The Atman-Brahman in Ancient Buddhism Motilal Banarsidass 3 The Mysterious Epoch of

3 The Mysterious Epoch of 3102 B

much to the detriment of his own interests

His most recent book is India s Agony Over Religion (State University of New York Press

and to whom much thanks are due

with which this book commences

The Atman-Brahman in Ancient Buddhism Motilal Banarsidass 3 The Mysterious Epoch ofThe thesis of this book is epoch making. While no one doubts that the Buddha denied the atman, the self, the question is: Which atman? Buddhism, as understood in the modern era, has taken this to be the universal atman taught in the Hindu Upanisads, equivalent to Brahman. However, what we find in the Buddha's words as recorded in the Buddhist scriptures is only a denial of any permanent self in the ever changing aggregates that form a person. In