[alex_loudermilk]

My understanding of not-self is still evolving, but it is based primarily on the Buddha's words in the Nikayas. One discourse in particular illustrates anatta quite succinctly and straightforwardly:

Anattalakkhaṇasutta (SN 22.59)

“Yaṃ panāniccaṃ dukkhaṃ vipariṇāmadhammaṃ, kallaṃ nu taṃ samanupassituṃ— ‘etaṃ mama, esohamasmi, eso me attā’”ti? “No hetaṃ, bhante”.

“Tasmātiha, bhikkhave, yaṃ kiñci rūpaṃ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṃ ajjhattaṃ vā bahiddhā vā oḷārikaṃ vā sukhumaṃ vā hīnaṃ vā paṇītaṃ vā yaṃ dūre santike vā, sabbaṃ rūpaṃ— ‘netaṃ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti evametaṃ yathābhūtaṃ sammappaññāya daṭṭhabbaṃ.

Yā kāci vedanā atītānāgatapaccuppannā ajjhattā vā bahiddhā vā…pe… yā dūre santike vā, sabbā vedanā— ‘netaṃ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti evametaṃ yathābhūtaṃ sammappaññāya daṭṭhabbaṃ.

Yā kāci saññā…pe… ye keci saṅkhārā atītānāgatapaccuppannā ajjhattaṃ vā bahiddhā vā…pe… ye dūre santike vā, sabbe saṅkhārā— ‘netaṃ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti evametaṃ yathābhūtaṃ sammappaññāya daṭṭhabbaṃ.

Yaṃ kiñci viññāṇaṃ atītānāgatapaccuppannaṃ ajjhattaṃ vā bahiddhā vā oḷārikaṃ vā sukhumaṃ vā hīnaṃ vā paṇītaṃ vā yaṃ dūre santike vā, sabbaṃ viññāṇaṃ— ‘netaṃ mama, nesohamasmi, na meso attā’ti evametaṃ yathābhūtaṃ sammappaññāya daṭṭhabbaṃ.

http://studies.worldtipitaka.org/tip.../1.2.1/1.2.1.7 Pañcavaggi Sutta: Five Brethren
(aka: Anatta-lakkhana Sutta: The Discourse on the Not-self Characteristic)

"And is it fitting to regard what is inconstant, stressful, subject to change as: 'This is mine. This is my self. This is what I am'?"

"No, lord."

"Thus, monks, any form whatsoever that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: every form is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am.'

"Any feeling whatsoever...

"Any perception whatsoever...

"Any fabrications whatsoever...

"Any consciousness whatsoever that is past, future, or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: every consciousness is to be seen as it actually is with right discernment as: 'This is not mine. This is not my self. This is not what I am.'

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit....059.than.html The notion of anatta, as I understand it, is meant to illustrate the transitivity of identity. It is not an absolutist negation of selfhood; instead it shakes the foundations of personality we not only have been conditioned to believe in, but desire to believe in for psychological continuity.

In its historical context, which I always find useful to note, anatta is a refutation of the Brahmanic/Vedic notion of a permanent, enduring, transcendental, eternal, persistent Self, termed Atman. The Buddha frequently remarks that there is no self that is ultimate and immortal. Rather than uphold this Soul-theory, the Buddha describes self as impermanent, non-enduring, conventional, mortal, and not greater than the sum of its parts. There is an empirical self, but no trans-empirical equivalent like a Soul. There is no characteristic or set of characteristics that remains constant throughout life, or in supposed future lives. Nothing that is impermanent and dissatisfactory is fit to be called one's Self.

In my everyday life, I often have to remind myself that personal identity is a deceptive, instantaneous, elusive phenomenon. The sense of self we have is not an entity, but a process. Self is just a conventional designation for an assemblage of parts, a heap of phenomena:

Vajira Sutta (SN 5.10)

What? Do you assume a 'living being,' Mara?
Do you take a position?
This is purely a pile of fabrications.
Here no living being
can be pinned down.

Just as when, with an assemblage of parts,
there's the word,
chariot,
even so when aggregates are present,
there's the convention of
living being.

For only stress is what comes to be;
stress, what remains & falls away.
Nothing but stress comes to be.
Nothing ceases but stress.

Then Mara the Evil One — sad & dejected at realizing, "Vajira the nun knows me" — vanished right there.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit....010.than.html
Abhaya