10 Facts About Anatta

Anatta is a composite Pali word consisting of an and atta.

Anatta is synonymous with Anatman in Sanskrit Buddhist texts.

In Buddhism-related English literature, Anatta is rendered as "not-Self", but this translation expresses an incomplete meaning, states Peter Harvey; a more complete rendering is "non-Self" because from its earliest days, Anatta doctrine denies that there is anything called a 'Self' in any person or anything else, and that a belief in 'Self' is a source of Dukkha.

Concept of Anatta appears in numerous Sutras of the ancient Buddhist Nikaya texts.

Anatta criticized the materialistic doctrine that denied the existence of both soul and rebirth, and thereby denied karmic moral responsibility, which he calls "natthikavada".

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Anatta doctrine is key to the concept of Nibbana in the Theravada tradition.

Anatta has stated that not-self is merely a perception that is used to pry one away from infatuation with the concept of a self, and that once this infatuation is gone the idea of not-self must be dropped as well.

Anatta adds that clinging to the idea that there is no self at all would actually prevent enlightenment.

Anatta further indicates that there is no evident interest found in this sutra in the idea of Emptiness.

Anatta symbolizes, states Miranda Shaw, that "self is an illusion" and "all beings and phenomenal appearances lack an abiding self or essence" in Vajrayana Buddhism.