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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
Buddhism
135
function. The Self is thus non-substantial anátta --- not. self. The Self has no existence of itself, by itself and in itself. It is nothing but a conglomeration of a number of physical forces and characteristics (dharmas) working together. Mrs. Rhys Davids quotes a passage from the Samyutta-Nikāya (IV.54) which speaks about the nothingness or non-existence of such a Self as an independent entity.' Rhys Davids makes it clear that a grave error is committed if independent existence apart from the Skandhas is, attributed to the fictitious entity known as the Self. She warns in the following words - "In other words, whenever the word attā implies that in the temporary bundle is a mysterious little being, which uses the changing body as a shell, coming at or before birth, and flitting away ai death, itself unchanged, eternal, above the laws of nature, then does the word become the sign of the worst of errors.". It is worthwhile to understand the real meaning of the Buddhist theory of anūtman (37717H912). Th. Stcherbatsky amply clarifies the meaning of anātman in the following passage-"The underlying idea is that, whatsoever be designated by all these names, it is not a real and ultimate fact; it is a mere name for a multitude of interconnected facts, which Buddhist philosophy is attempting to analyse by reducing them to real elements (dharma). Thus “ soullessness" (nairātmyaATTRA) is but the negative expression, indeed, a synonym for the existence of ultimate realities (dharmata).
1 Davids Rhys : Buddhism, p. 52. ? Ibid. p. 55.
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