“Ātman (Buddhism)”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Most Buddhist traditions and texts reject the premise of a permanent, unchanging atman (self, soul).^[2]^[3] However, some Buddhist schools, sutras and tantras present the notion of an atman or permanent "Self", although mostly referring to an Absolute and not to a personal self.

Etymology

Cognates ({{lang-sa|आत्मन्}}) ātman, (Pāli) atta, Old English æthm, German Atem, and Greek atmo-^[4] derive from the Indo-European root *ēt-men (breath). The word means "essence, breath, soul."^[5]

Early Buddhism

"Atman" in early Buddhism appears as "all dhammas are not-Self (an-atta)", where atta (atman) refers to a metaphysical Self, states Peter Harvey, that is a "permanent, substantial, autonomous self or I".{{sfn|Harvey|1995b|p=17}} This concept refers to the pre-Buddhist Upanishads of Hinduism, where a person is viewed as having a lower self (impermanent body, personality) and a Higher or Greater Self (real permanent Self, soul, atman, atta).{{sfn|Harvey|1995b|pp=17-19}}^[9]^[10] The early Buddhist literature explores the validity of the Upanishadic concepts of self and Self, then asserts that every living being has an impermanent self but there is no real Higher Self.{{sfn|Harvey|1995b|pp=17-28}} The Nikaya texts of Buddhism deny that there is anything called Ātman that is the substantial absolute or essence of a living being, an idea that distinguishes Buddhism from the Brahmanical (proto-Hindu) traditions.^[11]

The Buddha argued that no permanent, unchanging "self" can be found.{{sfn|Kalupahana|1994|p=68}}{{sfn|Harvey|1995|p=52}} In Buddha's view, states Wayman, "eso me atta, or this is my self, is to be in the grip of wrong view".{{sfn|Wayman|1997|p=531}} All conditioned phenomena are subject to change, and therefore can't be taken to be an unchanging "self".{{sfn|Harvey|1995|p=52}} Instead, the Buddha explains the perceived continuity of the human personality by describing it as composed of five skandhas, without a permanent entity (Self, soul).{{sfn|Kalupahana|1994|p=69-72}}{{sfn|Fischer-Schreiber|Ehrhard|Diener|2008|p=27}}

Pudgalavada

Of the early Indian Buddhist schools, only the Pudgalavada-school diverged from this basic teaching. The Pudgalavādins asserted that, while there is no ātman, there is a pudgala or "person", which is neither the same as nor different from the skandhas.{{sfn|Fischer-Schreiber|Ehrhard|Diener|2008|p=27}}

Buddha-nature

The Tathagatagarbha doctrine, at its earliest, probably appeared about the later part of the 3rd century CE, and is verifiable in Chinese translations of 1st millennium CE.{{sfn|Williams|1989|p=104}}

Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra

In contrast to the madhyamika-tradition, the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra uses "positive language" to denote "absolute reality". According to Paul Williams, the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra teaches an underlying essence, "Self", or "atman".{{sfn|Williams|1989|p=98-99}} This "true Self" is the Buddha-nature (Tathagatagarbha), which is present in all sentient beings, and realized by the awakened ones. Most scholars consider the Tathagatagarbha doctrine in Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra asserting an 'essential nature' in every living being is equivalent to 'Self',{{refn|group=note|Wayman and Wayman have disagreed with this view, and they state that the Tathagatagarbha is neither self nor sentient being, nor soul, nor personality.{{sfn|Williams|1989|p=107}}}} and it contradicts the Anatta doctrines in a vast majority of Buddhist texts, leading scholars to posit that the Tathagatagarbha Sutras were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists.{{sfn|Williams|1989|p=104-105, 108}}^[14]

According to Sallie B. King, the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra does not represent a major innovation.{{sfn|King|1991|p=14}} Its most important innovation is the linking of the term buddhadhatu with tathagatagarbha.{{sfn|King|1991|p=14}} According to King, the sutra is rather unsystematic,{{sfn|King|1991|p=14}} which made it "a fruitful one for later students and commentators, who were obliged to create their own order and bring it to the text".{{sfn|King|1991|p=14}} The sutra speaks about Buddha-nature in so many different ways, that Chinese scholars created a list of types of Buddha-nature that could be found in the text.{{sfn|King|1991|p=14}} One of those statements is:

