1. Dharma: Foundational Doctrines of Buddhism
Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D.
AST/REL 260
Buddhism
Berea College
Spring 2006

2. ANĀTMAN AND THE “FIVE AGGREGATES”
The self is not a holistic, permanent entity (ātman)
Instead, it is a composite, impermanent entity (anātman), composed of five skandhas (“aggregates”):
Physical body (outward, sensory form of self)
Emotions (raw responses to sensory data)
Ideas (processed responses to sensory data)
Biases (orientations produced by sensory data)
Consciousness (awareness of self and senses)

3. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO KARMA AND REBIRTH?
If there is no permanent self, then what acquires karma and is reborn?
The “four-cornered negation” (catush-koti) – 4 logical possibilities entailed by any proposition:  
It is (e.g., one is reborn – one’s actions now have causal effects later)
It is not (e.g., one is not reborn – no permanent self survives death intact)
It both is and is not (e.g., one is both reborn and not reborn)
It neither is nor is not (e.g., one is neither reborn nor not reborn)
Dualistic (dvaita – either/or) vs. nondualistic (advaita – both/and) thought
A seed is planted (e.g., one performs an action).
If various conditions (adequate and timely sun, rain, nutrients, weeding) are met, the seed germinates a plant (e.g., actions generate karma).
The plant is not the seed (e.g., the karma is not the action)…
… but the plant is not other than the seed (e.g., the karma is not other than the action)…
… the plant is the causal result of the seed (e.g., the karma is the moral result of the action).

4. THE SELF THAT IS NOT A SELF
An atman (“self”) has a body, emotions, ideas, biases, and consciousness.
Actually, there is no “self” (anatman) – only an assemblage of components.
In rebirth, conditioned by karma these components are removed and rearranged, creating a different self (yet not disconnected from “this” self now).
Just as one both is and is not“oneself” from life to life, so one neither is nor is not “oneself” from life to life.

5. THE “NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH”
Prajñā (wisdom):
Right views
Right thoughts
Śila (morality):
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Samādhi (concentration):
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right concentration

6. THE “TWELVE LINKS” Ignorance gives rise to…
Mental formations, which give rise to…
Consciousness, which gives rise to…
Mind and body, which give rise to…
Senses, which give rise to…
Contact, which gives rise to…
Sensation, which gives rise to…
Craving, which gives rise to…
Attachment, which gives rise to…
Becoming, which gives rise to…
Birth, which gives rise to…
Suffering (duhkha) …

8. CONSEQUENCES OF NIRVĀNA
The self is interdependent and impermanent
There is no basis for ego
Realizing the truth of anātman entails:
Awakening to suffering
Compassion in suffering
Liberation from suffering
One who seeks to realize this truth takes the “Three Refuges”:
The Buddha (the teacher)
The Dharma (the teaching)
The Sangha (the taught)