This topic turns out to be an excellent one since it forces us to think deeper into the question of “self”.
C. Saket said: “I also feel that this is not the first time that I have heard Buddha Dhamma. I must have heard the Tilakkhana in infinite number of past lives.”
When he first pointed out this problem to me via email (before the discussion forum started), he pointed out this problem to have its origin in the infinite monkey theorem, which states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.
So, the analogy is that “a person trying to attain Nibbana” can be compared to “a monkey trying to type the complete works of Shakespeare with a typewriter”.
The key to resolving this problem is to realize that the solution lies in the question itself (due to the Buddha’s contention that it is not correct to say whether a “person exists” OR “a person does not exist”).
We have discussed this at length (and Saket himself started a new topic “Wrong English translations of Aniccha, Anatta, Sakkaya ditthi… etc”). It was recently discussed under another topic “Anatta” where I provided more clear evidence from the Tipitaka that the Buddha rejected both views of “a person exists” OR “a person does not exist”.
In reality, there is “no person” travelling samsara trying to attain Nibbana.
Even though even the Buddha said that he had been so and so in previous lives, that is just like saying “I am doing this” or “John went home”. We need to do that to communicate.
However, at a deeper level, there is no “person” or a “satta” that lives and sees, hears, smells, tastes, touch things, and thinks AT THE SAME TIME.
There is only a series of events that occur ONE AT A TIME. When we see, we can only see; when we hear we can only hear, etc. But each of such “events” comes in as only a brief signal at a time, and is analyzed by a single citta vithi.
So, for example, suppose person X sees person Y and he is saying “mom”. There are thousands of citta vithi running through X’s mind within a second while he is seeing Y and hearing him say “mom”: “m” sound comes separately from “a” sound and that is also separated from the last “m” sound. In between them, there are visual snapshots of Y coming in through the eyes.
It is the manasikara cetasika (one of the six universal cetasika in a citta) put it all together with help of other universal cetasika, especially cetana, sanna, and vedana. This is discussed via many posts at the “Abhidhamma” section.
However, we can get an idea about how this happens by analyizing what happens in playing a movie. A movie is a collection of static pictures that are projected on a screen at a fast rate. Even though they show individual pictures (just like our mind taking a series of snapshots of seeing and hearing), when they are processed at a fast rate, IT APPEARS TO BE continuous.
Thus, the Buddha described the fastest quantum process, the working of the mind, in Abhidhamma.
This aspect of the similarity to a movie projection is discussed in detail in the post:”Citta and Cetasika – How Vinnana (Consciousness) Arises”. Please watch the youtube animation video there. That is helpful in getting the basic idea.
If one needs to get a good idea of why the Buddha rejected both “self” and “no-self” views, this is a good way to analyze it at a deeper level.
By the way, this wrong perception of a “me” is due to the “ghana sanna“, i.e., the perception that “I am a solid living entity” that does this and that. In reality, one’s physical body just an inert shell; it is being controlled by an unbelievably small “almost mental entity” called gandhabba. And that gandhabba itself changes moment-to-moment (by changing gati), and drastic changes in gandhabba occur when the human bhava ends and a different bhava (deva, animal, etc) is grasped.
I invite all to ask questions (if something is not clear) since it is important to discuss this and get the basic ideas. That will help getting rid of sakkaya ditthi. It is not possible to give details in a single post, but I direct to appropriate posts or make comments if a new issue is pointed out.