On self-awareness and the self

This chapter investigates the notions of self-awareness and no-self. It presents a discussion of the notions from Buddhist perspectives. As is evidenced by several Buddhist accounts of no-selfhood discussed in Siderits, Thompson and Zahavi (2011), there is no unified doctrine of no-self that is endorsed by all Buddhists. Consequently, it is a matter of debate as to how best to understand Buddhist notions of no-self and which no-self doctrine is or should be applicable to the phenomenology of martial artists who are 'in the act'. The chapter considers two Buddhist no-self doctrines: the no-self doctrine that can be found in the Nikayas and another that is discussed by the thirteenth century Japanese Zen Buddhist Dogen. The chapter shows a change of focus in considering no-selfhood. Moreover, the chapter demonstrates that, while Nikayas' no-self doctrine is not applicable to martial artists, Dogen's account accurately describes the phenomenology of martial artists.