In the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra the Buddha also speaks of the "affirmative attributes" of nirvana, "the Eternal, Bliss, the Self and the Pure."^[15] The Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra explains:

Edward Conze connotatively links the term tathagata itself (the designation which the Buddha applied to himself) with the notion of a real, true self:

It is possible, states Johannes Bronkhorst, that "original Buddhism did not deny the existence of the soul [Ātman, Attan]", even though a firm Buddhist tradition has maintained that the Buddha avoided talking about the soul or even denied it existence.^[17] While there may be ambivalence on the existence or non-existence of self in early Buddhist literature, adds Bronkhorst, it is clear from these texts that seeking self-knowledge is not the Buddhist path for liberation, and turning away from self-knowledge is.^[18] This is a reverse position to the Vedic traditions which recognized the knowledge of the self as "the principal means to achieving liberation".^[18]

"Self" as a teaching method

According to Paul Wiliams, the Mahaparinirvana Sutra uses the term "Self" in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics. He quotes from the sutra:{{sfn|Williams|1989|p=100}}

In the later Lankāvatāra Sūtra it is said that the tathāgatagarbha might be mistaken for a self, which it is not.^[20]

Ratnagotravibhāga

The Ratnagotravibhāga (also known as Uttaratantra), another text composed in the first half of 1st millennium CE and translated into Chinese in 511 CE, points out that the teaching of the Tathagatagarbha doctrine is intended to win sentient beings over to abandoning "self-love" (atma-sneha) – considered to be one of the defects by Buddhism.{{sfn|Williams|1989|p=109-112}}^[21] The 6th-century Chinese Tathagatagarbha translation states that "Buddha has shiwo (True Self) which is beyond being and nonbeing".{{sfn|Williams|1989|p=102}} However, the Ratnagotravibhāga asserts that the "Self" implied in Tathagatagarbha doctrine is actually "not-Self".{{sfn|Williams|1989|p=112}}^[22]

Current disputes

The dispute about "self" and "not-self" doctrines has continued throughout the history of Buddhism.^[23] In Thai Theravada Buddhism, for example, states Paul Williams, some modern-era Buddhist scholars have claimed that "nirvana is indeed the true Self", while other Thai Buddhists disagree.{{sfn|Williams|2008|pp=125–7}}

For instance, the Dhammakaya Movement in Thailand teaches that it is erroneous to subsume nirvana under the rubric of anatta (non-self); instead, nirvana is taught to be the "true self" or dhammakaya.{{sfn|Mackenzie|2007|pp=100–5, 110}} The Dhammakaya Movement teaching that nirvana is atta, or true self, was criticized as heretical in Buddhism in 1994 by Ven. Payutto, a well-known scholar monk, who stated that 'Buddha taught nibbana as being non-self".{{sfn|Mackenzie|2007|p=51}}{{Sfn|Williams|2008|p=127-128}} The abbot of one major temple in the Dhammakaya Movement, Luang Por Sermchai of Wat Luang Por Sodh Dhammakayaram, argues that it tends to be scholars who hold the view of absolute non-self, rather than Buddhist meditation practitioners. He points to the experiences of prominent forest hermit monks to support the notion of a "true self".{{Sfn|Williams|2008|p=127-128}} Similar interpretations on the "true self" were put forth earlier by the 12th Supreme Patriarch of Thailand in 1939. According to Williams, the Supreme Patriarch's interpretation echoes the tathāgatagarbha sutras.{{sfn|Williams|2008|p=126}} According to Mackenzie, this dispute has led to attacks and threats by some Dhammakaya supporters, resulting in arrest warrants.{{sfn|Mackenzie|2007|p=51–2}}

Several notable teachers of the Thai Forest Tradition have also described ideas in contrast to absolute non-self. Ajahn Maha Bua, a well known meditation master, described the citta (mind) as being an indestructible reality that does not fall under anattā.^[24] He has stated that not-self is merely a perception that is used to pry one away from infatuation with the concept of a self, and that once this infatuation is gone the idea of not-self must be dropped as well.^[25] American monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu of the Thai Forest Tradition describes the Buddha's statements on non-self as a path to awakening rather than a universal truth.^[26] Thanissaro Bhikkhu states that the Buddha intentionally set the question of whether or not there is a self aside as a useless question, and that clinging to the idea that there is no self at all would actually prevent enlightenment.^[27]

