Ātman (Buddhism)

It has been suggested that this article be merged into Buddha-nature. (Discuss) Proposed since July 2014.

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Some Buddhist schools, sutras and tantras present the notion of an atman [Self], such as the Pudgalavada-school, the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, and the Theravāda Dhammakaya Movement of Thailand.

The word Ātman (Sanskrit: आत्मन्) or Atta (Pāli) refers to a person's "true self", a person's permanent inner nature.^[1] Occasionally the terms "soul" or "ego" are also used. The words ātman and atta derive from the Indo-European root *ēt-men (breath) and are cognate with Old English æthm, German Atem, and Greek atmo-.^[2]

The Buddha argued that no permanent, unchanging "self" can be found.^[3][4] All conditioned phenomena are subject to change, and therefor can't be taken to be "self".^[4] Instead, the Buddha explains the perceived continuity of the human pesonality by describing it as composed of five skandhas, without a permanent entity.^[5][6]

Of the early indian Buddhist schools, only the Pudgalavada-school diverged from this basic teaching. The Pudgalavādins asserted that, while there is no ātman, there is a pudgala or "person", which is neither the same as nor different from the skandhas.^[6]

The Dhammakaya Movement in Thailand teaches that it is erroneous to subsume nirvana under the rubric of anatta (non-self); instead, nirvana is claimed to be the "true self" or dhammakaya. According to Paul Williams, this teaching is strikingly similar to that of the tathāgatagarbha sutras.^[7]

Within the Mahāyāna branch of Buddhism, there exists an important class of sutras (influential upon Ch'an and Zen Buddhism), generally known as Buddha nature (tathāgatagarbha) sutras (also: "Buddha-matrix" or "Buddha-embryo" sutras), a number of which affirm that, in contradistinction to the impermanent "mundane self" of the five skandhas (the physical and mental components of the mutable ego), there does exist an eternal true self, which is in fact none other than the Buddha himself in his ultimate nirvanic nature. This is the "true self" in the self of each being, the ideal personality, attainable by all beings due to their inborn potential for enlightenment. The Buddha nature does not represent a substantial self (ātman); rather, it is a positive language and expression of emptiness (śūnyatā) and represents the potentiality to realize Buddhahood through Buddhist practices; the intention of the teaching of Buddha nature is soteriological rather than theoretical.^[8]

Prior to the period of the tathāgatagarbha genre, Mahāyāna metaphysics had been dominated by teachings on emptiness in the form of Madhyamaka philosophy. The language used by this approach is primarily negative, and the tathāgatagarbha genre of sutras can be seen as an attempt to state orthodox Buddhist teachings of dependent origination using positive language instead, to prevent people from being turned away from Buddhism by a false impression of nihilism. In these sutras the perfection of the wisdom of not-self is stated to be the true self; the ultimate goal of the path is then characterized using a range of positive language that had been used in Indian philosophy previously by essentialist philosophers, but which was now transmuted into a new Buddhist vocabulary to describe a being who has successfully completed the Buddhist path.^[9]

Not all Buddhists and scholars share this interpretation of the doctrine of self in the tathāgatagarbha sutras. Kosho Yamamoto, who translated the entire Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra into English, tells of how the Buddha speaks in that scripture of doctrines previously not articulated. Now, in order to correct people’s misunderstanding of the Dharma, the Buddha - according to Yamamoto - tells of how He speaks of the positive qualities of nirvana, which includes the self:

He [i.e. the Buddha] says that he is now ready to speak about the undisclosed teachings. Men abide in upside-down thoughts. So he will now speak of the affirmative attributes of Nirvana, which are none other than the Eternal, Bliss, the Self and the Pure.^[10]

The Zen Buddhist master, Sekkei Harada, likewise speaks of a true Self in his explications of Zen Buddhism. This true Self is found when one "forgets the ego-self".^[11] Harada states that the doctrine of "no-self" really means awakening to a self that is without any limits and thus invisible: "No-self means to awaken to a Self that is so vast and limitless that it cannot be seen."^[12] Harada concludes his reflections on Zen Buddhism by speaking of the need for an almost passionate encounter with the "person" of the essential True Self:

… in our lifetime there is only one person we must encounter, one person we must meet as though we were passionately in love. That person is the essential Self, the true Self. As long as you don’t meet this Self, it will be impossible to find true satisfaction in your heart …^[13]

