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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s10: D. Works

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s10

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English

Contents

D. Works

Lao Zi

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The Book of Lao Zi is the principal classic of Taoism, also known as The Book of Dao De Jing. The currently circulated edition is divided into 81 chapters, totaling 5,056 Chinese characters.

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The authorship and year of Book final completion have always been subject to controversy. Master Han Fei thought its author was Lao Zi (namely, Lao Dan) while historian Sima Qian suspiciously alleged the author was court historian Dan of the Warring States Period. Moreover, there's someone believes that the classic is actually the wills and teachings of from Lao Zi recorded and written down by Huan Yuan, a thinker in the Warring States Period, and someone even deduced that the classic might had been completed during the period between Qin and Han dynasties. However, this argument of the Book completion at the early Han Dynasty was refuted by the silk manuscript edition of The Book of Lao Zi unearthed from Tomb at Mawangdui of Changsha city, Hu'nan province in 1972. The prevalent view of majority scholars at the present tend to believe the Book might be completed in the Warring States Period, might not be later than the publication of Mencius and Zhuangzi, as it is evident by Lao Dan’s thought in the late Spring and Autumn Period contained in The Book of Laozi, with diction with literary style of the Warring States Period.

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*Dao De Jing, Hindi edition (front cover)*

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The current version of The Book of Lao Zi consists of part one and part two, or the Book of Dao and the Book of De, respectively. In He Shang Gong annotated version, Wang Bi annotated version and Fu Yi final edited and revised version, the part one and part two are all referred to, respectively, as the Book of Dao and Book of De. However, in the silk manuscript version of the Book, the Book of De is placed ahead of the Book of Dao, which is the most ancient transcript version that could be found so far. The currently circulated version is divided into 81 chapters, even though some currently circulated editions consist of 72 or 68 chapters. But the unearthed silk manuscript version is not divided into chapters.

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Contents expounded in *The Book of Lao Zi* is quite extensive, involving multiple of fields such as nature, society, human anecdotes, philosophy, politics, ethic, military affairs and culture. It contains rich philosophical thoughts, ie apart from the abstract subject like probing of ontology and unitarity of the universe, it also includes various exposition, argumentation and original thesis in the fields of epistemology, conception of history, outlook on life, cultural perspective, etc. The Confucianists and legalists all have assimilated to varying degrees Lao Zi’s thoughts; even phenomenology of modern Western world has also been influenced to some extent by its thoughts. Taoism reveres The Book of Lao Zi as the principal canon. There have been circulated many editions of the book throughout history, such as 14 stone inscription editions among which Yu Shinan’ edited and scribal edition in Tang Dynasty under the reign of Emperor Taizong is the oldest, and the next ancient edition is seen on the stone tablet of Dao De Jing erected in Long Xing Temple in Yi Prefecture in the second year of Jing Long reign of Tang Emperor Zhongzong. Besides, considerably huge numbers of remnant paper of hand-copied editions are widely scattered among Dunhuang Scripture. As for the wood engraving edition, the earliest appeared is Lao Zi’s Dao De Jing Begun with Sentence of He Shang Gong that was published in the Song Dynasty, now available in photocopy edition among the first compiled Imperial Collection of Four published by the Commercial Press. The Orthodox Collected Taoist Scriptures collected the text of the Book of Dao-De-Jing and annotated editions, respectively, published in dynasties of Han, Wei, Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan and Ming, totaling forty one. Experts to eliminate doubt and explain Lao Zi’s text in past dynasties are no less than a thousand, among them the most famous are as follows: Master Han fei’s Uncoiling Lao Zi and Explaining Lao Zi in the late Warring States Period, the Han Dynasty He Shang Gong’s Lao Zi’ Chapters, Wang Bi’s Annotation of the Book of Lao Zi in Wei and Jin dynasties, He Yan’s Discussion of Lao Zi’ Dao and De, Qiang Siqi’s Compilation of Quintessence of Lao Zi’s Classic, Song Dynasty Taoist Cheng Jingyuan’s Profound Explanation of Lao Zi’ Cannon, Song Dynasty Wang Anshi’s Annotation of the Book of Lao Zi (has been lost), Ming Dynasty Jiao Hong’s Annotation of The Book of Lao Zi, Qing Dynasty Bi Yuan’s Editing and Proofreading of The Book of Lao

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Dao De Jing, Laozi

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Zi; in modern and contemporary times, what are prominent are Collation and Annotation of The Book of Lao Zi by Zhu Qianzhi, Authentic Expounding of The Book of Lao Zi by Gao Heng, Unraveling The Book of Lao Zi by Ren Jiyu (attached with English translated version), Lao Zi at Ancient and Modern Times by Liao Xiaogan, etc. Internationally, The Book of Lao Zi has been translated into many languages both in the Western and Eastern Worlds.

