Anātman

Anatta , Anātman : The essentially Buddhist doctrine of non-ego. One of the ‘Three Signs of Being’ with Anicca and Dukkha. The doctrine of the non-separateness of all forms of life, and the opposite of that of an immortal and yet personal soul. As applied to man it states that there is no permanent ego or self in the five skandhas (q.v.) which make up the personality. The Buddha, however, nowhere denied the existence of an ego or soul, but taught that no permanent entity, not subject to Anicca and Dukkha, can be found in any of the human faculties. That which pertains to any human being is not immortal; that which is immortal and unchanging is not the possession of any one human being. The Reality behind the flux of Samsāra (q.v.) is an indivisible unity, and the separate possession of no part of it. (See Attavāda, Ego, Sakkāya.)