The History of Buddhist Thought c16.49

c16.49

This sutta appears to be a still later formulation of the argument against the ātman doctrine. Here the heresy usually stated as “the world and self are eternal” is converted into the doctrine that the world is the self and that both are eternal. There may be here some reference to upanishadic doctrine, though it is still not the identity of self and Brahma. The strongly polemical passages in which Buddha is made to defend himself against the falsehoods and misrepresentations of opponents appear like the wrangling of schools. The whole standpoint is different from that of the discussions in the Dīgha. There it is not the question of the existence of an ātman, but of its eternity or annihilation; here the doctrine of the assertion of an ātman is denied.