No Inner Core - An Introduction to the Doctrine of Anatta is written by Sayadaw U Silananda. Anattà is a Pàli term made up of a negative prefix, 'an,' which means not, and the word atta, which means soul. It is most properly rendered as no-soul. The word atta, on the other hand, has a wide range of connotations, some of which cross over into psychology, philosophy, and daily terms, such as when it can imply self, being, ego, and personality. As a result, we'll look at and explain the wide range of meanings that atta might have in order to figure out exactly what the Buddha was denying when He declared that He teaches anattà, or that He denies the reality of atta. We'll look at both Buddhist and non-Buddhist definitions of the term "soul," as well as modern definitions of terms like "ego."
