Neuroscience and the Buddhist Doctrine of Non-Self (Anattā): Toward an Integrative Research Review for Buddhist Studies
Keywords:
anattā, non-self, not-self, default mode network, meditation, neurophenomenology, DMN, jhāna, vipassanā, khandhas, SamathaAbstract
The Buddhist doctrine of not-self (Pāli: anattā; Sanskrit: anātman), the third of the three marks of existence (tilakkhaṇa), denies that any permanent, independent self can be located within the psychophysical stream of experience. Rather than functioning as a merely metaphysical negation, anattā serves a soteriological purpose: by seeing the self as constructed, conditioned, and impermanent, one weakens attachment and thereby reduces suffering. In the past three decades, cognitive neuroscience has increasingly converged with this analysis, showing that self-related experience depends on distributed, context-sensitive brain networks, especially the default mode network (DMN), rather than a singular “self center.” Contemporary neuroimaging (fMRI), electrophysiology (EEG/MEG), lesion and pharmacological studies, and meditation research collectively support a process view of selfhood: the “self” is an emergent, dynamically maintained model integrating autobiographical memory, interoception, prospective simulation, and social cognition. Further, Buddhist contemplative training systematically modulates these networks, producing experiences of diminished self-reference, ego-dissolution, and self-transcendence that resonate with classical descriptions of insight into anattā. This article synthesizes key empirical findings and theoretical frameworks, including predictive processing, self-model theory, and neurophenomenology, highlighting convergences, methodological challenges, and implications for Buddhist scholarship, mental health applications, and ethical life.
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