我

自體

Ātman. This Sanskrit term, of great importance in the history of religious ideas, is to be understood as signifying the life-principle. In later Indian thought it came to denote the "essential" self, contradistinguished from the empirical self. The ātman in this developed sense is not used as "soul" and "spirit" are used in the West. It is even more fundamental, for while the empirical self comes to be regarded as having several embodiments, some crasser than others, none is entirely imperishable as is the ātman, which lies at the core of them all. Originally the concept was attached to the cosmic principle, brahman and it has retained this in such a way that the individual ātman is to be understood as the brahman principle of the cosmos in immanent form. In simple language, it is an individual spark of the cosmic fire and therefore participates in its eternality and immortality.

Geddes MacGregor, Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, New York: Paragon House, 1989

ātman

(Sanskrit, self, soul). In a philosophical context, the concept of an independent, unchanging, and eternal identity at the core of individuals and entities. Normally the existence of such a self is denied in Buddhism (see anātman) although a minority of modern scholars have claimed that the Buddha merely denied a lower ego-self. Additionally, some later Mahāyāna texts, such as the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, speak of a transcendent Buddha-nature as the true self.

A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)

ātman: A metaphysical Self/Soul whose existence is upheld by the Brahmanical schools.

Sarvastivada Abhidharma, Sanskrit-English Glossary, by Bhikkhu KL Dhammajoti

bdag

[translation-san] {MSA,MV} ātman

[translation-san] aham

[translation-san] {MSA} sva

[translation-san] {C} ahu

[translation-san] {C} hu (=aham)

[translation-san] ātma {GD:594}

[translation-san] ātmā

[translation-eng] {Hopkins} self; I [can be used to refer to oneself]; nature; entity

[comments] Comment: it is said that in general ""self,"" ""person,"" (gang zag, pudgala) and ""I"" (nga, ahaṃ) are equivalent, in the particular context of the selflessness of persons ""self"" and ""person"" are not at all equivalent and do not at all have the same meaning. In the term ""selflessness of persons,"" ""self"" refers to a falsely imagined status that needs to be refuted, whereas ""persons"" refers to existent beings who are the bases with respect to which that refutation is made. All four Buddhist schools, therefore, hold that persons exist; they do not claim that persons are mere fictions of ignorance.

example

• [bod] de ltar dus gsum 'das pa'i bdag 'jig rten don du ci yod dam/
• [eng] How could the world exist in fact, With a nature passed beyond the three times ...? (tarikālyavyativṛttātmā loka evam kuto 'rthataḥ) [NPG, vs. 63]

Jeffrey Hopkins' Tibetan-Sanskrit-English Dictionary

bdag nyid

[translation-san] {C,MSA} svayam

[translation-san] {C} sat

[translation-san] {C} ātmaka

[translation-san] {C} ātmika

[translation-san] {MSA} ātman

[translation-san] {MSA} svātman

[translation-eng] {Hopkins} [self-ness]; essence; nature; entity

[translation-eng] {C} (by) himself; oneself; on his own; good; self; myself; for himself; for themselves; his own; I myself; my own self; in itself; inward; in itself

Jeffrey Hopkins' Tibetan-Sanskrit-English Dictionary