Re: [INDOLOGY] New Book: The Ātman-Brahman in Ancient Buddhism

[David and Nancy Reigle]

Dear Dean,

Since no one has yet replied to this, I will just give some bibliographic
information (not exactly recommendations). I do not know of a systematic
scholarly study of the Buddhist position on anātman that lays out and
compares the two sides of this question.


The widely accepted view, that the Buddhist anātman/anattā teaching denies
the existence of an ātman/attā, not only in the person but also beyond the
person, is represented in this study:


*Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravāda Buddhism*, by Steven
Collins (Cambridge University Press, 1982).


Another study also represents this view, although the author distinguishes
his position on it from that of Collins (p. 7):


*The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvāṇa in Early
Buddhism*, by Peter Harvey (Curzon Press, 1995).


The view that the Buddhist anātman/anattā teaching denies the existence of
an ātman/attā only in the person (pudgala), i.e., in the five aggregates
(skandha) that make up a person, is represented in Kamaleswar
Bhattacharya’s book and in another study:


*Self and Non-Self in Early Buddhism*, by Joaquín Pérez-Remón (Mouton
Publishers, 1980).


Bhattacharya notes, however (1993, p. 26 fn. 2): “Despite an apparently
identical standpoint, there is a gulf of difference between Pérez-Remón’s
approach and mine—a difference which, unfortunately, has often been missed
by scholars.”


Best regards,


David Reigle

Cotopaxi, Colorado, U.S.A.


On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 8:34 PM, Dean Michael Anderson <
eastwestcultural at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Have there been any systematic scholarly studies of the Buddhist positions
> on anatman that someone could recommend?
>
> Bhattacharya:
>
> "It is sometimes said that although the texts that have been used prove
> that the Buddha did not deny the Upaniṣadic *ātman*, or even that he
> accepted it, there are others, thousands of others, which prove just the
> opposite. Well, since the names of those texts have not been revealed so
> far, I will stick to my position until it is *proved* wrong."
>
>
> Best,
>
> Dean Anderson
> East West Cultural Institute
>
>
>


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