The Bionic Hand of Arredondo:
Verification of Buddhist Doctrine of Soulessness or Insubstantilaity

By K.S.Chow

It was reported in a York New Newspaper that a War veteran J.Arredondo’s life has been transformed from darkness to light again. He received an artificial limb to replace his left hand lost during the Iraq war in 2005. The artificial limb is known as i-LIMB manufactured by Scotland–based Touch Bionics. With his i-LIMB, he can now hold and grasp the tennic balls. He can also open the doors by turning door knobs. He is excited with his bionic hand made possible by the advanced robotic engineering. His robotic hand is made of semi-translucent plastics able to grasp objects because his fingers are now motored and commanded by five individual motors which are soulless. He even can manifest his hand gestures made possible by electrode plates. Through the wisdom of robotic engineering or technological know how, all the necessary contigent components are conglomerated into a perfect artificial hand without the agency of a soul. When sufficient contigent conditions are conglomerated, a perfect phenomenon like the i-LIMB comes into existence. Therefore, there is Buddha-nature in the i-LIMB. Buddha-nature refers to conditionality- Every phenomenon which manifests is conditioned by contigent factors conglomerated into a complete system or wholeness. i-LIMB is a system or wholeness which operates without any soul. Conditioned function devoid of any Soul or Self is called the Buddha-nature. Whoever discerns Soulessness or Selflessness manifests his or her Buddha-nature.

According to the adherents of certain Religious Schools which advocate the Theory of Soul (Jīva), the human body is entirely permeated with the power of Soul. The human hand is able to function because it is regulated internally by the power of Soul which is the agent of all activities, animate and inanimate. They conceive that devoid of Soul, all human activities cease. The ordinary worldlings are entangled to the bondage of suffering because they superimpose the notion of Soul in the form of Self or Ego in the human personality. Vedānta also advocates the annihilation of desire motivated by I or Mine. The concept of Ātman has been wrongly interpreted to be Self or Ego. Ātman is not synonymous Self or Ego in the Buddhist sense. Ātman is the micro dimension of Brahman. If Brahman is the fires, then Ātman is a spark of the Fires. Ātman should be interpreted as Brahman-nature. It is synonymous with the Buddha-nature (Tathāgatagarbha) of Mahāyā̄na tradition or Kṛṣṇa consciounsness. Thus we are able to reconcile the universality of all major esoteric religions in the world today. The alliance of Civilizations can be constructed by the perception of congruence of universal Truth of Unity. The clash of civilizations is the deviation from the universal Truth of Unity.
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But Gotama Buddha categorically rejects the existence of a permanent substance known as Soul (jīva) as an agent of all activities. The Buddha rejects the advocate of a Soul in the sense Self or Ego. Great Perfection in the sense of Buddha-nature, Brahman-nature or Ātman, Holy Spirit and Kṛṣṇa Consciousness is acceptable in Mahāyāna tradition. It is synonymous with the eternal state of Nibbāna which has been defined in the Aṅguttara Nikāya of the Theravāda tradition as the unmade, uncreated, unborn and unconditioned, that is, it is eternal. According to the Buddha, all mundane phenomena, including human lives and activities, are conditioned and dependently co-arisen. There is no whatsoever Soul in terms of Self or Ego operating as the agency of all activities. When all the necessary conditions are present, a phenomenon is conditioned to manifest. If any one of the essential or contigent conditions is absent, the phenomenon ceases to function or exist. All conditioned phenomena are impermanent. Only the unconditioned Nibbāna is eternal. Likewise, the human personality is conglomerated from the Five Aggregates without any Soul in the sense of illusive Self or Ego governing the sensual activities. When the Five Aggregates of Form, Feelings, Perceptions, and Consciousness are present and conglomerated, the human personality functions or exists. In the Saṃyutta Nikāya (SN.I.135), nun Vajirā defines a human personality or person as follows:

Yathā hi angasambhārā
Hoti saddo ratho iti
Evaṃ khandhesu santesu
Hoti satto ti sammuti

This is nothing but many processes;
No person is found here.
Likewise,The word ‘carriage’ is used
When the parts are conglomerated.
So the word ‘Person’ is conventionally used
when the conditions are present

In the ultimate analysis of the human personality which is precisely expounded in the Buddhist treatises of Abhidhamma, no soul in the sense of selfish Self or Ego is found. The analysis of the human personality verifies the ultimate Truth of Insubstantiality or Soulessless (Anattā). The synthesis or conglomeration of Abhidhamma testifies the Ultimate Truth of Conditional Relations or Dependent Co-arising (Paṭiccasamuppāda).

In other words, there is only the process of doing and no doer is found. The doer refers to substantial soul in the sense of unreal Self or Ego. There is merely the activity without an actor. An actor is believed by the worldlings to be regulated by a permanent Soul.

Buddhaghosa, the great Pāli Commentator in the Theravāda tradition elucidates the notion of Soullessness or Insubstantiality as follows :

Dukkhaṃ eva hi, na koci dukkhito,
Kārako na, kiriyā va vijjati,  
Atthi nibbuti, na nibbuto pumā,
Maggaṃ atthi, gamato na vijjati.

For suffering is but no sufferer,
Not the doer but certainly the deed is found,
Peace is but the appeased one,
The way is but the walker is not found.

The above commentary of Buddhaghosa pertains to the Insubstantiality of the human personality. Suffering is sensual experience conditioned by various conditions. There are no substantial entities called the sufferer and the pain. The Sufferer and the pain dependently co-produce the experience of pain without Self or Ego. In further ultimate analysis, pain is insubstantial. Pain can be analysed further to ascertain various causal factors of pain. The metaphor of chariot will make this clear. When all parts of a chariot are assembled, the chariot functions as a vehicle devoid of any Soul or Ego.

Conclusion

That, the i-LIMB of Arredondo perfects its manual functions without the agency of a Soul verifies the fundamental doctrine of Soulessness or Insubstantiality (Anattā).

Likewise, the personal computer will identify correctly an error on the screen to inform the human user. Obviously, the computer contains no soul. Yet, it can detect our errors in operating the computers. A light rapid transit train moves and stops at various stations accurately without a human driver. The space shuttle travels to space station and returns to Earth by auto pilot, without bordering the flight commander. Everything is controlled electronically and automatically without the involvement of a soul. Modern scientific and technological findings continuously validates the Absolute Truth of Soulesness and the natural Law of Dependent Co-arising advocated by Buddhism. That, the Buddha depersonalizes the human personality (Man is empty of Soul), concurs with the modern Science and Technology. All esoteric religions recognizes that ‘I’ or ‘Mine’ does not exist in the ultimate Truth though it exists apparently in the conventional reality. The illusive ‘I’ or ‘Mine’ is merely utilized for facilitating human communication and social intercourse. If one aspires to discern the Buddha or God, the veil of ‘I’ or ‘Mine’ must be removed totally. Nothing in the world belongs to us as ‘Us’ also does not exist. What exists is only the Buddha (Nibbāna) or God which is the absolute Truth. The multiplicity is illusive and unreal. Even though multiplicity is unreal and illusive, we still need them in our life transactions in the mundane world. What the Buddha promulgates is that we live with the multiplicity of the empirical world equanimously without rejecting multiplicity. Then the space and time will not disturb our minds unnecessarily. This is genuine religious life amid the stresses and strains of mundane living. Religions train us to dwell like the beautiful lotus flowers unsullied by the sullied mud and water in the pond. Defeating one’s Self or Ego is the greatest victory of a hero or heroin walking on this terrestrial world. One can see the Buddha-nature in everything and not only in the i-LIMB if one is self-awakened from the slumber of ignorance.