The Buddha’s No-Self Argument: A Drastic Emendation
Anātma-lakṣaṇa-sūtraphilosophical analysisearly misunderstandingauthenticityChinese version correct
Ferenc Ruzsa | Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia (AAV) 37 (2024) | Strony: 215–234DOI: https://doi.org/10.60018/AcAsVa.edsz6184
Streszczenie
The first part of the Buddha’s second sermon, “The Characteristic of No Self”, is extremely problematic. It does not fit the cultural context, philosophically it is silly, it does not agree with the Buddha’s central doctrines, and it contradicts the second part of the same short text. Moving a single word (“not”) up a sentence we get a clear and coherent argument; this must have been the original text. The Chinese version corroborates this. This particular type of corruption shows that here we have something exceptionally rare: a demonstrably verbatim quotation from the Buddha himself.