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Among the multitude of foreign language translated versions, the so-called Sanskrit version reputedly translated by the most famous monk Xuanzang calls widespread attention. In accordance with the record contained in the third volume of Dao Xuan’s Collection of Debate between Buddhism and Taoism, it is quoted to the effect that on his return from the trip of India and was given interview by Emperor Taizong in the 21st year of Zhenguan Reign of Tang Dynasty (647 CE), Li Yibiao returned after a visit to India, reporting that he had given introduction of The Book of Lao Zi to King Kumàra in the State of Kàmaråpa in ancient India (now the west regions in Assam, India). The Emperor Taizong then gave edict to Monk Xuanzang to translate Lao Zi’s cannon into Sanskrit, and “Xuanzang begins to translate Lao Zi’s classic only after thoroughly comprehending the delicate and hidden connotation of the classic by analysing the text sentence by sentence and classifying the text in term of meaning”. There all along exists a great controversy on plausibility and availability of such a Sanskrit version. However, modern people supported Dao Xuan’s Record with two arguments. One is Lao Zi’ original name, according to legend, is Li Er, whom Emperor Taizhong treated as ancient wise man of his own clan. The second evidence can be found in Introduction of India-New Historical Book of Tang, which has it to say, “The State of Kàmaråpa offers exotic gifts and its atlas, but requests to be given a Portrait of Lao Zi as return gift.” And Monk Xuangzang once visited that country and used to be on good term with King Kumàra. The assumption of real existence of the Xuan Zang’s Sanskrit version should not be discarded, instead, should be kept as one of the versions waiting to be certified by any evidence either on the ground or underground. Hindi translated version of Tao Upanishad has appeared for a long time, and its influence is gradually gaining momentum.

Analects

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The Analects, one of the classics of Confucian school of thought, is a collection of scattered sayings of Confucius and his disciples which were recorded and compiled by the disciples of the second generation. The commonly circulated version of the Analects consists of 20 volumes (chapters) that are sub-divided into 492 chapters totaling 15900 Chinese characters. The period of completion of this book is estimated to be the early period of the Warring States.

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The present version of the 20 volumes (chapters) Analects discovered in the State of Lu, another version of the same 20 chapters discovered in the State of Qi are found to be more accurate. It is towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty that Zheng Xuan annotated the Qi version which is handed down to the present days (20 volumes).

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The Analects begins with study and ends with the comprehension of the Decree of Heaven (by

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‘Lun Yu (The Analects of Confucius)’, page fragments, Tang Dynasty

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the gentleman), reflecting the compiler’s thoughts to cultivate oneself through learning and to become a saint. The Analects, with words and deeds of Confucius with his disciples as contents, and the dialog of benevolence, filial piety, governance and differentiation between man of honour and petty-minded person as core, reveals the Confucian school’s approach of scholarly pursuit and self-cultivation characterised by rituals and music. Confucius gave different, but with the same essence, answers on the same inquiry to his disciples as he believed his disciples’ aptitude differed, embodying consistency of the Confucian school of learning of what it calls “Cherishing benevolence in one’s heart”. For instance, when Fan Chi asked about “humaneness”, Confucius replied, “The human being first of all thinks of overcoming the difficulties and then of enjoying the benefits. That is humaneness.” (Ranyong, The Analects, the quotations hereinafter only refer to the title of volume). Perhaps as Fan Chi had shortcomings of indolence, Confucius admonished him to first overcome the difficulties and then enjoy the benefits. But in giving an answer to the same question of Yan Hui’ on “humaneness”, Confucius, nevertheless, said, “To restrain oneself and observe the rituals constitute humaneness. Once you have done these, the world will consider you humane. However, the practice of humaneness depends on no one but yourself.” (Yan Hui) As Yan Hui is his brightest student, Confucius’ answer is straight to the point: Man of honour seeks the cause in himself. About the question of government, Confucius’ answer to Z Zhang was that “Never slacken your efforts at your post, show your loyalty when carrying out government orders”. (Yan Hui) As Confucius knows this student suspected to have weakness of seeking fame but lacking tenacity and endurance, so the Master exhorts him not to avoid boredom but to do practical job in good faith. Regarding the same question by Zi Xia, Confucius said, “Do not make haste. Do not covet small gains. Haste makes waste. Great tasks will not be accomplished if you covet small gains.” (Zi Lu) As Zi Xia has shortcomings of being easy to be content but acting rashly, Confucius then advises him to widen his horizon and make steady and sure efforts. The man of honour is mentioned in 107 separate occasions in the Analects, the core concepts are mostly elaborated as “seek the cause in oneself”.

