1Then the wanderer Vacchagotta approached the Blessed One … and said to him:

"How is it now, Master Gotama, is there a self?"

When this was said, the Blessed One was silent.

"Then, Master Gotama, is there no self?"

A second time the Blessed One was silent.

Then the wanderer Vacchagotta rose from his seat and departed.

2Then, not long after the wanderer Vacchagotta had left, the Venerable Ānanda said to the Blessed One: "Why is it, venerable sir, that when the Blessed One was questioned by the wanderer Vacchagotta, he did not answer?"

"If, Ānanda, when I was asked by the wanderer Vacchagotta, ‘Is there a self?’ I had answered, ‘There is a self,’ this would have been siding with [n.383] Here and below I read saddhiṁ, with Be and Ee, as against laddhi in Se. Spk glosses: tesaṁ laddhiyā saddhiṁ etaṁ abhavissa. To my knowledge laddhi, in the sense of belief, is a term of later usage, and it may have been incorporated into Se via a misunderstanding of the commentary. those ascetics and brahmins who are eternalists. And if, when I was asked by him, ‘Is there no self?’ I had answered, ‘There is no self,’ sn.iv.401 this would have been siding with those ascetics and brahmins who are annihilationists.

"If, Ānanda, when I was asked by the wanderer Vacchagotta, ‘Is there a self?’ I had answered, ‘There is a self,’ would this have been consistent on my part with the arising of the knowledge that ‘all phenomena are nonself’?" [n.384] I read ñāṇassa uppādāya, with Be and Se, as against ñāṇassa upādāya in Ee. Spk: "As to the insight knowledge that arises thus, ‘All phenomena are nonself,’ would I have been consistent with that?"

"No, venerable sir."

"And if, when I was asked by him, ‘Is there no self?’ I had answered, ‘There is no self,’ the wanderer Vacchagotta, already confused, would have fallen into even greater confusion, thinking, ‘It seems that the self I formerly had does not exist now.’" [n.385] Probably this means that Vacchagotta would have interpreted the Buddha’s denial as a rejection of his empirical personality, which (on account of his inclination towards views of self) he would have been identifying as a self. We should carefully heed the two reasons the Buddha does not declare, "There is no self": not because he recognizes a transcendent self of some kind (as some interpreters allege), or because he is concerned only with delineating "a strategy of perception" devoid of ontological implications (as others hold), but (i) because such a mode of expression was used by the annihilationists, and the Buddha wanted to avoid aligning his teaching with theirs; and (ii) because he wished to avoid causing confusion in those already attached to the idea of self. The Buddha declares that "all phenomena are nonself" (sabbe dhammā anattā), which means that if one seeks a self anywhere one will not find one. Since "all phenomena" includes both the conditioned and the unconditioned, this precludes an utterly transcendent, ineffable self.

1Atha kho vacchagotto paribbājako yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavatā saddhiṁ sammodi. Sammodanīyaṁ kathaṁ sāraṇīyaṁ vītisāretvā ekamantaṁ nisīdi. Ekamantaṁ nisinno kho vacchagotto paribbājako bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:

"Kiṁ nu kho, bho gotama, atthattā"ti?

Evaṁ vutte, bhagavā tuṇhī ahosi.

"Kiṁ pana, bho gotama, natthattā"ti?

Dutiyampi kho bhagavā tuṇhī ahosi.

Atha kho vacchagotto paribbājako uṭṭhāyāsanā pakkāmi.

2Atha kho āyasmā ānando acirapakkante vacchagotte paribbājake bhagavantaṁ etadavoca: "Kiṁ nu kho, bhante, bhagavā vacchagottassa paribbājakassa pañhaṁ puṭṭho na byākāsī"ti?

"Ahañcānanda, vacchagottassa paribbājakassa ‘atthattā’ti puṭṭho samāno ‘atthattā’ti byākareyyaṁ, ye te, Ānanda, samaṇabrāhmaṇā sassatavādā tesametaṁ saddhiṁ abhavissa. Ahañcānanda, vacchagottassa paribbājakassa ‘natthattā’ti puṭṭho samāno ‘natthattā’ti byākareyyaṁ, ye te, Ānanda, samaṇabrāhmaṇā ucchedavādā tesametaṁ saddhiṁ abhavissa.

Ahañcānanda, vacchagottassa paribbājakassa ‘atthattā’ti puṭṭho samāno ‘atthattā’ti byākareyyaṁ, api nu me taṁ, Ānanda, anulomaṁ abhavissa ñāṇassa uppādāya: ‘sabbe dhammā anattā’"ti?

"No hetaṁ, bhante".

"Ahañcānanda, vacchagottassa paribbājakassa ‘natthattā’ti puṭṭho samāno ‘natthattā’ti byākareyyaṁ, sammūḷhassa, Ānanda, vacchagottassa paribbājakassa bhiyyo sammohāya abhavissa: ‘ahuvā me nūna pubbe attā, so etarahi natthī’"ti.

Dasamaṁ.