Note 74 — Chapter VII · THE THEORY OF NON-ATMAN OR NON-EGO.

In the Surangama Sutra[74], Buddha exposes the absurdity of the hypothesis of an individual concrete soul-substance by subverting Ândanda’s seven successive attempts to determine its whereabouts. Most people who firmly believe in personal immortality, will see how vague and chimerical and logically untenable is their notion of the soul, when it is critically examined as in the following case. Ânanda’s conception of the soul is somewhat puerile, but I doubt whether even in our enlightened age the belief entertained by the multitude is any better than his.