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The Analects of Confucius (Lun Yu), Yuan Dynasty edition

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Ever since the times of Emperor Wu, Confucianism had gradually taken a domineering position in the realm of Chinese thought, and the Analects also exerted a wide ranging profound influence on the Chinese society. Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty combined the Analects, the Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, and Mencius into The Four Books. And in the Yuan Dynasty, this collection of books were taken as officially assigned required book for students who intend to appear and pass the imperial examination, thus further expanding the influence of the Analects. As for annotation for this classic, there were several annotators even in the Han Dynasty, and more were on the increase in the ensuing dynasties; out of them, the important and influential annotators are He Yan of the Three Kingdoms Period, with works entitled Concentrated Explanation of Analects, Xing Bing of the Song Dynasty, with works entitled Paraphrasing Analects, Zhu Xi’s Concentrated Annotation of Analects, and Liu Baonan’s Full Connotation of Analects.

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(*Jiang Julang*)

Vedas

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Veda is a large body of the oldest extant religious and historical texts in ancient India produced orally by primitive Indians and collected together by later generations to form present written texts. It is a great number of texts that had been produced within a lengthy span of time, and most texts originated in about the 16ᵗʰ-9ᵗʰ century BCE. It mainly consists of hymns on people’s lives and contains many religious thoughts as well as philosophical ideas in primitive India. Such thoughts not only have important impacts on ancient Indian civilisation, but also are a main source of thinking for modern Indian civilisation. Its ideas were brought into China along with Buddhism, and had been attached great importance by Chinese thinkers.

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**Literature Components and Main Categories** Sanskrit “Veda” originally means “knowledge”, especially about religion. It can be divided into two categories. In a broad sense, it is a collection of some texts in northwest India, including the *Samhitas*, the *Brahmanas*, the *Aranyakas*, the *Upanishads* and the like, while in a narrow sense, it only refers to “Four Vedas”, ie *Rigveda*, *Samaveda*, *Yajurveda* and *Atharvaveda*.

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The *Samhitas* are collections of hymns, mantras, songs of praise, spells and incantations about the Deities.

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The Brahmaza are also known as Brahman or *Brahmanas*, consisting of texts for sacrificial rituals mentioned in the *Samhitas* as well as comment on their origins, methods and associated legends.

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The *Aranyakas*, as an additional part of the *Brahmanas*, discuss some philosophical or meditative issues as well as sacrificial purposes and methods.

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The *Upanishads*, as an additional part of the *Aranyakas*, are quite different from other Vedas. Besides religious and sacrificial content, they also contain a lot of discussions on philosophical or speculative issues, and are the earliest Indian texts offering relatively systematic philosophical thoughts.

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Moreover, some people also include the *Srauta-sutra*, *Grhya-sutra* and *Dharma-sutra* into the Vedas.

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In the Vedic period, India already had philosophical thoughts, which, strictly speaking, were embryonic, less abstract and hard to be classified as genuine and systematic philosophical thinking. The Vedas are more religious than philosophical, and the *Samhitas*, i,e., “Four Vedas”, are a typical representation of Indian ideas in the Vedic period.

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The Rigveda is the oldest Vedic text, and some of the oldest hymns can be dated back to about 1500 BCE. It mainly contains hymns used by primitive Indians (supposed by many scholars to be the Aryans) to praise the gods, and these hymns are verses loudly chanted at sacrificial rituals to call the deities. The Rigveda originally was produced and preserved by oral tradition alone, and was not written down until much later. The existing Rigveda includes 10 volumes and a total of 1,017 hymns (if 11 hymns inserted into the volume 8 are included, it will total 1,028). Given their inconsistency and lack of coordination, obviously, these 10 volumes are impossible to have been written by a single person or co-authored by several persons.