Scholars Alexander Wynne and Rupert Gethin also take a similar position as Thanissaro Bhikkhu, arguing that the Buddha's description of non-self in the five aggregates does not necessarily mean there is no self, stating that the five aggregates are not descriptions of a human being but phenomena for one to observe. Wynne argues that the Buddha's statements on anattā are a "not-self" teaching rather than a "no-self" teaching.^[28]

Thanissaro Bhikkhu points to the Ananda Sutta, where the Buddha stays silent when asked whether there is a 'self' or not,^[29] as a major cause of the dispute.^[30]

See also

Notes

1. ^{{cite book|author1=Thomas William Rhys Davids|author2=William Stede|title=Pali-English Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Guw2CnxiucC&pg=PA94|year=1921|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1144-7|page=22}}
2. ^John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120801585}}, page 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".
3. ^[a] Anatta {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210185046/http://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta |date=2015-12-10 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman (“the self”).";
[b] Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-2217-5}}, page 64; Quote: "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence.";
[c] Dae-Sook Suh (1994), Korean Studies: New Pacific Currents, University of Hawaii Press, {{ISBN|978-0824815981}}, page 171;
[d] Katie Javanaud (2013), [https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana Is The Buddhist ‘No-Self’ Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206211126/https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana |date=2015-02-06 }}, Philosophy Now;
[e] David Loy (1982), Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?, International Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 23, Issue 1, pages 65-74;
[f] KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, {{ISBN|978-8120806191}}, pages 246-249, from note 385 onwards;
[g] Bruno Nagel (2000), Roy Perrett (editor), Philosophy of Religion: Indian Philosophy, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0815336112}}, page 33
4. ^{{Cite web |url=http://www.yourdictionary.com/atman |title=atman: definition, usage and pronunciation - YourDictionary.com |access-date=2007-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111041610/http://www.yourdictionary.com/atman |archive-date=2007-11-11 |dead-url=no |df= }}
5. ^Atman {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062023/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=atman |date=2016-03-04 }} Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper (2012)
6. ^{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|page=4}}
7. ^{{cite book|author1=Thomas William Rhys Davids|author2=William Stede |title=Pali-English Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Guw2CnxiucC |year=1921 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1144-7|pages=22-23, 305, 503}}
8. ^{{cite book|author1=Thomas William Rhys Davids|author2=William Stede |title=Pali-English Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Guw2CnxiucC |year=1921 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1144-7|pages=23, 284 (Jiva), 369, 503}}
9. ^{{cite book|author=Charles Johnston|title=The Mukhya Upanishads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZUBBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA706|year=2014|publisher=Kshetra Books (Reprint), Original: OUP (1931) |isbn=978-1-4959-4653-0|pages=706–717}}
10. ^[a] {{cite book|author=Michael Daniels|editor=Harris L. Friedman|others=Glenn Hartelius|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfBvAAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-59131-4|page=26}}, Quote: "In working with the higher consciousness, and in learning to understand one's higher nature and purpose, Assagioli (1991, 1993) believes that a person contacts and expresses the Higher Self (Transpersonal Self or Spiritual Self) equivalent to the Atman (universal Self or Soul of the Hindu Upanishads).";
[b] {{cite book|author=Eugene F. Gorski|title=Theology of Religions: A Sourcebook for Interreligious Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NE9wnQlcC7wC|year=2008|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=978-0-8091-4533-1|page=90}};
[c] {{cite book|author=Forrest E. Baird|title=Classics of Asian Thought|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=alUwAAAAYAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall|isbn=978-0-13-352329-4|page=6}}
11. ^{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78336-4|page=1-2, 34-40, 224-225}}
12. ^Kevin Trainor, Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 207
13. ^Jamie Hubbard, Absolute Delusion, Perfect Buddhahood, University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu, 2001, pp. 99-100
