Does soul exist? <---- Useless question to ask!

Buddhists, while they believe firmly in re-birth, at the same time insist that the soul does not exist – anatta* (no atta – no soul) as they declare!

Buddhist idea of life and  re-birth

Buddhism considers everything as momentary – anicca*.  So there cannot be anything like soul that is eternal. According to them, only things that exist (momentarily) are body and mind. It is the mind that replicates itself in a new body when re-birth takes place. There is no soul that migrates. (read my book Important missing dimensions in our current understanding of the Mind for details)

But interestingly, Buddha who was so concerned with miseries of humans, and elimination of miseries, never categorically denied the existence of soul. He merely kept talking about what is ‘not soul’ – “body is not soul”, “mind is not soul”, “feeling is not soul”, and so on. But never said what soul is. According to Buddha, asking the question “does soul exist?” is not only useless but can derail a person from his quest to freedom from miseries. So, better focus on liberation and not on useless questions ;-)

But, liberation for whom? That is the question which begs for an answer. 

Ancient Sänkhya philosophers mocked at the conclusion that soul does not exist. For them it is an illogical inference. We will see that next.

* Pali word

 

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