Buddhism teaches that what we normally take to be a "self" (our own separate self-ness aka what makes you Wesley) is merely a series of aggregates or "skandhas"... Like pieces that when all pieced together create the illusion of a self and a world. Buddhas discovery was that there was no self and no world.. Both are illusions. And this discovery was an experiential release from the illusion which brought him to an inexpressible truth beyond birth and death, the dharma is his method to lead others to this truth.Wesley1982 wrote:ok,
I've been reading this info about 'What the Buddha
taught' . . at the Chapter 6 section It discusses
'Anatta' doctrine of no soul.
So, why no soul in Buddhist thought? . .
About this the Buddha said:
"It is just the dharmas[aggregates, appearances] that combine to form this body. When it arises, it is simply the dharmas arising; when it ceases, it is simply the dharmas ceasing. When these dharmas arise, [the bodhisattva aka enlightened one] does not state, 'I arise'; when these dharmas cease, he does not state, 'I cease'."
And also:
"There is a sphere of being where there is no earth, no water, no fire, nor wind; no experience of infinity of space, of infinity of consciousness, of no-thingness, or even of neither perception nor non-perception; here there is neither this world, nor another world, neither moon nor sun; this sphere of being I call neither a coming, nor a going, nor a staying still, neither a dying nor a reappearance; it has no basis, no evolution, and no support; it is the end of dukkha."