Buddhism: 'If There Is No Self, What Is Reborn?'

"If there's no self, what is reborn?" It's confusing how to understand the traditional notion of rebirth in early Buddhism. In this video I'll look at both parts of the question: is there "no self" in Buddhism? What sort of "self" is there? And on a traditional understanding, what is reborn? Finally I'll turn to some of my own thoughts on the matter.

✅ Videos recommended:

✅ Suttas mentioned:

✅ Further resource:

❤️ Thanks to Patreon Patrons:
Aziz Rahman
John Oborne
Anonymous (3)
Scarlett Farrow
Jimmy Maa
Debbie Mattison Fine Art
Steve H.
Ron Peat
Carlos Gutierrez
Matthew Smith
JC
Shantha Wengappuli
Karma_CAC
Johan Thelander
Jorge Seguel
Christopher Apostolof
GailJM
Brett Merritt
David Bell
T Pham
VCR
Upayadhi
Andi and Erik
ATGuerrero686
Michael Scherrer
Michael Seefeld
khobe schofield
Alex Perdomo
Benji Forsyth
Blaze Way
Sonny Flink
Steve Marlor
Joy L Lee
Andrew Tom
Anthony Tucker
Karlee R
Ethan M
Billy in Singapore
Matthew G Mynttinen
Olivia Otter
Carl Lennartson
xiao mao
Jeff Harvey
Andrew Ingrouille
Kenneth Grandchamp
Doug Fonner
Rene Gariepy
Russell Needham
Smoggyrob
Mac Roja
Bernardo
Clémence Ortega Douville
Kwan Alex
Scott Johnston
Richard J Beninger
Daniel F.
Nathanael O. Arnquist
SaturnianMandala
Jacob Galea
Trin P
Letesa Isler
Dave Gorman
Dorien Izel
Robert Paterson
DunJing

00:00 Intro
01:36 First, is there “no self”?
04:33 What is the “self” in Buddhism?
08:06 Second, what is reborn?
08:36 The role of the “gandhabba”
13:46 Consciousness is impermanent
15:09 Answering the question
16:53 My personal take
17:47 It’s important to understand anyway

Note: as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon links are affiliate links where I will earn a very small commission on purchases you make, at no additional cost to you. This goes a tiny way towards defraying the costs of making these videos. Thank you!

[saralamuni]

One breath is one life... With each moment of thought, you are reborn in one of the six realms of existence.

[wiser.kinder.calmer.]

Yes this is often a question that comes up. A beautiful quote: "Form is the wave, Emptiness is the water." There is no-self means that the wave does not actually exist as a separate permanent independent entity but rather is co-exists with all of the ocean. The water and the wave inter-are. It is only because of our miss-understanding that we think of ourself as a wave, we have always been the sea. When we are "reborn" it is because we still have this miss-understanding, thinking we are a wave again. Only once we reach enlightenment we realize we have always been the water and thus we wont be born as a wave again, because we became the ocean.

[kingofelves]

I am a Ch'an Buddhist priest. The aggregate self you describe is not the true self. It is always changing and impermanent, and we often mistake that illusory self as the Self. That is what Buddhism means by there is no self. The self we perceive as being us doesn't exist. From a Ch'an perspective, we are all the Universe manifest, educating, entertaining & exploring itself. The true Self is on one hand the Universal consciousness, and on another hand beyond all conceptual understanding. That is what is reborn. The Universe continues manifesting life and consciousness after our limited consciousness and false identity are long gone. As Alan Watts so eloquently puts it, "Whenever someone dies, others are born, and they are all you."

[dukebanerjee]

The way I've heard it explained is that consciousness is like a flame, passed from one candle to another. The flame is originally ignited by causes and conditions, continues through causes and conditions and eventually gets snuffed out. That's literally what nirvana means, extinguished. The flame obviously exists, but is constantly changing, so it's not the "same" flame from one moment to the next. Real "Ship of Theseus" vibes.

