thoughts
Non-self is a core concept within Siddhartha's logic in relation to impermanence. Often this is viewed from a secular level as strong evidence of the absence of a supernatural soul. I do believe that I have read that when Siddhartha was questioned on the topic of 'Atta' and 'Anatta' (self and non-self) he simply replied that all he was trying to teach and share was the practice of meditation and his noble eight-fold path. His response I've read was that each and every one of us was to journey through life and decide upon the choice of self or non-self on our own.
I think that Siddhartha came from the Brahman tradition. There is the absolute Brahma which is the creator deity of all things. In Brahmanism there is the belief of a soul or Atman.
Being raised a Christian and starting my life with a very strong introduction to life as a trial in which we must earn the saving grace of Jesus Christ to ensure our soul (self) isn't cast into the torments of the afterlife called hell.
I've personally had many different periods of time in which I certainly did not want to continue living. These periods of time caused me to certainly question and eventually dismiss such concerns with a nonphysical supernatural soul that I was raised in believing in. It was through despair, loneliness, longing, and sadness that I arrived at a loss of concern and faith over such the topic of a soul (self). I often thought that the concept within Buddhism of Anatman claimed that there was not a soul. This seems to instantly contradict Siddhartha's rejection of answering questions upon Atta or Anatta. There is another teaching that Siddhartha taught that is of impermanence being a principal of life.
Things in life are always moving through time and within this process there is growth and decay. Because in moving through time, physical things must experience growth and decay, nothing physical that we interact with in time can then be said to possess a permanent physical state within the flow of time. This concept of impermanence seems to immediately support the idea of Anatman (or no permanent soul). But now I ask you to consider the sacrificial selfless act of Jesus Christ, and how he chose to defy the threats of death by claiming he was the son of God.
The very claim of made without even the attempt to provide evidence of such a thing. This claim was creating a massive threat to power dynamics. He was gaining a fair amount of social support and followers that seemed to be advocating a more gentle, selfless, and more charitable moral character for the people to follow and practice in daily life. This was at a point in time in which pleasurable goals and profits were the dominating way of life.
But what about applying the selfless sacrificial way of Christ to a Buddhist way of life? Isn't the application of selflessness very important in practicing mindful meditation? The way of life in a goal oriented egotistical manner seems to be entirely focused upon the realization of a eventually self by striving and reaching for the goals and dreams through physical trials and tribulations in time. In refining and solidifying this mentality throughout time of building a beautiful egotistical mentality that one can be proud of, applying the concept of impermanence to such a way of thought through mindful meditation, leads one back to the realization of non-self (Anatman).
Life is founded on the absolute truth of both self and non-self! Christ was not the only son of God! That is the entire point! We are all Children of God until we choose not to be! That was all that Jesus Christ may have been stubborn about! Maybe he was just a man that saw that things needed to change and one of his ways of changing things was by not knowing who his father was and whenever people asked him who it was his response was that God was his father, just like he his mine and he is yours. God is the omnipotent deity of the past present and future. Brahma seems to be the same word as God just different cultures from a different people in different points of time. Languages are not the only roads to saving grace or liberation! Emotions and concepts are also a very important part of being human. There is also many different paths to God/Moksha/Liberation/Holy Spirit/ect. Trust is a very important thing to work on for your entire life! Trust is definitely not easy at all. Being fearless is very related to trusting in God and fate with all your heart, but also being fearless can be someone who has lost all attachment to caring about others and effects. To care about others is a very important thing that Christ taught. The road of caring can be a very wonderful yet also treacherous. Because of this, caring in one way may not be the only way that everyone ought to reflect in their character.
周培森