ANATTA

In Buddhism the term anatta refers to the doctrine of "non-self"-that no unchanging permanent self or essence can be found in any phenomenon. While often interpreted as a doctrine denying the existence of a self, anatta is more accurately described as a strategy to attain non-attachment by recognizing anything as impermanent, while staying silent on the ultimate existence of an unchanging essence. The doctrine of anatta is the core teaching of Buddhism. According to this teaching there is no "self" in the sense of a permanent, integral, autonomous being within an individual existence. There is no soul according to this doctrine. What we think of as our self, the "me" that inhabits our body, is just an emphermal experience. Anatta is sometimes is misunderstood to mean that nothing exists, but this is not what Buddhism teaches. It's more accurate to say that there is existence, but we understand it in a one-sided and delusional way. With anatta although there is no self or soul, there is afterlife, rebirth and fruition of karma. Right view and right actions are necessary for liberation. A person's sense of having a distinct self comes from the body and senses, sensations, perception, volition and consciousness. We experience the world through these things and as as a result cling to them and experience suffering. There are three different views of the ego or self. The first is the belief in the Self as the soul-entity. The second is the view of the Self based on conceit and pride. The third is the self as a conventional term for the first-person singular as distinct from other persons. The eternal self is an illusion, a notion or formation of the mind. It has no basis in reality. It is neither possible nor believable that an eternal, imperishable and stable soul can exist anywhere or in any being, when a mere observation showed that beings were subject to change, aging, decay and death. We can only come closer to enlightment when we accept that we are changing beings.