Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism

I think that some of the other reviewers of this book demonstrate how attachment to the concept of "self" or "soul" can lead to suffering. Smile, you're "you" is just an idea :)

Steven Collins' `Selfless Persons' has changed the way I look at the Theravada tradition. He is one of the few non-Buddhist scholars critically approaching the Canon and uncovering hidden presumptions and `unmasking' Buddhist specific rhetoric (the subtitle is `Imagery and thought in Theravada Buddhism.) For instance, Collins writes (p. 77) about the anatta-doctrine that `one might well describe it, [... ], as a linguistic taboo in technical discourse.' Such statements are rare in Buddhological scholarly works and illustrate the critical distance scholars as Collins can and need to take from the material. The texts are quite dense, but it is an Aha!-Erlebnis to come to the insights Collins provides us. A lot of Buddhist will find the book 'blasphemic' because of it's sober approach, but it's incontestable that it has paved a new way for critical analysis of the Canon. The book was presented as a doctoral thesis and it was a good idea indeed to publish it. I wished more of such works were published.

Despite Buddhism's own tradition of anatta and "emptiness" and despite the traditions of its sibling systems which have always deemed it "nairatmavad", numerous scholars have continued to look for an ineffable , "atman-like", "Brahman-like" thing in its ancient traditions. This work demonstrates amply the futility of all such endeavours. This book is essential for someone who wishes to tackle one of the most the subtle and substantive issues in the remarkable tradition of Buddhist thought.

Now a classic in Theravada Buddhist studies, Collins' work bridges many gaps: between the sociology of religion and traditional philological scholarship, and most importantly between the sometimes obscure world of Indology and the larger world of the History of Ideas.