It is the vague feeling ‘I AM’ that creates the idea of self which has no corresponding reality, and to see this truth is to realize Nirvāṇa, which is not very easy. In the Saṃyutta-nikāya there is an enlightening conversation on this point between a bhikkhu named Khemaka and a group of bhikkhus.

These bhikkhus ask Khemaka whether he sees in the Five Aggregates any self or anything pertaining to a self. Khemaka replies ‘No.’ Then the bhikkhus say that, if so, he should be an Arahant free from all impurities. But Khemaka confesses that though he does not find in the Five Aggregates a self, or anything pertaining to a self, ‘I am not an Arahant free from all impurities. O friends, with regard to the Five Aggregates of Attachment, I have a feeling “I AM,” but I do not clearly see “This is I AM”.’ Then Khemaka explains that what he calls ‘I AM’ is neither matter, sensation, perception, mental formations, nor consciousness, nor anything without them. But he has the feeling ‘I AM’ with regard to the Five Aggregates, though he could not see clearly ‘This is I AM.’

He says it is like the smell of a flower: it is neither the smell of the petals, nor of the color, nor of the pollen, but the smell of the flower.

Khemaka further explains that even a person who has attained the early stages of realization still retains this feeling ‘I AM.’ But later on, when he progresses further, this feeling of ‘I AM’ altogether disappears, just as the chemical smell of a freshly washed cloth disappears after a time when it is kept in a box.

This discussion was so useful and enlightening to them that at the end of it, the text says, all of them, including Khemaka himself, became Arahants free from all impurities, thus finally getting rid of ‘I AM.’

Before we go into the question of [No Soul] proper, it is useful to have a brief idea of the Conditioned Genesis. The principle of this doctrine is given in a short formula of four lines:

When this is, that is (Imasmip sali idap hoti) ;
This arising, that arises (Imassuppādā idaṃ uppajjati);
When this is not, that is not (Imasmiṃ asati idaṃ na hoti);
This ceasing, that ceases (Imassa nirodhā idaṃ nirujjhati).

On this principle of conditionality, relativity and interdependence, the whole existence and continuity of life and its cessation are explained in a detailed formula which is called Paṭicca-samuppāda ‘Conditioned Genesis,’ consisting of twelve factors:

1. Through ignorance are conditioned volitional actions or karma-formations (Avijjāpaccayā saṃkhārā).
2. Through volitional actions is conditioned consciousness (Saṃkhārapaccayā viññāṇaṃ).
3. Through consciousness are conditioned mental and physical phenomena (Viññāṇapaccayā nāmarūpaṃ).
4. Through mental and physical phenomena are conditioned the six faculties (i.e., five physical sense-organs and mind) (Nāmarūpapaccaya satāyatanaṃ).
5. Through the six faculties is conditioned (sensorial and mental) contact (Saḷāyatanapaccayā phasso).
6. Through (sensorial and mental) contact is conditioned sensation (Phassapaccayā vedanā).
7. Through sensation is conditioned desire, ‘thirst’ (Vedanāpaccayā taṇhā).
8. Through desire (‘thirst’) is conditioned clinging (Taṇhāpaccayā upādānaṃ).
9. Through clinging is conditioned the process of becoming (Upādānapaccayā bhavo).
10. Through the process of becoming is conditioned birth (Bhavapaccayā jāti).
11. Through birth are conditioned
12. decay, death, lamentation, pain, etc. (Jātipaccayā jarāmaraṇaṃ).

This is how life arises, exists and continues. If we take this formula in its reverse order, we come to the cessation of the process:

Through the complete cessation of ignorance, volitional activities or karma-formations cease; through the cessation of volitional activities, consciousness ceases; through the cessation of birth, decay, death, sorrow, etc., cease.

It should be clearly remembered that each of these factors is conditioned (Paṭiccasamuppanna) as well as conditioning (paṭicca samuppāda). Therefore they are all relative, interdependent and interconnected, and nothing is absolute or independent; hence no first cause is accepted by Buddhism as we have seen earlier. Conditioned Genesis should be considered as a circle, and not as a chain.

What in general is suggested by Soul, Self, Ego, or to use the Sanskrit expression Ātman, is that in man there is a permanent, everlasting and absolute entity, which is the unchanging substance behind the changing phenomenal world. According to some religions, each individual has such a separate soul which is created by God, and which, finally after death, lives eternally either in hell or heaven, its destiny depending on the judgment of its creator. According to others, it goes through many lives till it is completely purified and becomes finally united with God or Brahman, Universal Soul or Atman, from which it originally emanated. This soul or self in man is the thinker of thoughts, feeler of sensations, and receiver of rewards and punishments for all its actions good and bad. Such a conception is called the idea of self.

Buddhism stands unique in the history of human thought in denying the existence of such a Soul, Self, or Atman. According to the teaching of the Buddha, the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding reality, and it produces harmful thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine,’ selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other defilements, impurities and problems. It is the source of all the troubles in the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to this false view can be traced all the evil in the world.