Anātmavāda

The Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion, pp. 1–7

Abstract

Anātmavāda , a Sanskrit term meaning “the doctrine of selflessness” refers to one of the most distinctive of Buddhist philosophical tenets: the rejection of any enduring unified self ( ātman ). Although they deny the existence of the ātman , Buddhists accept the existence of persons as conceptually unified aggregations of mental and physical events. Philosophically, their defense of the rejection of a self puts Buddhists at odds with rival schools of Indian philosophy, leading to over a thousand years of philosophical debate. Soteriologically, Buddhists claim that realizing the nonexistence of any enduring self ( ātman ) is a key factor in achieving liberation from saṃsāra , the round of rebirth and suffering.

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