Did the Buddha Really Teach That There Is No Self?
4/22/202656 min
Thanissaro Bhikkhu is an American Theravada Buddhist monk trained in the Thai forest tradition. He currently serves as abbot of the Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County and is a frequent contributor to Tricycle. Over the years, he has written extensively on the Buddhist concept of not-self, including the many misperceptions that have arisen about this teaching over the centuries. In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, sits down with Thanissaro Bhikkhu to discuss why the Buddha refused to answer when he was asked whether there was a self, what it means to consider not-self as a strategy rather than an ontological truth, why perceptions of self and not-self are types of karma or activity, and why all views and perceptions are eventually discarded on the path to awakening.
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First 90 secondsThanissaro Bhikkhu· Guest0:01
[gentle music] There's a passage in the canon where a king comes to see the Buddha, and the Buddha asks him, "What have you been doing in the middle of the day here?" And the king is remarkably frank, and he says, "Oh, the typical things of someone who's obsessed with power, gaining power, and maintaining it." And the Buddha says, "Suppose someone trustworthy were to come from the east and say there's this huge mountain moving in from the east, crushing all living beings in its path. Another trustworthy person comes from the south, another from the west, another from the north. It turns out there are four mountains moving in from the four directions, crushing all living beings." He says, "Given this horrible destruction of life, all this horrible chaos, what would you do?" The king says, "What else could I do but practice the Dharma?" And the Buddha says, "Well, I tell you, aging, illness, and death are moving in, crushing all beings in their path. What are you gonna do?" And the king has to admit, "Well, what else should I be doing but practicing the Dharma?" So this is a teaching I give again and again. It doesn't matter, you know, which political figure is riding which mountain. The mountain's moving in. And the whole purpose of the Dharma practice is to give you something that will not be crushed by those mountains.
James Shaheen· Host1:06
[gentle music] Hello and welcome to Tricycle Talks. I'm James Shaheen, and you just heard Thanissaro Bhikkhu, whose friends and students call him Than Jeff. Than Jeff is an American Theravada Buddhist monk trained in the Thai Forest tradition. He currently serves as Abbot of the Metta Forest Monastery