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The Samaveda, basically, is a collection of hymns taken from the Rigveda, with melodies provided. Of these hymns, all but 75 are taken from volume 8 and volume 9 of the Rigveda. Therefore, of the four Vedas, the Samaveda has the poorest independence, but it has an important value for the study of the development of ancient Indian music. The extant Samaveda contains two volumes and a total of 1,549 hymns. Volume 1 includes six chapters, and Volume 2 has nine chapters, with some overlapping with Volume 1 and the most contents being taken from the Rigveda. Volume 2 was formed later than Volume 1.

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*Veda, Sanskrit manuscript, 15ᵗʰ century CE*

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Yajurveda

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The Yajurveda, with contents much different from the Rigveda, narrates events in the central part of north India. It mainly contains mantras needed to perform sacrifices, and most of these mantras are in prose, while some are in verse, and they are to be lowly chanted at the sacrifices. Generally, the Yajurveda is supposed to have close connection with the *Brahmanas*, and might have been composed between 1000- 800 BCE. Now, it has two versions, one is called “Black Yajurveda” and the other is “White Yajurveda”. The Black Yajurveda consists of the texts of the *Samhita* and that of the Brahmana, which is difficult to be distinguished, that's why it's called “black”. It also contains some commentaries. While the White Yajurveda separates the *Samhita* from its *Brahmanas* clearly. The Yajurveda has 40 chapters, and 18 of them have an earlier origin, and the rest might have been added into it later on.

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The Atharvaveda tells very different things from the above three. In ancient India, some schools of religion or philosophy often called the first three as “Three Vedas”, or when mentioning the Vedas, considered that it had three components, and did not consider the Atharvaveda as a part of the *Samhitas*. Its contents are different indeed. The first three Vedas chiefly include hymns, charms and mantras, while the Atharvaveda, in the main, is a collection of spells and incantations used to avoid disaster and to summon good luck. For example, spells against enemy, disease, disaster, wild animal and alleged demons, and summon or pray for health, long life, wealth, safe journey and domestic peace. The Atharvaveda also contains some embryonic philosophical discussion. In the Atharvaveda, most verses are metrical, but some sections are in prose. The Atharvaveda was composed about 1000 BCE, very close to the date of the Yajurveda. Extant Atharvaveda contains 20 volumes and a total of 730 verses, and a lot of them are taken from the Rigveda, and generally, the last two volumes were added in a later period.

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In addition to religious topics, there are also signs of philosophical thinking. These two aspects closely relate to and yet differ from each other, and it is the *Upanishads* that contains many philosophical ideas.

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**Main Religious Forms** The *Vedas*, in the main, is a mirror of the social life shortly after the disintegration of primitive Indian society. Then, given the poor state of social productivity and thinking, people generally could not arrive at a right understanding of various natural phenomena, and they were curious about and even fearful of natural phenomena that had a direct and considerable impact on their life, but had to explain such things to themselves or their fellowmen. From such a need, the oldest religious ideas arose in ancient India

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In the *Vedas*, polytheistic worship is the earliest form of religion. For instance, hill, river, grass and tree on the earth, wind, rain, thunder and lightning in the air, the moon, the sun and stars in the sky, and the like, all were treated as deities. The following are some deities of Nature mentioned in the *Vedas*.

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The Sun is deified by Vedic poets and became Surya, the Sun God. Surya is supposed to be a deity to observe all persons and creatures and to expel darkness and to bring the light. He is praised in many Vedic hymns. For instance, a hymn in the Rigveda (7.63.4) says: “Golden, far-seeing, from the heaven he rises, far is his goal, he has on resplendent. Men, verily, inspirited by Surya speed to their aims and do their work.”

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Ushas as the Goddess of the Dawn originates from Vedic poets' marvel at the beautiful scene of the dawn. In the Vedic hymns, she is said to be the mother or wife of Surya and to work to expel the night and to awake persons and all kinds of creatures. In the Rigveda (4.51.1), she is portrayed as follows: “FORTH from the darkness in the region eastward, this most abundant splendid light hath mounted. Now verily the far-refulgent Mornings, Daughters of Heaven, bring welfare to the people.”

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Indra, the God of the Thunder, is also a product of Vedic poets. The Rigveda (2.12.2) states, “He fixes fast and firms the earth that staggered, and sets at rest the agitated mountains, Who measured out the air's wide middle region and gave the heaven support, He, men, is Indra.” A lot of hymns in the Vedas are about Indra, who seems to have been attached great importance then. This has something to do with climate. India often suffers from high temperature and little rain, while thunder may bring rain and have an important effect on people’s lives. Besides thunder, whenever it appears, is powerful and impressive. For this, Indra becomes an important deity in the Vedas.

