Anatta/Anatmata–An Analysis of Buddhist Anti-Substantialist Crusade

DETAILS : 

• Author : Mangala R,Chinchore
  
• Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications
  
• Language: English
  
• ISBN : 9788170304555
  
• Hardcover : 196 Pages

ABOUT THE BOOK

Anatta/Anatmata–An Analysis of Buddhist Anti-Substantialist Crusade is an extraordinarily rigorous, high-level philosophical treatise written by the eminent scholar Dr. Mangala R. Chinchore. Published in 1995, this book provides an exhaustive analytical dissection of Anatta (Pali) or Anatmata (Sanskrit)—the core Buddhist doctrine of "Non-Self" or "No-Soul."

Rather than treating Anatmata as a mere passive religious dogma, Chinchore frames it as a radical, systematic, and dynamic "Anti-Substantialist Crusade." The book explores how early Buddhism waged an intellectual war against the dominant, "substantialist" Vedic and Upanisadic frameworks, which posited the existence of an eternal, unchanging soul (Atman) or an absolute cosmic essence (Brahman). Key philosophical pillars examined in the book include:

• The Critique of Substance: How Buddhism dismantles the notion of any permanent, underlying substance in the universe, asserting that everything is a flux of interconnected processes.
• Pratityasamutpada (Dependent Origination): Analyzing how the concept of Anatta logically relies on the law of cause and effect—things exist only in dependence on conditions, hence they lack inherent, independent existence.
• The Five Aggregates (Skandhas): A psychological breakdown of how the illusion of a permanent "I" or "Self" arises from the temporary coming together of form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness.
• Epistemological Implications: How this anti-substantialist stance redefines Buddhist logic, change, impermanence (Anicca), and the ultimate goal of liberation (Nirvana).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Mangala R. Chinchore (1953–2014) was a towering intellectual figure in contemporary Indian philosophy. She served as a Professor at the Department of Philosophy and was the Director of the Centre for Studies in Classical Indian Philosophy at the University of Pune.

Dr. Chinchore was globally respected for her uncompromisingly rigorous, analytical approach to Buddhist logic and epistemology (Pramanasastra). She belonged to a rare class of scholars who combined profound expertise in classical Sanskrit textual traditions with the sharp tools of modern Western logic. Her writing style is intensely academic, precise, and structurally dense, intended for serious students of metaphysics and philosophy. Over her illustrious career, she authored several landmark works, including Vadatraya, Dharmakirti's Theory of Hetu-Bindu, and Santana-Antara-Chinta, cementing her legacy as one of the definitive twentieth-century voices on Buddhist philosophical systems.