- · Buddhism
propounds a theory of 'no-self', which means there is no permanent self like
the metaphysical or the ontological self and this theory is called 'anatman' or
'anatmavada'. It is in opposition to the theory of 'atmavada'. According to
Buddhists there is no permanent self because it is a combination of five
elements which is in constant change and called the Skandhas. they are as
follows:
Body or physical
form (rupa): Generally, the first skandha is our physical form.
·
Feelings or
Sensation (vedana): It is made up of our feelings, emotional and physical, and
our senses─ seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling.
·
Perception (samjna): it includes what we call thinking
─ conceptualization, cognition and reasoning. Perception can be thought of as
"that which identifies." The object perceived may be a physical
object or a mental one, such as an idea. It can also be a perception of the
fact that one is perceiving.
·
Dispositions or
mental formation (samskara): the
habits, prejudices and predispositions that results out of one’s perception is
the mental formation. Volition, or willfulness, also is part of the fourth skandha, it further includes attention,
faith, pride, desire, vindictiveness, and many other mental states both
virtuous and not virtuous. The causes and effects of karma are especially
important to the fourth skandha.
·
Consciousness (vijnana): consciousness, is awareness of
or sensitivity to an object, but without conceptualization. Once there is
awareness, the third skandha might
recognize the object and assign a concept-value to it, and the fourth skandha might react with desire or
revulsion or some other mental formation.[1]
[1] Matthew Mackenzie,
“Self-Awareness without a Self: Buddhism and the Reflexivity of Awareness”,
Asian Philosophy, 2008, p. 14.
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