The Foundations of Buddhism

No Self r6r

the Nikayas we are told how the Buddha was once asked by the

wanderer Vacchagotta whether the self existed.^46 The Buddha

remained silent. Vacchagotta asked whether the self did not

then exist. The Buddha once again remained silent. The J?uddha

then explained to the curious Ananda that if he had answered

that the self exists it would have been to side with those ascetics

and brahmins who hold the doctrine of 'eternalism'; moreover

it would not have been in accordance with his understanding

that all phenomena (dharma) are not self. On the other hand if

he had answered that the self does not exist it would have been

to side with those ascetics and brahmins who hold the doctrine

of 'annihilationism'; moreover it would have thrown poor Vac-

chagotta into even more confusion, as he would have concluded

that formerly he had a self but now he did not.

Essentially this refusal to answer Vacchagotta categorically

must be seen in the same light as the refusal to give unequivocal

answers to the ten undetermined questions; that is, the terms in

which the question is couched are not accepted. Furthermore,

we should note that, while the Buddha may refuse to give a cat-

egorical answer when asked whether or not the self exists, he is

nevertheless recorded as stating that all those ascetics and brah-

mins who contemplate the self in various ways in fact contem-

plate the five aggregates or one of them, and on the basis of this

come to the conclusion, 'I exist'.^47 This makes it clear, I think,

that to talk of a self that exists apart from the five aggregates is

meaningless for the Buddha. Thus the Buddha's silence here is

not about leaving the door open for some mysterious, ungrasp-

able absolute self. The Buddha's suggestion to Ananda that if he

had told Vacchagotta that the self does not exist he would have

become even more confused is revealing.

What is at issue here is not so much the question of the exist-

ence or non-existence of the self, but that in seeking to answer

the question of its existence the ordinary unawakened mind that

is not free from grasping inevitably gets entangled in views and
theories about the self. As we have seen, the awakened mind,
on the other hand, breaks free from all views about the self. Part
of the problem here stems from a failure on the part of some