The Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta (SN 22.59) was the Buddha’s second discourse. It was given at the Deer Park at Isipatana, near Bārāṇasī, to the same group of five monks who had heard the first sermon a few days earlier. That first teaching had set out the Four Noble Truths. This second one turns to a question that lies at the heart of the path: what, if anything, in our experience can truly be called “me” or “my self”? Its answer is the characteristic of anattā — not-self — one of the three marks of existence.
The five aggregates
The Buddha analyses a person into five aggregates (khandhas): form or the body (rūpa), feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā), mental formations (saṅkhārā) and consciousness (viññāṇa). Together these make up everything we usually take to be a person. You can read more about each one in our article on the five aggregates. The sutta takes them one at a time and examines each with the same calm, careful questions.
The argument from lack of control
The discourse opens with a simple but striking line of reasoning:
Rūpaṃ, bhikkhave, anattā. Rūpañca hidaṃ, bhikkhave, attā abhavissa, nayidaṃ rūpaṃ ābādhāya saṃvatteyya, labbhetha ca rūpe: ‘evaṃ me rūpaṃ hotu, evaṃ me rūpaṃ mā ahosī’ti.
Monks, form is not self. If form were self, it would not lead to affliction, and one could say of form, “Let my form be like this; let my form not be like that.” — SN 22.59
Because the body does fall ill, age and change in ways we never chose, and because we cannot simply order it to be as we wish, it does not meet the test of a self that is truly ours and under our command. The Buddha then applies exactly the same reasoning to feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness. We cannot decide to feel only pleasant feelings, to perceive only what we like, or to have only the thoughts we want. Each aggregate arises according to conditions, not according to our orders.
Impermanent, unsatisfactory, not-self
Next comes a short dialogue, in the form of questions and answers, which has been chanted in monasteries ever since. The Buddha asks: is form permanent or impermanent? “Impermanent, venerable sir.” Is what is impermanent satisfying or unsatisfying? “Unsatisfying.” Is it fitting to regard what is impermanent, unsatisfying and subject to change in this way: “This is mine, this I am, this is my self”? “No, venerable sir.” The same three questions are asked of each aggregate in turn.
Here we see how the three marks fit together. Impermanence (anicca) leads to unsatisfactoriness (dukkha), and both point to not-self (anattā). The Buddha then gives the right way of seeing every aggregate, whether past, future or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near:
Netaṃ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā.
This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.
Disenchantment and freedom
Seeing this with right wisdom, the Buddha says, the well-taught noble disciple becomes disenchanted (nibbidā) with the aggregates. Through disenchantment the mind becomes dispassionate (virāga); through dispassion it is liberated; and when it is liberated there is the knowledge that it is liberated. The sutta records that while this discourse was being spoken, the minds of the five monks were freed from the taints without clinging. At that moment, the text says, there were six arahants in the world: the Buddha and his first five disciples.
It is worth noticing what the Buddha does not say. He does not declare “there is no self” as a theory to be believed. He shows, aggregate by aggregate, that nothing we can actually find in experience is fit to be grasped as a self. The teaching is a practical tool for letting go, not a philosophical position to argue about.
Common misunderstandings
- “Not-self means I don’t matter.” Not at all. The Buddha still taught kindness, responsibility and the results of our actions. Kamma continues as a process even without a fixed self behind it.
- “I should push my feelings away because they are not me.” Seeing feelings as not-self means letting them come and go without ownership — not suppressing them.
- “This is just an idea to agree with.” Intellectual agreement helps, but the sutta’s fruit comes from seeing directly, in meditation and daily life, how each aggregate changes.
Bringing it into practice
- Sit quietly and notice the body: sensations of pressure, warmth and breathing. See that they change by themselves.
- Notice feeling: is this moment pleasant, painful or neutral? Watch how it shifts without your permission.
- Notice a thought or memory as it appears. Ask gently, “Did I choose this? Can I keep it?”
- When something is clearly changing and outside your control, quietly reflect: “This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.”
- Return to the breath and rest, letting the reflection settle rather than forcing a conclusion.
Over time this contemplation tends to bring a surprising lightness. Much of our stress comes from trying to own and control what cannot be owned or controlled. When we see this, the grip relaxes by itself.
Reflection: notice a feeling as it arises and passes. Did you choose it? Could you keep it? What happens in the mind when you stop claiming it as “mine”?
