Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c10.s2.2

v1.c10.s2.2

So he says that the characteristics, which the non-Buddhists, attribute to ātman, are not based on the actual conception of the form of ātman (na svarūpata ātmanamupalabhya). They do not understand the real basis of the notion of ātman; it is a mere term. Though they cannot establish anything, yet, out of fear, they recede from even the conventional truth and become entangled in pure conjectures, and being thus deluded, they conceive of an ātman and attribute to it some characteristics. Nāgārjuna then quotes a few verses giving his own idea of the ātman. He says: Just as on account of a mirror, an image, which is not real, is seen, so also on account of the skandhas, the notion of I-ness, which is unreal, arises.¹ As without a mirror, an image is not seen, so without the conglomeration of elements (skandhas), the notion of I-ness does not arise.²