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Agni, the God of Fire, is a frequent topic in the Vedas as well, since fire is closely associated with everyday life and is something that often can be seen. A hymn in the *Rigveda* (1.1.3) represents him as, “Through Agni man obtains wealth, yea, plenty waxing day by day, Most rich in heroes, glorious.” Fire is necessary for heating and cooking, and thunder and friction all could give rise to fire, and so, Agni becomes one of the most important Vedic gods.

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Some other phenomena of nature are also deified, for example, wind, rain and river. Vayu, the deified wind, works to facilitate growth and to bring luck and merit to posterity. Parjanya, the God of Rain, is to irrigate plants and to promote their growth.

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A painting of ‘*Primeval Purusha*’

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Sarasvati, representing rivers, can irrigate the land, bring harvest and help clean and wash dirt.

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The Vedas also mentions other gods, such as Dyaus, Varuna, Mitra and Marut, each representing a natural phenomenon that is deified.

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Besides, some animals and plants are deified as well, for example, horse, cow, sheep, snake, soma grass, herb and tree. There are a great number of such deities.

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These descriptions indicate, in the early Vedic period, objects or phenomena of Nature, being powerful or impressive, are primary worship for Indians. It is not complex to deify the Nature, animals or plants, and people just need to recognise their marvelous superpower and to worship them accordingly. But, with the time going, people have become more capable and begin to know more about Nature, and the form of their worship also changes in the following two aspects:

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Firstly, deities are no longer confined to directly visible natural phenomena or objects, and instead, there appear some gods that are created by human imagination (reforming a natural object in one’s mind) or abstraction. These gods do not have any direct equivalent in Nature, and include among others Asura (God of demons or spirits), Raksa (God of the un-righteous) and Yama (God of death). There are also deities of confidence, love, language and the like.

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Secondly, people move from polytheism to major gods. In the early Vedic period, people gradually narrow the scope of their worship, and begin to choose one or several dominating gods from numerous deities; for example, Indra (the God of the Thunder, later often seen as a protector or a god of war for brave tribes). People gradually become aware of so many gods, there is one that has a more powerful and fundamental role, not only affecting everyday life but also mastering or ruling other deities. The Vedic shift from polytheism has something to do with the then prevailing social and historical development, and at that time, in the South Asian Subcontinent, there occurred the combination of tribes or nations and the formation of many small kingdoms. This is more or less reflected in the development of religious worship.

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People in the Vedic period had a variety of ways to worship deities, and sacrifice is an important option. For Indians, sacrificial rituals are to win the favour and obtain the blessing from the gods and to realise benefits. Nevertheless, some tend to think a sacrificial ritual has nothing to do with the gods and can bring good by itself. The Vedas mentions a great variety of sacrifices, for example, new moon or full moon sacrifice (on the first and 15th day every month), fire sacrifice, horse sacrifice, human sacrifice (with human beings or any alternative as an offering), etc.

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In the Vedic period, sacrifices are deemed to be able to please the gods and bring good, and spells to work on the gods and to help people achieve their purpose. The Atharvaveda contains many relevant contents, and the Yajurveda also have relevant discussions. There are a variety of spells, such as the spell to remove disaster, to deal with and incapacitate the devils, and there are also curses to invoke demons to do harm to those being hated. There are also mantras for long life and peace. Then, people attach importance to such spells and charms and use them to avoid disaster and to summon good luck.

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Early Philosophical Thought

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The Vedas also contain the oldest philosophical thought in India. These thoughts originate from some Vedic poets’ skepticism of the gods, and doubtful, people turn to explain various things outside the sphere of deities. The Vedas has a number of “philosophical hymns”, with the most famous including the Ka (Rigveda, 10.121), the Purusha (Rigveda, 10.90) and the Creation (Rigveda, 10.82)

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The *Creation* states, “Then was not non-existent or existent”. Deities arose after the creation of the world. The concept of “tadekam” (that is, One Thing) is proposed, and there is nothing else other than tadekam. Actually, “tadekam” is thought to be the origin of the universe. This hymn shows, some Vedic poets tend to take the origin of the universe as something beyond secular existence or nonexistence, and such cause is something abstract and primary rather than the then popular deities. However, it is not ambiguous what “tadekam” is, and roughly speaking, it is something of fundamental cause or an origin prior to the unfolding of all things.