[AarmOZ]

I love what Alan Watts taught about rebirth. My paraphrase is that life is like the waves in an ocean. We are each a wave that eventually crashes on the shore of a beach (death). New waves are forming out in the ocean (birth) that will also eventually reach the beach. Did the waves that crashed on a beach were necessary for the new waves to form out in the ocean? Yes. Are the waves that crash the same as the waves that newly formed? No. They are fundamentally different, yet they both are similar forms that are contingent upon one another. We couldn't be here and survive on the resources of this world without the effects of past generations who brought us into being. Everything is changing and contingent upon prior events.

[phlipperbrooks]

Once again ... a very insightful post. After 30+ years on the path I find myself still struggling to learn and understand at times. The way you explain the more complex tenants is unparalleled, in my humble experience. Gassho Sensei

[xiaomaozen]

Brilliant analysis. Or explanation. Or elaboration. Call it what you want - it's brilliant! 😁🙏

[brendondonoho]

I’m so happy to see that you’ve covered this! It’s a question I’ve asked many times since beginning my practice. Looking forward to hearing your explanation!

[hammersaw]

Beautiful teaching on this one Doug, happy to have found this channel. Just had this conversation yesterday, everyday we die and are reborn and its not that big of a deal as some have made it to be. It is the reason why there is no permanent self, since people are coming and going all the time. It's why true close friends until the grave are so rare, because people are always changing like dumping a bucket into a stream and trying to follow it.

[koboldx]

You explain these concepts so well! Helps me understand what I read in the sutras. Thank you so much.

[HossainSalahuddin]

Very clear explanation. 

What people often don't realise is that, to the Buddha, Vinnana (or consciousness) is one of the five aggregates that make the self – it’s a process, not a ‘thing’. Consciousness is always a consciousness ‘of’.

[excelsioresquire]

Dear Dough, Highly recommend your understanding of Buddhism.
Appreciate with Anumodhana❤

[johnraab]

Thank you for finally stating the teaching between “no self” and “not self”🙏

[MartinJutras]

It's not that there is no self, it's just that there is no permanent self. That's a big difference.

[NeedSomeNuance]

Hey Doug, thanks for this. I think questions on the self and reincarnation would be really good to discuss more in the future

[singularity-]

What is self? Is it in physical form or is it in spiritual form?

Is it because of Mind's holding element started to attach to external influences such as "Opinion, Lust, displease, anger, sadness, greed" and then form "ME" or "MY" over that emotions.

It's mind's holding element attaches on to the five aggregates that caused all the sufferings.

Elimination of mind's holding element is the Goal.

How?

In Dhammachuk sutta Aunyakotunya ( the first Buddhist monk) had enlightened himself by seeing the impermanent in one of the five aggregates " Anything that has a birth it will die naturally " while listening to the teaching of Buddha.

That's normally a starting path of ending the mind's holding element. Seeing the moment mind's let go of matters.

The holding element of mind will be eliminated totally or partially depends on the strength of one's own SATI.

Mind's ability to hold on to matters would no longer possible without it's holding element present.

Let alone to hold on to KARMA for reincarnation.

Observing one's own mind's behavior during the day might be able to see the ending part of the attachment.

Everything is moving starting from atomic level to earth, sun, solar system or milky Way Galaxy, black hole or even the whole universe.

Holding on to matters is an act against the nature itself. The longer the holdings the more frequent the holdings the more severe mental illness it can become.

That's my interpretation based on personal experienced.

[erasmus]

Thank you so much for this! I've been questioning this for a long time and you answered it perfectly.

[autodidacticasaurus]

It's amazing to see how much more confident you've become in newer videos. I'm glad you persisted this far. Also, it's awesome to see secular people take these things seriously. I think this is one of the first explanations I've seen that isn't just hand-waving. Sometimes you just really want to know what they meant and why they thought it made sense even if you don't buy it yourself! All the hand-waving doesn't do it justice.

[trickrunner]

The cells and atoms in the body are always changing being replaced. The illusion of permanence and the physical world may seem complex but it’s so simple it’s hard to understand

[ikkong]

Very interesting and most enlightening. Thanks Doug for a well researched analysis of Non-self and Rebirth in line with what is recorded in the Nikaya. Sadhu sadhu sadhu...🙏🙏🙏