Let us first understand what the meaning of the soul (Aatma) or the view of soul (Aatma drustiya) is. Let us assume that there is something that we can control to our wish. Then, that thing is known as a soul. However, nothing in this world including our own life can be controlled as to our own expectations. Every type of life is made out of objects (rupa), feelings (vedana), recognitions (sangna), deeds/or aims (sanskara), and explicit recognitions (viññana). If someone thinks that these things can be controlled as one wishes, thinking life as me, mine, and my soul, then it is called the view of soul. One who is attached to this view thinks that his/or her soul will become eternal or will be gone forever after the death. Both these ideas can be seen because the soul is thought to be controllable. There are religions that state there is a soul that can be controlled, be thought of as me, mine, and my soul, and it becomes eternal after death. All these religions are therefore categorized into the group of religions that believe in the theory of soul.

However, nothing in this world can be controlled according to someone’s will because everything becomes destroyed someday. We can consider our own lives as an example. This body gets sick, become old, and dies one day. None of these can be stopped as we wish. You get different types of pains, but they cannot be either changed or make disappeared as you desire. The thoughts that come into your mind are also random and cannot be controlled. This means, none of these can be considered as ‘I’ or ‘mine.’ All of those are soul-less. They are just some things that occurred due to a reason and stop existing after that reason is gone. They do not belong to someone. Therefore, they are soul-less.

Let us think whether there is anything that is permanent, at least a little bit. All the figures in this world are transient. All the comfortable, painful, or moderate feelings we perceive are temporary. Recognition of figures, sounds, odors, tastes, feelings, and thoughts will also become impermanent. They change rapidly. Our expectations and recognitions also subjected to change. Since all these are changing with time and even a small thing cannot be seen as permanent; there is nothing we can control as to our aspiration. Whether we like it or not, we all grow old, become sick, and die. It happens in such a way because none of these things belong to us. This is why everything is known to be soul-less. This implies that we cannot keep anything under our control or change them as we desire. Thus, the Supreme Buddha taught us the true nature of the world and taught us the way of the theory of soul-less.