Tag Archives: anātman

Dignāga and Anātman

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Vajragoni

For the Buddhist segment in our series we need to turn to the general father of Buddhist epistemology, and additionally the doctrine of the No-Soul (Self). Dignāga (480-540 CE) was a profound Buddhist scholar and logistician and elucidates in his epistemology that there are essentially only two ‘instruments of knowledge’ or ‘valid cognitions’ (pramāṇa); “perception” or “sensation” (pratyaksa) and “inference” or “reasoning” (anumāṇa). In his magnum opus, the Pramāṇa-samuccaya, he writes: read more

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Entering the Garbha-Self

Posted on December 26, 2017 by Vajragoni

Number Twelve is the flagship chapter for the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra; it further details the True Nature of the Self and then highlights its salvific context as, “After hearing this sutra one thereupon understands that all living beings possess Buddha-nature, and this is the reason why I expound the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra.” read more

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Something Rare

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Vajragoni

Chapter Three: Lamentations

(Charles Patton translation):

For a moment not long after Cunda had gone, the ground then shook and quaked in six ways. And on up to the Brahma realms. It was also again so. There were two earthquakes. One was an earthquake, and the other was a great earthquake. The smaller quake was called an earthquake. The greater quake was called a great earthquake. There was a smaller sound called an earthquake and there was a greater sound called a great earthquake. Where only the ground shook, that was called the earthquake. Where the mountains, trees, and the waters of the sea all shook, that was called the great earthquake. Where it shook to one side, that was called an earthquake. Where it shook everywhere and all around, that was called a great earthquake. When it shook and could lead the minds of sentient beings to shake, that was called a great earthquake. When the bodhisattvas from the Tusita heavens down to Jampudvipa first took notice, it was called a great earthquake. And when the first born left the households life to achieve the supremely unexcelled bodhi, to turn the dharmawheel, and to enter parinirvana, it was called a great earthquake. read more

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A Very Grimm Matter

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Vajragoni

Surprisingly little is written about the German Pali scholar, Dr. George Grimm (1868-1945), yet his contribution to analyzing the ātman/anātman dichotomy is unsurpassed. His writings, in particular his monumental “Doctrine of the Buddha: The Religion of Reason and Meditation”, finely nuances the True Self as a radiant bliss, “Our I or self, rid of all transient and sorrowful attributes, is eternal, complete in itself, and full of bliss.” The Zennist writes that for most modern Buddhists “Grimm’s words are a hard slap,” indeed a slap in the face of those who have “lost the ability to distinguish the psychophysical organism from himself because there is no self for him—he is all organism.” When the Self clings to what it is not, the “psychophysical organism” becomes dominant, a much misaligned characteristic that triggers perpetual re-genesis of the skandhic hosts. The modern Buddhist is so enamored with the anātman (or the great No-Self) that he refuses to acknowledge the actual teaching on the great dichotomy as reported by Grimm: read more

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