佛言 當念身中四大 各自有名 都無我者 我既都無 其如幻耳
fó yán dāng niàn shēn zhōng sì dà gè zì yǒu míng dōu wú wǒ zhě wǒ jì dōu wú qí rú huàn ěr
Key Message
Among the four great elements composing the body, no fixed self can be found anywhere. The self is like an illusion.
▸Section twenty is the clearest expression of anattā (無我, non-self) in the entire Sutra of Forty-Two Sections.
Section twenty is the clearest expression of anattā (無我, non-self) in the entire Sutra of Forty-Two Sections. The Buddha says: reflect on the four great elements (四大) within the body — earth, water, fire, and wind. Each has its own name, but nowhere among them is there a self (我). If there is no self at all, then existence is like an illusion. Analyzing the constituents of the human body, one finds no fixed, permanent self — this teaching of non-self is compressed into two sentences.