Venerable Bhikkhu Kumaara,

Op 23-aug-2007, om 4:56 heeft Kumaara Bhikkhu het volgende geschreven:

> You mentioned "without a soul or self". I suppose you are referring
> to "anatta".
>
> But is 'atta' ever used in the suttas to mean "soul"?
> E.g. attakaama. 'Love of soul'?
> More meaningful to say 'love of self' or 'self-love', isn't it?
>
> It seems better to reserve 'soul' (as in spirit of a being) for
> 'jiiva'.
> E.g.: añña.m jiiva.m... añña.m sariira.m (one is the soul... the
> other is the body) D I.157
>
> But of course, we Buddhist still consider the soul to be just a
> stream of consciousness (viññaanasota), that is still anicca,
> dukkha, anatta.

----------
N: Without a soul or self, I was thinking of one of the meanings of
dhamma, and indeed absence of jiiva is used:

The following meaning of dhamma explained in the Dhammapada-
Atthakata, is dhamma as an entity without a living soul (nissatta,
nijjiva):
<"Tasmi.m khopana samaye dhammaa honti, khandhaa hontii"ti (dha. sa.
121)
Then, at that time dhammas occur, khandhas occur.

aya.mnissattadhammo naama, nijjiivadhammotipi eso eva.
this is dhamma without living being (non-substantial), it is also
merely dhamma without life.
Tesu imasmi.m .thaane nissattanijjiivadhammo adhippeto.
As to these, dhamma devoid of a living soul is meant in this case. >

As you say, it means anattaa, but I find the terms nissattadhammo,
nijjiivadhammo, helpful to consider so as to have more understanding
of anattaa.

The Saddaniti states:
We read about dhamma as anattaa:
<Tatra yaa nissattataa, saa eva nijjiivataa.
Here what is devoid of a living being, that is indeed without a soul.>
The Tiika to the Abhidhaanappadiipikaa (a 12th cent. Pali
thesaurus) explains
as to nissattataa: <sattasabhaavassa abhaavataa: the absence of the
nature of a living being. >

Jiiva could be translated as life principle, or soul.
Cakkhuvi~n~naa.na, seeing, that arises is not a living being, it
merely arises, performs its function of seeing and then falls away.
But we keep on thinking of self, a living being who sees. Seeing does
not breathe as a living being does. Nissatta, nijjiva is a good
reminder that helps us to consider seeing, colour, hearing, feeling,
attachment, all realities in the right way.

It is helpful to see colour as nissatta, nijjiva, since we keep on
believing that we see a person. Only colour is seen, and it is not a
living being. Later on there is thinking on account of what is seen,
such as a concept of a person.

Thank you for your question which helps me to consider more.
With respect,
Nina.





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]