Theravāda Buddhism approaches the notion of self through the lens of *anattā*, the teaching that there is no permanent, unchanging, or independent self or soul. What is commonly taken to be a “person” is analyzed as a collection of five aggregates (*khandhas*): form (the physical body), feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. These aggregates are understood as processes rather than substances, constantly arising and passing away. Because none of them is stable, fully controllable, or capable of being rightly claimed as “this is mine, this I am, this is my self,” the idea of an enduring essence is regarded as a misconception. From this perspective, the sense of “I” is a convenient designation for a dynamic stream of phenomena, not a fixed inner core.

Theravāda thought often distinguishes between conventional and ultimate levels of understanding to clarify this point. On the conventional level, everyday language of “I” and “you” is accepted as a practical necessity for communication and ethical discourse. On the ultimate level, however, careful examination reveals only fleeting mental and physical events arising in dependence on conditions. No independent entity can be found behind or within these events. This twofold perspective allows moral responsibility and ordinary interaction to function without positing a metaphysical self.

The implications of this view extend to karma, rebirth, and the path of liberation. Causal continuity across lives is affirmed, but it is not grounded in a transmigrating soul; it is more akin to one flame lighting another, related yet not numerically identical. Ethical responsibility thus rests on the continuity of cause and effect within this stream of aggregates, rather than on an unchanging owner of experience. In meditative practice, particularly in *vipassanā*, practitioners observe the aggregates directly to discern their impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and selfless nature. The deep realization of *anattā*—beyond mere intellectual assent—undermines attachment and ignorance, opening the way to Nibbāna, the cessation of suffering.