So what do you think of writings such as this?
https://www.keiwa-c.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/kiyo23-4.pdf
The purpose of this paper is to consider how Buddhism diagnoses the sickness of American individualism. The key element for the therapy is the concept of “self.” The Buddhist perspective of self is fundamentally different from the Western perspective. It can speak to American concerns about their suffering. I start by describing the Buddhist view on self, so that I can lay solid foundations for the diagnosis.
Shakyamuni presents a view called the doctrine of the anatman (Sanskrit; Japanese: 無我 muga), which is translated as “no-self” or “no-soul.” According to Nhat Hanh (1995, p.133), this doctrine holds that a so-called “person” is really just five elements that come together for a limited period of time: body, sensations, perceptions, predispositions, and consciousness. These five elements are, in fact, impermanent and changing all the time. Not a single element remains the same for two consecutive moments. Each element is working together interdependently, and no individual element is identified with a self or a soul. This doctrine denies a permanent self and an immortal soul. It has no logic that privileges so-called soul over body, both of which are impermanent.
The Buddhist notion of sunyata (空 kū), usually translated as “emptiness” or “void,” helps to eradicate our attachment to the false view of the self. This notion was originally developed by Nagarjuna (竜樹 ryūju), a Buddhist monk of southern India who lived in the second century A.D.. He is known as the central person who shaped the doctrines of Mahayana school of Buddhism…
First off you had to search far and wide to just find that.
Secondly do you realize there are 3 major branches of Buddhism with many sub branches?
Also you need to understand buddhist terms. The buddhists do not believe in an “unchanging spirit or soul” yet your existence is still eternal, they basically believe that you slowly change over time. It is actually a confusing definition because it implies at first to our modern ears that we eventually no longer exist, yet we know that buddhism teaches our existence has been reincarnated many times.
Basically it’s a misunderstanding of “permanent self”, it would be like how you and me are now very different from our 3 year old self, yet that person is still us, but we have drastically changed