Selfless Persons

Book

This book seeks to explain carefully and sypathetically the Buddhist doctrine of anatta ('not-self'), which denies the existence of any self, soul or enduring essence in human beings. The author relates this doctrine to its cultural and historical context, particularly to its Brahmanical background, and shows how the Theravāda Buddhist tradition has constructed a philosophical and psychological account of personal identity and continuity on the apparently impossible basis of the denial of self. (Source: Cambridge University Press) For relevance to the concept of buddha-nature, see chapter 8, "Momentariness and the bhavaṅga-mind."

Citation	Collins, Steven. Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravāda Buddhism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982. https://archive.org/details/thervadaselflesspersonsimagerythoughtintheravadabuddhismstevencollinsoup_564_z/mode/2up.

- - Prefacepage ix
  - Introduction1

Part 1 The cultural and social setting of Buddhist thought27
- 1 The origins of rebirth29
- 1.1 Buddhism and early Indian religion29
- 1.2 Time: saṃsāra41
- 1.3 Action and the person: karma53
- 1.4 Timelessness: mokṣa (nirvāṇa)58
- 2 Varieties of Buddhist discourse65
- 2.1 Buddhist thought in context65
- 2.2 Different ways of talking about 'self and 'person'71
- 2.3 Elements of personality and (not-)self78

Part II The doctrine of not-self85
- 3 The denial of self as 'right view'87
- 3.1 Different kinds of 'right view'87
- 3.2 Arguments in support of anattā95
- 3.3 The denial of self as a strategy in 'mental culture'111
- 4 Views, attachment, and 'emptiness'116
- 4.1 Views and attachment117
- 4.2 The Unanswered Questions131
- 4.3 Quietism and careful attention138

Part III Personality and rebirth145
- 5 The individual of 'conventional truth'147
- 5.1 'Conventional' and 'ultimate truth'147
- 5.2 Attabhāva 'individuality', puggala 'person'156
- 5.3 House imagery165
- 6 'Neither the same nor different'177
- 6.1 'A person is not found'178
- 6.2 Images of identity and difference185
- 6.3 Self and other: compassion188

Part IV Continuity197
- 7 Conditioning and consciousness199
- 7.1 The construction(s) of temporal existence200
- 7.2 The stations of evolving consciousness213
- 7.3 Vegetation imagery218
- 8 Momentariness and the bhavaṅga-mind225
- 8.1 impermanent are conditioned things'226
- 8.2 The 'ultimate' extent of a lifetime: momentariness 234
- 8.3 The bhavaṅga-mind238
- 8.4 River imagery247

- - Conclusion262

- - Notes267
  - Bibliography310
  - Glossary and index of Pali and Sanskrit terms318
  - General index321