Expert: John Willemsens aka Advayavadananda - 4/1/2011

Question
Beste John Willemsen

One question i would like to ask directly:

The claim by expert "Numenius" on this forum is that the negation "This is not my soul" and the lists of negations in Buddhist scripture affirm the existence of a soul. That is DISTINCT from all sorts of aggregates.

He furthermore claims that an abundance of Buddhist texts in the Nikayas affirm the existance of a soul (Nicca).

Could you please comment on these statements.

Best regards,

Ed Rothfusz, The Netherlands.

Answer
Dear Ed,
As you know, I speak only for Advayavada Buddhism. The position of Advayavada Buddhism on the subject of anatmata is explained on our website. There is a PicoSearch device at the bottom of each page and you might want to search for passages with the word 'soul', 'rebirth', etc.
A Dutch expert on the Nikayas is Prof. Dr. Rob H.C.Janssen and you might try to contact him through the BUN, BOS or Vrienden van het Boeddhisme, which you can find on the internet.
There is, by the way, quite a lot about so-called Nikaya Buddhism on the internet.
It is a very interesting subject.
Kind regards,
Advayavadananda.
@advayavada