There isn’t a final end to what?
Do Bhante Ariyadhammika and Bhante Aggacitta teach that there is no self ?
I do not know all this
Once upon a time, sir, I lived the spiritual life under the fully awakened Buddha Kassapa. There they knew me as the mendicant Sahaka. Because of developing and cultivating these same five faculties I lost desire for sensual pleasures. When my body broke up, after death, I was reborn in a good place, in the Brahmā realm. There they know me as Brahmā Sahampati. SN 48.57
Yes, some teachers say that we all have been Maha Brahma, Brahma Sahampati, animals, hell being, etc.
I do not know. People who say such things also do not know it but it is a way of thinking.
The Buddha teaches it. The world is empty, empty of what? Empty of self. All dhammas are not self.
Anyway, for B. Thanissaro’s forceful differentiating of this I think it’s not needed.
As long as one has proper understanding of no self, it’s not so important how one says it. Just that one shouldn’t cause misunderstanding in others.
I feel rejecting no self in favour of non self opens up too much to eternalism already, it is not my style. I understand it’s just not denying conventional self. It’s hard to talk of these without using the classical Theravada language of classical vs ultimate truth.
That’s not the issue whether there is a self or there is no self, so there is no need to use Theravada language for answering what doesn’t need to be asked at the first place.
Note this text has no any parallels.
Regarding Brahma in early Buddhism, read also:
“A Comparison of the Pāli and Chinese Versions of the Brahma Saṃyutta , a Collection of Early Buddhist Discourses on Brahmās, the Exalted Gods”, Buddhist Studies Review, vol. 31.2, pp. 179-194 (2014) by Choong Mun-keat.
So who added it or who forgot it ?