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

somewhere else or in another form such a thing as a
horn of a rabbit? No. A horn of a rabbit is just a designation,
an abstraction, without any corresponding reality.
Similarly, Buddha often said, “This is not atta. That
is not atta. Nothing here is atta.” Does that indicate that
Buddha means that there exists somewhere something
that can be called atta? No.
I will conclude this section by explaining a very important
statement found in Patisambhidàmagga 54 and in
Majjhima Nikàya 55 : “Sabbe saïkhàrà aniccà; sabbe saïkhàrà
dukkhà (not in M.N.); sabbe dhammà anattà.” The first
sentence means, “All conditioned things are impermanent.”
The second means, “All conditioned things are
suffering.” The third sentence, however, is different.
Here, Buddha does not use the word saïkhàrà, but He
uses dhamma instead. Dhamma here means all things
without exception. So the third sentence means, “All
things, conditioned or unconditioned, are anattà, are
void of self and soul.” This means that even Nibbàna,
which is asaïkhata, unconditioned, is not atta or is void
of atta. This statement unequivocally denies atta of any
kind, even in Ultimate Truth and Enlightenment, even
in Nibbàna.
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