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

of objects and persons, and the interior world of ego
and self, are only conceptual constructs created by the
mind out of the elemental dhammas. Abhidhamma thus
restricts itself to terms that are valid from the standpoint
of ultimate realities: it describes reality in terms
of ultimate truth. Thus it describes dhammas, their
characteristics, their functions, and their relations. All
conceptual entities, such as self or being or person, are
resolved into their ultimates, into bare mental and
material phenomena, which are impermanent, conditioned,
dependently arisen, and empty of any abiding
self or substance. Consciousness, for example, which
seems like one continual flow, is described as a succession
of discrete evanescent mental events, the cittas,
and a complex set of mental factors, the cetasikas, which
perform more specialized tasks in the act of consciousness.
There is no self, soul, or any kind of agent inside
a person involved in this process. 2
Now let us examine some of the terms related to
atta that we find in various sources. The definition of
Soul, Spirit given in the Abingdon Dictionary of Living
Religions is as follows: “That which gives life to any
animate thing; or the inner, essential, or noncorporeal
part or dimension of any animate thing; or a noncorporeal
but animate substance or entity; or a noncorporeal
but individuated personal being.” 3
Another definition of soul comes from Richard
Kennedy in The International Dictionary of Religion:
“Many religions teach that man is composed of a physical
body, which does not survive death, and an eternal,
invisible core which is the true self or soul.” 4
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