About the self

[Duke_Leto]

I apologize for the remedial questions; I'm not very familiar with Buddhism, and since there seems to be a fair amount of misrepresentation of Buddhism in many places, sometimes even by academics, I feel like I may get more reliable answers by asking practicing Buddhists here rather than try to search for them on my own.

1. From what I understand, Buddhists refute the concept of a "self". What does this mean, exactly? Is it an objection to the idea of an objective personality that exists independently of someone's active construction/maintenance of it, or is it something different than this?

2. If a "self" doesn't exist, can reincarnation really be said to occur? That is, is it really the same "person" transitioning from one life to the next? How is that any different from dying, and "someone else" eventually being born?

3. How is achieving liberation from samsara accomplished? Is it a conscious decision that can be taken after attaining nirvana? Or is it something automatic, where attaining nirvana automatically frees you?

4. Again back to the self, what is actually being freed upon release from samsara, if not the self? Something like a soul, just with no personality?

Thank you for the time.

 

[Aupmanyav]

From a Hindu disciple of Buddha:

1. No denial, but its unsubstatiativeness (Anatta) and impermanence (Anicca). Why would Buddha deny it? He was seeking happiness for it.
2. Reincarnation is attachment of Karmas to a new 'self', like a billiard ball transferring its momentum to other balls (IMHO, the best possible simile that I have come across) - the Karma ball.
3. Liberation is understanding the scheme of life.
4. The ignorance of the unsubstatiative and impermanent 'self'.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I apologize for the remedial questions; I'm not very familiar with Buddhism, and since there seems to be a fair amount of misrepresentation of Buddhism in many places, sometimes even by academics, I feel like I may get more reliable answers by asking practicing Buddhists here rather than try to search for them on my own.

1. From what I understand, Buddhists refute the concept of a "self". What does this mean, exactly? Is it an objection to the idea of an objective personality that exists independently of someone's active construction/maintenance of it, or is it something different than this?

2. If a "self" doesn't exist, can reincarnation really be said to occur? That is, is it really the same "person" transitioning from one life to the next? How is that any different from dying, and "someone else" eventually being born?

3. How is achieving liberation from samsara accomplished? Is it a conscious decision that can be taken after attaining nirvana? Or is it something automatic, where attaining nirvana automatically frees you?

4. Again back to the self, what is actually being freed upon release from samsara, if not the self? Something like a soul, just with no personality?

Thank you for the time.

It's a common misconception. The self does exist, but is comprised of aggregates.

There are five Aggregates in Buddhism for which the self is illusory, a product of ego.

There is no denial of self, but self is not regarded as permanent or self abiding for which the Buddhist term emptiness comes into play for which all phenomena arise, then acknowledged, and fall away and dissipate like clouds that pass by on overhead.

The easiest way to understand this is reading the Heart Sutra and ringing a bell physically. It's essentially Buddhism in a ding.

Reincarnation and rebirth isn't a Buddhist teaching although many Buddhists are privy to the concepts and will debate the topic. This is because in essence there is really nothing being born and nothing that really fundamentally dies. I'm privy to the concept of rebirth, but that's actually a wrong view. It's just a little easier to explain intellectually which is why such teachings persist I think.

Just rising and falling form that can be observed daily all around us. Death and life there is really no difference between the two as they are rising and falling phenomena as with everything else.

Samsara is essentially our tendency for clinging 2 views and Concepts that can never be grasped permanently. To be freed all one simply has to do is let go of the branch as outlined in Hakuin Ekaku's poem.


THE MONKEY IS REACHING

The monkey is reaching

For the moon in the water.

Until death overtakes him

He’ll never give up.

If he’d let go the branch and

Disappear in the deep pool,

The whole world would shine

With dazzling pureness.

 

[Aupmanyav]

The 'Karma ball'. Even if the 'self' is no more, the 'Karma ball' continues to roll. How? Ask Buddha!

Actions have reactions. See Israel even after thousands of years. Indian partition even after 70 years.

 

[Buddha Dharma]

1. From what I understand, Buddhists refute the concept of a "self". What does this mean, exactly? Is it an objection to the idea of an objective personality that exists independently of someone's active construction/maintenance of it, or is it something different than this?

Buddhists neither affirm or deny the concept of self, IMO. We simply acknowledge what is not self. That is what Anatta means. Anatta does not mean no self. Anatta is a usage of expediency, to get people off of speculating about things that don't matter. Does knowing you have a self or not change anything about how you currently experience reality? The Buddha would say your problem of suffering remains the same.

2. If a "self" doesn't exist, can reincarnation really be said to occur? That is, is it really the same "person" transitioning from one life to the next? How is that any different from dying, and "someone else" eventually being born?

Buddhists believe in rebirth, which is different. There is a subtle consciousness trapped in Samsara, but once free from Samsara- there is no clinging to an idea of a separate self. This is what the Buddha says in the Diamond Sutra. That a Bodhisattva does not cherish an idea of having a separate self.

3. How is achieving liberation from samsara accomplished? Is it a conscious decision that can be taken after attaining nirvana? Or is it something automatic, where attaining nirvana automatically frees you?

Mahayanists believe after Nirvana you can choose not to enter final release because you want to help other beings in the world. However, the Buddha will eventually be the vehicle that carries everything to final release from my school's perspective. This is the great hope of practicing Mahayana from the Lotus Sutra's suggestions.

4. Again back to the self, what is actually being freed upon release from samsara, if not the self? Something like a soul, just with no personality?

There is a subtle consciousness bound in Samsara from the Mahayanist perspective, but it carries no self like the current body creates. It can be demonstrated how the current body creates the seeming self/ego in many ways.

Mahayana texts like the Tibetan Book of the Dead say that your sense of ego quickly disappears into the background and falls away like the body, when you undergo the experiences of the Netherworld.

 

[crossfire]

Obsession/worry regarding Atman only creates a "thicket of views" that trips you up.
Sabbasava Sutta: All the Fermentations

Dogen's Kenjo Koan
thezensite: Dogen's Genjokoan

snippet quote:
To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of realization remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.