is said that the Buddha’s great disciple Ananda
himself could not achieve Nirvana for a long time
because he had an idee fixe - Nirvana. He was unduly
attached to the conception of Nirvana, and the essence
of Nirvana is release from attachment.
To think, “I am to gain Nirvana” is incorrect. The
fallacy of basic existence and separateness of identity
has to be discarded long before reaching even the
threshold of Nirvana. That is why the Buddha, after
gaining Sambodhi, referred to Himself always in the
third person, as the Tathagata, “one who has arrived”.
Buddhist Monks too are supposed to inculcate the habit
of referring to themselves in the third person, though
of course not as the Tathagata.
A follower of the Way attempts to improve Himself
through Sila (true morality), samadhi (meditation) and
pragna (intelelctual and intuitive faculties). His
enemies are loba (greed), dosa (hatred), moha
(delusion).
Buddhism is dubbed by some as pessimistic. It is only
pessimistic in so far as it believes in truth - pleasant
and otherwise; in discarding the false values of self,
pelf and power; in cultivating awareness and altruistic,
unselfish love. While it is not the religion of the
hedonist, it is also not the religion of the morbid or
deluded ascetic who believes that inflicting pain,
albeit on oneself, is meritorious.
Yet the Buddha admitted that on the whole a man has more
pleasurable sensations than otherwise in his lifetime.
He showed us the Middle path, the golden mean - as
courage is between rashness (too much courage) and
cowardice (too little).
Karma is of thought, speech and deed. The first is to be
disciplined first because the second and the third are,
but the fruition of the first. So our aim is not to
stifle or repress our thoughts, but to be aware of them
and through our analytic and intuitive faculties to lead
them into the right channels.
Apart from the rationalistic character of his religion,
the Buddha is unique because of the absence of rigid
dogmatism in his teaching. Says the Buddha: “Come,
study, test and then accept or reject my teachings”.
Then, He says that He is but a man, a teacher of the
way; that which He has achieved you can achieve. That
man is responsible to Himself; He is the maker of His
own destiny. |