Belief in eternal soul is a misconception of the human consciousness.
With regard to the soul theory, there are three kinds of teachers in the world: the first teacher teaches the existence of an eternal ego-entity that outlasts death; he is the eternalist. The second teacher teaches a temporary ego-entity which becomes annihilated at death; he is the materialist. The third teacher teaches neither an eternal nor a temporary ego-entity; he is the Buddha. The Buddha teaches that what we call ego, self, soul, personality, etc. are merely conventional terms that do not refer to any real, independent entity. A Buddhist has no reason to believe that there is an eternal soul that comes from heaven or that is created by itself and that will transmigrate or proceed straight away either to heaven or to hell after death. Buddhists do not believe that there is anything either in this world or any other world that is eternal or unchangeable. We only cling to ourselves and hope to find something immortal. We are like children who wish to clasp a rainbow. To children, a rainbow is something vivid and real; but the grownups know that it is merely an illusion caused by certain rays of light and drops of water. The light is only a series of waves or undulations that have no more reality than the rainbow itself.
Man has done well without discovering the soul. He shows no signs of fatigue or degeneration for not having encountered any soul. No man has produced any fundamentally new or world-shaking discovery by postulating a soul and its imaginery working. Searching for a soul in man is like searching for something in a dark empty room. But the poor man will never realize that what he is searching for is not in the room. It is very difficult to make such a person understand the futility of his search.
Those who believe in the existence of a soul are not in a position to explain what it is and where it is. The Buddha's advice is not to waste our time over this unnecessary speculation and devote our time to strive for our salvation. When we have attained the final goal, then we will be able to realize whether there is a soul or not.
The Buddha regarded soul-speculation as useless and illusionary. He once said, "Only through ignorance and delusion do men indulge in the dream that their souls are separate and self-existing entities. Their heart still clings to self. They are anxious about heaven and they seek the pleasure of self in heaven. Thus they cannot see the bliss of righteousness and the immortality of truth."
The Buddha countered all soul-theory and soul-speculation with his Anatta teaching. Anatta is translated under various labels: No-Soul, No-Self, egolessness, soulessness, etc.
To understand the Anatta Teaching, one must understand that the eternal soul theory --"I have a soul"-- and the material theory --"I have no soul"-- are both obstacles to self-realisation or salvation. They arise from the misconception 'I AM'. Hence, to understand the Anatta Teaching, one must not cling to any opinions or views on soul-theory; rather, one must try to see things objectively as they are and without any mental projections. One must learn to see the so-called 'I' or soul or self for what it really is: merely a combination of changing forces. This requires some analytical explanation: the Buddha taught that what we take to be something eternal within us, is merely a combination of physical and mental aggregates or forces (pancakkhandha): body or matter (rupakkhandha), sensation (vedanakkhandha), perception (sannakkhandha), mental formations (samkharakhanda), and consciousness (vinnanakkhandha). These forces are working together in a flux of momentary change; they are never the same for two consecutive moments. They are the component forces of the psycho-physical life. When the Buddha analysed the psycho-physical life, he found only these five aggregates or forces. He did not find any eternal soul. However, many people still have the misconception that the soul is the consciousness. The Buddha declared in unequivocal terms that consciousness depends on matter, sensation, perception, and mental formations, and that it cannot exist independently of them.
The Buddha said, "The body, O monks, is not the self. Sensation is not the self. Perception is not the self. The mental constructions are not the self. And neither is consciousness the self. Perceiving this, O monks, the disciple sets no value on the body, or on sensation, or on perception, or on mental constructions, or on consciousness. Setting no value on them, he becomes free of passions and he is liberated. The knowledge of liberation arises there within him. And then he knows that he has done what has to be done, that he has lived the holy life, that he is no longer becoming this or that, that his rebirth is destroyed."
The Anatta Teaching of the Buddha is over 2500 years old: Today the thought current of the modern scientific world is flowing towards the Buddha's teaching of Anatta or No-Soul. In the eyes of the modern scientist, man is merely a bundle of ever-changing sensations. Modern physics says that the apparently solid universe is not, in reality, composed of solid substance at all, but is actually a flux of energy. The modern physicist sees the whole universe as a process of transformation of various forces of which man is a mere part. The Buddha realised this 2500 years ago. A prominent author. W.S. Wily, once said "The existence of the immortal in man is becoming increasingly discredited under the influence of the dominant schools of modern thought." The belief in the immortality of the soul is a dogma that is contradicted by the most solid, empirical truth.
Taken from "What Buddhists Believe"
Written by Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda
Published by Buddhist Missionary Society