Anatta and Sunyata Doctrine: A Valid Basis for a Dynamic Encounter with Life

Bhikkhuni Dhammananda

Over 2500 years, the message of the Buddha has peacefully spread all over the world. The Buddha’s teachings have penetrated the minds of people and helped them to lead a more meaningful life. In the process, the Buddhadharma has become “Buddhism,” that is, it has become a tradition, with variants known as Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana Buddhism. As ideas and ideals are interpreted for better adaptation to different cultural and philosophical milieu, the tradition become localized and colored by the social background of the place it takes hold. This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of this process.

One common tenet among all Buddhist traditions is a distinguished teaching of the Buddha that has not been modified to fit particular social contexts and that is the anatta (nairatmanya) doctrine. There are various interpretations and many controversial issues regarding this revolutionary doctrine of the Buddha. Nevertheless, the main idea is that, since there are no fixed identity to people, customs, ideas, traditions, or religions, all phenomena arise interdependently and therefore have no self or own-nature. In other words, there is no unchangeable “thing” behind the change. Sunyata is another expression of the nairatmanya nature of all phenomena. This principle allows for dynamic encounters. Since there is a lack of any self-created, self-sustained, or self-existent immutable principle (whether atman, Brahma, God, or whatever), everything is possible. Why, then, do people try to construct identities (personal, national, religious, or ideological) and hold fast to them, when these identities are transient in nature?

Many factors can contribute to changing interpretations and the establishment of new traditions. Customs, traditions, religions, ideologies, and texts are not absolute truth (paramattha sacca), but are conditioned phenomena or conventional truths (sammutti sacca). The mistake people make is holding them to be the absolute truth, i.e., as something that is impossible to change, even when it proves to be outdated, untrue, or unhealthy. This state of affaird is contrary to the enlightened teachings of the Buddha.

The appearance of a Buddha, such as Sakyamuni (Gotama) Buddha, is to dispel this fundamental ignorance, to point out the groundless and hence unsatisfactory experiences caused by grasping at any identity. When one is attached to an identity, psychologically one is afraid of change and therefore challenged by every changing circumstance.