Analogously, Michael Zimmermann, a specialist on the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra, writes: "the existence of an eternal, imperishable self, that is, buddhahood, is definitely the basic point of the Tathagatagarbha Sutra".^[14] Zimmermann also declares: "[The compilers of the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra] did not hesitate to attribute an obviously substantialist notion to the buddha-nature of living beings"^[15] and notes the evident total lack of interest in this sutra for any ideas of non-substantialism or "emptiness" (śūnyatā): "Throughout the whole Tathagatagarbha Sutra the term śūnyatā does not even appear once, nor does the general drift of the TGS somehow imply the notion of śūnyatā as its hidden foundation. On the contrary, the sutra uses very positive and substantialist terms to describe the nature of living beings."^[16]

Jamie Hubbard writes on the diverse ways in which the tathāgatagarbha texts (which on occasion speak of the self) are viewed by various scholars, some seeing an absolutist monism in them, others not. Hubbard comments:

Matsumoto [calls] attention to the similarity between the extremely positive language and causal structure of enlightenment found in the tathagatagarbha literature and that of the substantial monism found in the atman/Brahman tradition. Matsumoto, of course, is not the only one to have noted this resemblance. Takasaki Jikido, for example, the preeminent scholar of the tathagatagarbha tradition, sees monism in the doctrine of the tathagatagarbha and the Mahayana in general … Obermiller wedded this notion of a monistic Absolute to the tathagatagarbha literature in his translation and comments to the Ratnagotra, which he aptly subtitled “A Manual of Buddhist Monism” … Lamotte and Frauwallner have seen the tathagatagarbha doctrine as diametrically opposed to the Madhyamika and representing something akin to the monism of the atman/Brahman strain, while yet others such as Nagao, Seyfort Ruegg, and Johnston (the editor of the Ratnagotra) simply voice their doubts and state that it seems similar to post-Vedic forms of monism. Yet another camp, represented by Yamaguchi Susumu and his student Ogawa Ichijo, is able to understand tathagatagarbha thought without recourse to Vedic notions by putting it squarely within the Buddhist tradition of conditioned causality and emptiness, which, of course, explicitly rejects monism of any sort. Obviously, the question of the monist or absolutist nature of the tathagatagarbha and Buddha-nature traditions is complex.^[17]

Hubbard concludes his investigation into the notion of tathāgatagarbha with the words:

the teaching of the tathagatagarbha has always been debatable, for it is fundamentally an affirmative approach to truth and wisdom, offering descriptions of reality not in negative terms of what it is lacking or empty of (apophatic description, typical of the Pefection of Wisdom corpus and the Madhyhamika school) but rather in positive terms of what it is (cataphatic description, more typical of the devotional, tantric, Mahaparinirvana and Lotus Sutra traditions, and, it should be noted, the monistic terms of the orthodox Brahmanic systems)^[18]

The true self of the Buddha is indeed said to be pure, real and blissful, and to be attainable by anyone in the state of mahāparinirvāṇa. Furthermore, the essence of that Buddha — the Buddha-dhātu ("Buddha-nature", "Buddha principle"), or Dharmakāya, as it is termed — is present in all sentient beings and is described as "radiantly luminous". This Buddha-dhātu is said in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra to be the uncreated, immutable and immortal essence (svabhāva) of all beings, which can never be harmed or destroyed. The most extensive sutra promulgating this as an "ultimate teaching" (uttara-tantra) on the Buddhic essence of all creatures, animals included, is the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. There we read in words attributed to the Buddha: "... it is not the case that they [i.e. all phenomena] are devoid of the Self. What is this Self? Any phenomenon ["dharma"] that is true ["satya"], real ["tattva"], eternal ["nitya"], sovereign/autonomous ["aishvarya"] and whose foundation is unchanging ["ashraya-aviparinama"] is termed 'the Self' [atman]." (translated from Dharmakṣema's version of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra). This true self — so the Buddha of such scriptures indicates — must never be confused with the ordinary, ever-changing, worldly ego, which, with all its emotional and moral taints and turmoil, conceals the true self from view. Far from being possessed of the negative attributes of the mundane ego, the Buddhic or nirvanic Self is proclaimed by the Buddha of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra to be characterised by "great loving-kindness, great compassion, great sympathetic joy, and great equanimity" (see: the four Brahmavihāras).

