The Buddha & the
Self
More than 2500 years ago ancient
Buddhism (but not the Buddha) asked the question: Does
an emerged thing have a self? The Buddha himself had observed 1. ‘things/phenomena that are born die’ (to
wit, impermanence) and 2. ‘things/phenomena
are born subject to conditions (i.e. fundamental physical forces
conceived as rules) and die subject to
conditions’ (to wit, non-substantiality, selflessness). It was the
2nd observation that later, i.e. when Buddhism’s unacceptable,
hence unpopular ‘purely conditional arising’ hypothesis was challenged by the popular atma (≈
essential self) hypothesis proposed in the Upanishads, led to the conclusion
that things/phenomena had no abiding self, that they are anatman. In this regard see: The Heart Sutra It seems that the ‘things
operate without a (permanent) self’ (Pali: anatta) hypothesis was proposed (with dodgy observation
and logic) long after the Buddha’s death as the more acceptable, hence
popular 1st characteristic of the 3 Characteristics Sutra wherein
the lack of a self was deduced from 1. Dependency and 2. Lack of ownership,
hence of control. However, Buddhism’s conclusion that ‘things
operate without a permanent (or essential) self’ rattled the
whole of ancient India. For, if there’s no permanent self (viz. soul, spirit,
immortal essence) driving an arisen thing, such as
an human, then what’s driving it. Moreover, if there’s no driver, who is
responsible for the effects upon the world of driver-less things. Buddhism’s
suggestion was that (abstract) conditions (read: forces ≈ rules) are
the driver. And the rattle yet continues and will
get louder as the 21st century progresses. Modern Buddhism states: There is no self
(i.e. soul, spirit or ghost) in the biological machine. The bio-machine
happens as the outcome of basic and automatic (hence blind) self-regulation
software (as conditions matrix). Or, to have a go at Spinoza et al, ‘God is
not a substance/essence but a set of rules’ (i.e. a Turing Machine operating as
rules-as-conditions). Since every machine, i.e. emergent
thing, happens as manifestation (read: fractal elaboration) of a basic set of
rules (i.e. of God as Turing Machine), every machine, biological or
otherwise, is God relativized by local conditions/rules. See: Self-realization *… elsewhere
called the Shakyamuni, meaning ‘the Scythian recluse’. |