Anatta: The Teaching of No-Soul

　　無我論：

　　The Buddha countered all soul-theory and soul-speculation with His Anatta doctrine. Anatta is translated under various labels: No-soul, No-self, egolessness, and soullessness.

　　To understand the Anatta doctrine, one must understand that the eternal soul theory _ ”I have a soul” _ and the material theory _ ”I have no soul” _are both obstacles to self-realization or salvation. They arise from the misconception ”I AM”. Hence, to understand the Anatta doctrine, one must not cling to any opinion or views on soul-theory; rather, one must try to see things objectively as they are and without any mental projections. One must learn to see the so-called ”I” or Sour or Self for what it really is : merely a combination of changing forces. This requires some analytical explanation.

　　The Buddha taught that what we conceive as something eternal within us, is merely a combination of physical and mental aggregates or forces (pancakkhandha), made up of body or matter (rupakkhandha), sensation (vedanakkhandha), perception (sannakkhandha), mental formations (samkharakkhandha) and consciousness (vinnanakkhandha). These forces are working together in a flux of momentary change; they are never the same for two consecutive moments. They are the component forces of the psycho-physical life. When the Buddha analyzed the psycho-physical life, He found only these five aggregates or forces. He did not find any eternal soul. However, many people still have the misconception that the soul is the consciousness. The Buddha declared in unequivocal terms that consciousness depends on matter, sensation, perception and mental formations and that is cannot exist independently of them.

　　佛陀以「無我論」反駁了一切靈魂和靈魂思想。無我(Anatta)，可解釋爲沒有自我或沒有靈魂的存在，要了解無我，必須先了解「常見」──即認爲世間有個恒常的“我”或“我所有”，和「斷見」──認爲沒有任何的因、沒有任何的緣，人死亡後色法、名法都滅盡，死後什麼都不存在了。「常見」和「斷見」都是由「我執」生起的「邪見」。要了解「無我」就不要執著于任何靈魂學說或思想。相反的，我們必須客觀的、實事求是的去了解事物的本性，不要憑感覺而捕風捉影。一個人必須先要了解「我」、「我執」、「靈魂」到底是什麼？這一切只不過是因緣條件的假合和變化罷了。這一點需要進一步的分析，佛陀教導我們：那些我們認爲永恒的，其實是名色和五蘊的因緣假合，身體是色(物質)、名(心識)和五蘊(色、受、想、行、識)所組成的，這些力量一直在發生作用和不停的變化，它們沒有一個片刻是相同的。它們組成了身、心和感官。當佛陀分析身、心和感官時，他只發現了五蘊中「識」的力量，並沒有發現靈魂的存在。但是，很多人對「識」産生錯覺，以爲「識」就是「靈魂」。佛陀分析的很清楚，識是依賴受、想、行而存在，「識」無法單獨存在。

　　The Buddha said, ”The body, O monks, is not the Self. Sensation is not the Self. Perception is not the Self. The mental constructions are not the Self. And neither is consciousness the Self. Perceiving this, O monks, the disciple sets no value on the body, or on sensation, or on perception, or on mental constructions, or on consciousness. Setting no value of them, he becomes free of passions and he is liberated. The knowledge of liberation arises there within him. And then he knows that he has done what has to be done, that he has lived the holy life, that he is no longer becoming this or that, that his rebirth is destroyed.” (Anatta-Lakkhana Sutta).

　　「諸比庫！色中無我、受中無我、想中無我、行中無我、識中無我。諸比庫！了解了這一些，就不會把價值觀建立在色、受、想、行、識上面。就這樣，他能棄除煩惱而獲得解脫，解脫的智慧也因此而産生。跟著，他清楚的了解自己的所作所爲，修行的基礎也奠定了，以後不再有輪回了。」《無我相經》(Anattalakkhaõa Suttaü)

　　The Anatta doctrine of the Buddha is over 2500 years old. Today the thought current of the modern scientific world is flowing towards the Buddha”s Teaching of Anatta or No-Soul. In the eyes of the modern scientists, man is merely a bundle of ever-changing sensations. Modern physicists say that the apparently solid universe is not, in reality, composed of solid substance at all, but actually a flux of energy. The modern physicist sees the whole universe as a process of transformation of various forces of which man is a mere part. The Buddha was the first to realize this.

　　佛陀的「無我論」在二千五百多年前提出，和今天的科學思潮是一致的。在現代科學家眼裏，人類只是一堆一直在變化的感受。現代物理學家認爲，宇宙堅實的外表，實際是不存在的，宇宙只不過是一種「能」的流變。現代物理學家了解，宇宙的整個轉變過程是由許多物質聚集而成的，而人類只不過是其中的一小部分。而這一切佛陀在二千五百多年前就已經了解了。

　　A prominent author…

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