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Hello Abhaya,

Anatta doesn't deny responsibility - owning up to one's actions of body, mind, and speech Excellent, i could not agree more please have a look at the following story:

Tit Porng[d] went to visit the Venerable Abbot of the nearby monastery. At one point, he asked:

"Eh, Luang Por, the Buddha taught that everything is not-self, and is without an owner -- there is no-one who commits kamma and no-one who receives its results. If that's the case, then I can go out and hit somebody over the head or even kill them, or do anything I like, because there is no-one committing kamma and no-one receiving its results."

No sooner had Tit Porng finished speaking, when the Abbot's walking stick, concealed somewhere unknown to Tit Porng, swung down like a flash. Tit Porng could hardly get his arm up fast enough to ward off the blow. Even so, the walking stick struck squarely in the middle of his arm, giving it a good bruise.

Clutching his sore arm, Tit Porng said, "Luang Por! Why did you do that?" His voice trembled with the anger that was welling up inside him.

"Oh! What's the matter?" the Abbot asked offhandedly.

"Why, you hit me! That hurts!"

The Abbot, assuming a tone of voice usually reserved for sermons, slowly murmured: "There is kamma but no-one creating it. There are results of kamma, but no-one receiving them. There is feeling, but no-one experiencing it. There is pain, but no-one in pain ... He who tries to use the law of not-self for his own selfish purposes is not freed of self; he who clings to not-self is one who clings to self. He does not really know not-self. He who clings to the idea that there is no-one who creates kamma must also cling to the idea that there is one who is in pain. He does not really know that there is no-one who creates kamma and no-one who experiences pain."

The moral of this story is: if you want to say "there is no-one who creates kamma," you must first learn how to stop saying "Ouch!" http://www.buddhanet.net/cmdsg/kamma6.htm#Do

Stating that our knowledge and understanding, our use of grammar and writing style, and our brain processing of info from different sources have all come from the outside is not denying responsibility In my opinion, when we have good understanding of dependant origination and Annata we will stop giving ourselves credit when we come up with good ideas (pride/delusion) and we will not get ashamed when we come up with a stupid idea (also a delusion). We will replace pride and shame with understanding.

Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the storm, even so the wise are not affected by praise or blame. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipit...p.06.budd.html

I am not a native english speaker, but i think the word (under - standing) has a lot of significance. It implies that you become on top of things! And this is what the Buddha encouraged us to do, to be on top of conditioned phenomenon (freedom) and hopefully stop taking things personally

By the way, as a student of neuroscience you must be familiar with the evolution of human brain, so It can be added that natural selection has given us brains to help us survive and pass on our genes (the survival of the fittest) hence greed, anger and delusion are necessary for survival (but not necessary for happiness). However, Buddhists choose not to survive but to break out of the cycle of suffering and misery.

Regards,
Bundokji