Theos-Talk Archives (June 2003 Message tt00098)

G. de P. on "immortal soul", quoted from THE 
DIALOGUES OF G DE P, VOL 2, PAGE 283:

<<Student --- In view of the fact of what you have said 
previously, I should like to ask: where is the pivotal 
point of the human constitution? Where is that part 
which the philosophers call 'I am I' ?
G. de P. --- A very pertinent question. Here again we 
have an aspect of consciousness. As I have told you on 
other occasions, the words of the Lord Buddha are full 
of profound wisdom which has never been understood 
in the Occident, because we have not the key to one of 
the great Buddha's sayings: 'There is no immortal soul 
or self in man.' The Occidental immediately 
misunderstands that statement. He thinks it means that 
the human being is mortal throughout. That is not the 
idea at all. In a compounded entity, an entity existing 
only by reason of its temporary composition: in that 
entity, as an entity, there is no immortality. If there 
were, then that compounded entity would last from 
infinity to infinity and it could never change. If it 
changed an iota, it would not be the same entity. Do 
you grasp the thought ?>>