When it comes to Hinduism and Buddhism, the terms atman and anatman have very significant meanings. In Hinduism, the main religious goal is to attain moksha – the release from the cycle of rebirth. In Buddhism, the goal is to reach enlightenment – the state of being fully “awakened”. But before these goals are attainable, the concepts of atman and anatman must be fully understood. However, these terms do not mean the same thing in both religions. In Hinduism, atman is a Sanskrit word meaning inner self or soul. In Buddhism, the term holds the same meaning, but they believe that atman doesn’t exist; there is no “self”. The term anatman has different meanings in both religions. In Hinduism, it’s defined as not spiritual, being used in Advaita …show more content…
Unlike Buddhism, the Hindu tradition believes that there’s atman in every being. The earliest use of the term in Indian texts is found in the Rig Veda. An ancient Indian grammarian, Yaska, described atman as, “the pervading principle, the organism in which other elements are united and the ultimate sentient principle.” In all of the Upanishads, atman is the central idea. They say that at the core of every person’s self isn’t the body, mind, or ego, but atman. It’s what one is at the deepest level of their existence. Adversely, in Buddhism, atman has the same meaning as in Hinduism, but they believe that it doesn’t exist; there is no soul. The Buddha argued that no permanent, unchanging “self” can be found. All conditioned phenomena are subject to change, and therefore can’t be taken to be an unchanging …show more content…
In Advaita Vedanta, the oldest extant sub-school of Vedanta, anatman is used to indicate samsara – the repeating cycle of birth, life, and death (reincarnation) as well as one’s actions and consequences in the past, present, and future. In Buddhism, anatman is the perception of “not-self”, which along with the perception of dukkha and impermanence is formally classified among the three marks of existence. There are three aspects to the concept of anatman: 1) lack of an essence, 2) impermanence, and 3) interdependence on individuals and things. The idea that selves do not have an essence is based upon the belief on the existence of the five constituents: the body, consciousness, karmic activities, feelings, and perception. The combination of these five constituents creates who we are: no one part can represent us. Therefore, Buddhists argue that there is no single essence, which leads them to believe that there can be no self. Impermanence, the second belief, implies that everything changes and that nothing stays the same. This is a critical concept in Buddhist philosophy. If nothing stays the same, then there can be no permanent or constant self. We change with each experience, and with each moment we are alive. Therefore, we are different self every minute of our lives and the concept "self" becomes irrelevant. Finally, Buddhism also strongly stresses the idea of interdependence, that’s the notion that everything