14. ^{{cite book|author=Merv Fowler|title=Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A7UKjtA0QDwC|year=1999|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=978-1-898723-66-0|pages=101–102}}, Quote: "Some texts of the tathagatagarbha literature, such as the Mahaparinirvana Sutra actually refer to an atman, though other texts are careful to avoid the term. This would be in direct opposition to the general teachings of Buddhism on anatta. Indeed, the distinctions between the general Indian concept of atman and the popular Buddhist concept of Buddha-nature are often blurred to the point that writers consider them to be synonymous."
15. ^Dr. Kosho Yamamoto, Mahayanism: A Critical Exposition of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Karinbunko, Ube City, Japan, 1975, pp. 141, 142
16. ^Edward Conze, The Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1994, p. xix
17. ^{{cite book|author= Johannes Bronkhorst|title= The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AZbZDP8MRJoC|year=1993|publisher= Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1114-0 |pages=99 with footnote 12 }}
18. ^¹{{cite book|author= Johannes Bronkhorst|title= Buddhist Teaching in India|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fjU6AwAAQBAJ|year=2009|publisher=Wisdom Publications |isbn= 978-0-86171-811-5|pages= 25}}
19. ^Youru Wang, Linguistic Strategies in Daoist Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism: The Other Way of Speaking. Routledge, 2003, page 58.
20. ^Peter Harvey, Consciousness Mysticism in the Discourses of the Buddha. In Karel Werner, ed., The Yogi and the Mystic. Curzon Press 1989, page 98.
21. ^{{cite book|author= Christopher Bartley|title= An Introduction to Indian Philosophy: Hindu and Buddhist Ideas from Original Sources|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c3D5CQAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher= Bloomsbury Academic|isbn= 978-1-4725-2437-9|pages= 105}}
22. ^{{cite book|author=S. K. Hookham|title=The Buddha Within: Tathagatagarbha Doctrine According to the Shentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JqLa4xWot-YC&pg=PA96|year=1991|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-0357-0|page=96}}
23. ^{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FkXJVKnjw3kC|title=Nibbāna as True Reality beyond the Debate|author=Potprecha Cholvijarn|publisher=Wat Luang Phor Sodh|isbn=978-974-350-263-7|page=45}}
24. ^pp. 101–103 Maha Boowa, Arahattamagga, Arahattaphala: the Path to Arahantship – A Compilation of Venerable Acariya Maha Boowa’s Dhamma Talks about His Path of Practice, translated by Bhikkhu Silaratano, 2005, http://www.forestdhammabooks.com/book/3/Arahattamagga.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327073822/http://www.forestdhammabooks.com/book/3/Arahattamagga.pdf |date=2009-03-27 }} (consulted 16 March 2009)
25. ^{{Citation|last=UWE STOES|title=Thanassaro Bhikkhu|date=2015-04-22|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S40nS_0R9Y&t=4545s|accessdate=2017-09-30}}
26. ^"Selves & Not-self: The Buddhist Teaching on Anatta", by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/selvesnotself.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204143026/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/selvesnotself.html |date=2013-02-04 }}
27. ^{{Cite news|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/there-no-self/|title="There is no self."|last=Bhikkhu|first=Thanissaro|work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review|access-date=2018-08-19|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819114904/https://tricycle.org/magazine/there-no-self/|archive-date=2018-08-19|dead-url=no|df=}}
28. ^{{Cite journal|last=Wynne|first=Alexander|date=2009|title=Early Evidence for the ‘no self’ doctrine?|url=http://ocbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/awynne2009atijbs.pdf|journal=Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies|volume=|pages=63–64|access-date=2017-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602145336/http://ocbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/awynne2009atijbs.pdf|archive-date=2017-06-02|dead-url=no|df=}}
29. ^{{Cite web|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.010.than.html|title=Ananda Sutta: To Ananda|website=www.accesstoinsight.org|language=en|access-date=2017-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510092025/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.010.than.html|archive-date=2017-05-10|dead-url=no|df=}}
30. ^{{Cite web|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.intro.than.html|title=Introduction to the Avyakata Samyutta: (Undeclared-connected)|website=www.accesstoinsight.org|language=en|access-date=2017-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508212946/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn44/sn44.intro.than.html|archive-date=2017-05-08|dead-url=no|df=}}