No Inner Core: An Introduction to the Doctrine of Anatta - BuddhaNet

soul, while leaving intact a psychological entity such
as an ego or self, then we are also mistaken.
The resolution of this dilemma lies in the fact that
we must deal with two levels of reality simultaneously,
the ultimate level and the conventional level. In the
absolute sense, the anattà doctrine denies any and all
psychological entities or agents inside the person. In
the absolute sense, all phenomena, including what is
called a person, are composed of elements, forces, and
a stream of successive states. The Buddha organized
these phenomena into conceptual groups, known as
khandhas (aggregates), and they are: (1) material processes,
also known as bodily form, corporeality or
matter; (2) feeling; (3) perception; (4) mental formations;
and (5) consciousness. Most importantly, when
all mental and physical phenomena are analyzed into
those elements, no residual entity, such as a soul, self,
or ego, can be found. In short, there are actions executed
by these groups, but no actor. The workings of these
groups of forces and elements appear to us as an ego
or personality, but in reality, the ego or self or agent of
the actions has only an illusory existence.
However, on the conventional level, the workings
of these forces, elements, and states are organized by
causal laws, and, although they in no way constitute
any extra-phenomenal self or soul, they do produce
a human individual, a person – if we want to call a
certain combination of material and mental processes
a person. This complex combination of material and
mental processes is dependent entirely on previous
processes, especially the continuity of kamma which is
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