AN OBJECT AS AN EVENT

Buddhists consider an object an event and not a thing or a substance.  “Event” implies that a process brought the object into existence.  A rock was not always a rock, this is to say.  It began as dust which over eons became the rock it is now. 

In the same way, a rock will not always be a rock.  It will breakdown over time and become the soil from which plant life grows.  This plant life will then be eaten by animals which will go on to become higher life forms.  Objects are dynamic, accordingly, which is why Buddhists see them as events.

Vedantists see them as events also.  Unlike Buddhists, however, Vedantists start from the view that everything in the universe, even the universe itself, emanates from Brahman, God.  Consequently, everything, even the event of a rock, is divine. 

What Buddhism and Vedanta have in common is, again, the idea of process.  Buddhism sees the universe, and all it contains, as forever becoming something else, albeit nothing in particular, whereas Vedanta sees the universe changing, too, but with the aim of spiritual awakening.

But now if everything, even the event of a rock, is divine, does that mean that a rock possesses the Atman?  In Vedanta there is one ultimate Reality which, when regarded as transcendent, is called Brahman, and when regarded as immanent is called Atman.  Since it is omnipresent, this Reality is within every creature and object, so the answer is yes, the Atman is in a rock.