The Buddha · Theology

No-Self

The Buddha’s most radical teaching is that there is no permanent, unchanging self at the centre of your experience. The ‘I’ you take for granted is, he argues, a bundle of ever-changing processes - and seeing through it is the key to freedom.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that the Buddha denied a permanent self, analysing the person into five changing aggregates. Reconstruct his argument that none of them is a self, and explain how this connects to the end of suffering, in your own words.

Leads to David Hume.

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