བདག་མེད་པ། | Glossary of Terms

The Buddhist view that there is no self in persons or phenomena that exists independently of the five psycho-physical aggregates.

This describes actual reality, as finally there is no enduring person himself or thing itself, since persons and things exist only in the relative, conventional, or superficial sense, and not in any ultimate or absolute sense. To understand Buddhist teaching correctly, we must be clear about the two senses (conventional/ultimate, or relative/absolute), since mistaking denial of ultimate self as denial of conventional self leads to nihilism, and mistaking affirmation of conventional self as affirmation of ultimate self leads to absolutism. Nihilism and absolutism effectively prevent us from realizing our enlightenment, hence are to be avoided.

The absence of any enduring, singular, or independent essence in individuals or phenomena.

The view that there is no inherently existent self, whether dependent on or independent of the five aggregates. Also translated here as “absence of self.”

Selflessness denotes the lack of inherent existence in self-identity and also, more subtly, in all physical and mental phenomena.

Selflessness denotes the lack of inherent existence in persons and also, more subtly, in all physical and mental phenomena. Also translated here as “nonself.”