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Full Idea
There exists no individual, it is only a conventional name given to a set of elements.
Gist of Idea
Individuals don't exist, but are conventional names for sets of elements
Source
Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) (reports [c.540 BCE]), quoted by Derek Parfit - The Unimportance of Identity p.295
Book Ref
'Personal Identity', ed/tr. Martin,R /Barresi,J [Blackwells 2003], p.295
A Reaction
I take this to arise from an excessively spiritual concept of a human being, which faces Descartes' problem of how to individuate non-physical minds, when they have no clear boundaries. Combine dualism with a bundle theory, and you have Buddhism.
| 5517 | Individuals don't exist, but are conventional names for sets of elements [Buddha] |
| 7600 | The Buddha believed the gods would eventually disappear, and Nirvana was much higher [Buddha, by Armstrong,K] |
| 7601 | Life is suffering, from which only compassion, gentleness, truth and sobriety can save us [Buddha] |