In equating the Buddha-nature with practice, King argues that the author of the Buddha-Nature Treatise "undercuts any possibility of conceiving Buddha nature as an entity of any kind, as a Hindu–like Ātman or even as a purely mental process."^[19]

In the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra the Buddha is portrayed explaining that he proclaims all beings to have Buddha-nature in the sense that they will in the future become Buddhas:

Good son, there are three ways of having: first, to have in the future, secondly, to have at present, and thirdly, to have in the past. All sentient beings will have in future ages the most perfect enlightenment, i.e., the Buddha nature. All sentient beings have at present bonds of defilements, and do not now possess the thirty-two marks and eighty noble characteristics of the Buddha. All sentient beings had in past ages deeds leading to the elimination of defilements and so can now perceive the Buddha nature as their future goal. For such reasons, I always proclaim that all sentient beings have the Buddha nature.^[8]

In the later Lankāvatāra Sūtra it is said that the tathāgatagarbha might be mistaken for a self, which it is not.^[20] In the 'Sagathakam' section of that same sutra, however, the Tathagatagarbha as the Self is not denied, but affirmed: 'The Atma [Self] characterised with purity is the state of self-realization; this is the Tathagata's Womb (garbha), which does not belong to the realm of the theorisers'.^[21]

Some other Buddhist sutras and tantras also speak affirmatively of the self. For instance, the Mahabheriharaka Sutra insists: "... at the time one becomes a Tathagata, a Buddha, he is in nirvana, and is referred to as 'permanent', 'steadfast', 'calm', 'eternal', and 'Self' [atman]." Similarly, the Śrīmālā Sūtra declares unequivocally: "When sentient beings have faith in the Tathagata [Buddha] and those sentient beings conceive [him] with permanence, pleasure, self, and purity, they do not go astray. Those sentient beings have the right view. Why so? Because the Dharmakaya [ultimate nature] of the Tathagata has the perfection of permanence, the perfection of pleasure, the perfection of self, the perfection of purity. Whatever sentient beings see the Dharmakaya of the Tathagata that way, see correctly."^[22] An early Buddhist tantra, the Guhyasamājā Tantra, declares: "The universal Self of entities sports by means of the illusory samādhi. It performs the deeds of a Buddha while stationed at the traditional post" (i.e. while never moving). The same tantra also imbues the self with radiant light (a common image): "The pure Self, adorned with all adornments, shines with a light of blazing diamond ..." ^[23] And the All-Creating King Tantra (the Kunjed Gyalpo Tantra, a scripture of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, also designated a sutra) has the primordial Buddha, Samantabhadra, state, "... the root of all things is nothing else but one Self … I am the place in which all existing things abide."^[24]

Furthermore, the Tibetan Buddhist scripture entitled The Expression of Manjushri's Ultimate Names (Mañjuśrī-nāma-saṅgīti), as quoted by the Tibetan Buddhist master, Dolpopa,^[25] applies the following terms to the Ultimate Buddhic Reality:

• "Pervasive Lord"
• "Supreme Guardian of the world"
• "Buddha-Self"
• "Beginningless Self"
• "Self of Thusness"
• "Self of primordial purity"
• "Source of all"
• "Single Self"
• "Diamond Self"
• "Solid Self"
• "Holy, Immovable Self"
• "Supreme Self"
• "Supreme Self of All Creatures".

Moreover, with reference to one of Vasubandhu's commentarial works, Dolpopa affirms the reality of the pure self, which is not the worldly ego, in the following terms:^[26]

... the uncontaminated element is the buddhas' supreme Self ... because buddhas have attained pure Self, they have become the Self of great Selfhood. Through this consideration, the uncontaminated is posited as the supreme Self of buddhas.

In 2005, commenting on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a text in the highest yoga tantra, the 14th Dalai Lama explained how this tantra conceives both of a temporary person, and a subtle person or self, which it links to the Buddha nature. He writes:

… when we look at [the] interdependence of mental and physical constituents from the perspective of Highest Yoga Tantra, there are two concepts of a person. One is the temporary person or self, that is as we exist at the moment, and this is labeled on the basis of our coarse or gross physical body and conditioned mind, and, at the same time, there is a subtle person or self which is designated in dependence on the subtle body and subtle mind. This subtle body and subtle mind are seen as a single entity that has two facets. The aspect which has the quality of awareness, which can reflect and has the power of cognition, is the subtle mind. Simultaneously, there is its energy, the force that activates the mind towards its object – this is the subtle body or subtle wind. These two inextricably conjoined qualities are regarded, in Highest Yoga Tantra, as the ultimate nature of a person and are identified as buddha nature, the essential or actual nature of mind.^[27]

• Hodge, Stephen (2009 & 2012). "The Textual Transmission of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana-sutra", lecture at the University of Hamburg
• Yamamoto, Kosho (tr.), Page, Tony (ed) (1999–2000).The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra in 12 volumes. London: Nirvana Publications.

• "Nirvana Sutra": full text of "Nirvana Sutra", plus appreciation of its teachings.
• "Tathagatagarbha Buddhism": key sutras of the Tathagatagarbha Buddhist tradition