Buddhism – Going Beyond the Soul

Buddhism – Going Beyond the Soul

Buddhism teaches that there is no soul because the concept of soul is not compatible with its teachings. Buddhism teaches impermanence yet soul is permanent. Buddhism teaches that everything is subject to death, yet the soul or Atman of traditional Hinduism is immortal. Buddhism does not allow the existence of an eternal, unchanging, universal soul that remains essentially the same throughout the course of many reincarnations. Even to wonder about the soul serves no purpose in Buddhism, for the goal of Nirvana is beyond soul.

Discussion of the soul begins with the discussion of its nature. Yet Buddhism believes it is useless to speculate on the nature of the soul because no such speculation will ever lead to a single indisputable conclusion, and such speculation is irrelevant to the goal of Buddhism. In the Dīgha Nikāya, the Buddha says “it is possible to make four propositions concerning the nature of the soul” (Embree, Sources of Indian Tradition, 104). One can speculate whether the soul is finite or infinite, with or without form. Yet the Buddha then says, “there are as many ways of not making propositions concerning the soul, and those with insight do not make them” (Embree 104). It is better to say nothing at all about the nature of the soul, because nothing absolutely certain can be said about it. Every statement about the soul’s nature is equally impossible to prove. Therefore all such statements are equally uncertain. Furthermore, in the same text the Buddha says that each of these propositions about the soul is “not acceptable” (Embree 104).

Even if one could say something definite about the soul, speculation on its nature would still be useless because in ...

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...a, there is no acceptable definition or description of what the soul actually is. There is debate and constant questioning over the issue. Also, since the nature of the soul has no bearing on the goal of Buddhism, the question of the soul is ultimately irrelevant to the Buddhist. The idea of soul is eternal, yet for the Buddhist all is impermanent. The Buddhist doctrine of No Soul affirms the Hindu doctrine of reincarnation, but denies that there is any soul that transmigrates from one body to another. Yet to say there is rebirth with no soul seems at first a contradiction. For how could one be reborn if the soul does not transmigrate? The Buddhist would answer that one’s karmas are all that are reborn, and that the personality is always changing.

Work Cited

1 Thera, Narada. Buddhism in a Nutshell. Honolulu: First Chinese Buddhist Association of Hawaii, 1933.