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The Ka states, “In the beginning rose Hiranya garbha, Giver of vital breath, of power and vigor, he whose commandments all the Gods acknowledge, Lord of men and Lord of cattle, earth’s Begetter ,the heavens’ Creator. He is the God of gods, and none

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*Rigveda*

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beside him”. From “garbha” the concept of “anda” evolves, suggesting that everything evolves from this “anda”. Later on, “Garbha” or “anda” turns into a popular world or universe outlook in ancient India.

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The Purusha takes “Purusha” as the universal basis, and says, “This Puruṣa is all that yet hath been and all that is to be. The Brahman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rājanya made. His thighs became the Vaiśya, from his feet the Śūdra was produced. The Moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the Sun had birth; Indra and Agni from his mouth were born, and Vāyu from his breath. Forth from his navel came mid-air the sky was fashioned from his head. Earth from his feet and from his ear the regions.” This hymn considers and combines humans and creatures and is the earliest to advocate the homogeneity of human nature and the nature of the world. In the *Upanishads*, this idea is further extended to dominate in Indian philosophy and to form the core of Indian Brahmanism or Hinduism.

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The Visvakarman also put forth the concept of “takedam”, which is thought to be the basis of and depended by all things, and have a special power and is the name giver for all deities.

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In addition to the above concepts, the Vedas also contains some quite philosophical terms, such as Rta, Sat and Brahman. Though not appeared in the *Vedas* for many times or frequently, these ideas have an important meaning for the later formation of systematic Indian philosophy, and represent Indians’ earliest attempts to think philosophically.

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In the Vedas, philosophical and religious contents are mixed, and this gradually becomes an important characteristic for the development of Indian philosophy and religion, and in later generations, Indian philosophy is also closely associated with the development of Indian religion.

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The Vedas has a special position in the development of ancient Indian civilisation. Brahmanism or Hinduism, as the mainstream in the history of Indian thoughts, all take the Vedas as a fundamental canon. It is on the basis of the attitude toward the Vedas that the orthodox and the heterodox are divided. Those recognising the authoritativeness of the *Vedas* are orthodox, while the deniers are non-orthodox. Moreover, the Vedas has an impact on the orthodox Brahmanism as well as on non-orthodox schools. Some non-orthodox schools in India, in fact, more or less have absorbed some Vedic thoughts, though such absorption is either adapted or not evident.

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In modern India, the Vedas still has a significant influence, and many religious ideas, rituals or customs, and many well-known thinkers are worshippers of the *Vedas*, and some even call for the return to Vedic assertion, and consider the *Vedas* as a treasure of wisdom and religious truth.

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**Dissemination and Influence to China** Vedic ideas, along with Buddhism, have been brought into China for long, and ancient Chinese knew them through Buddhist texts.

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In Chinese sutras, Veda is transliterated as “Weituo” or “Weituo” (different characters in Chinese) paraphrased as “Zhilun” or “Minglun”, and has been mentioned in a considerable Chinese texts.

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In the *Matanga Sutra*, translated in the Three Kingdoms by Zhi Qian and Zhu Lvyan, the Volume 1 states that, “There once lived Brahma, who practiced Zen, has great wisdom, and created a Veda to preach, and later on, there is a god, named Svetasvatara, who created four Vedas to praise, to sacrifice, to chant and to expel disaster”. This means that the basics of the four Vedas were already known in China in the Three Kingdoms period. It is also mentioned in Chinese sutras of Tang Dynasty. For instance, the Volume 1 of the *Vijāptimātratāsiddhi* translated by Xuanzang sates that, “Minglun can explain things and should be non-eternal, as a sound.” Here, “Minglun” means the *Vedas*.

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*Matanga, painted by Zhang Daqian*

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In modern China, the *Vedas* is also well-known, and those who are attentive to Indian scholars usually know about the position of the *Vedas* in Indian culture, and many Chinese scholars concentrate on Vedic study. Some Vedic texts are translated, and academic journals often publish articles on Vedic thoughts. Books on Indian philosophy or culture generally contain Vedic chapters, and university courses on Indian culture also provide the study or introduction of the *Vedas*.

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(*Yao Weiqun*)

Rig Veda

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***Rig Veda*** - Ṛg-veda is the most ancient religious classics in India. It was produced approximately between 1600 BCE and 1000 BCE. It is a poetry anthology dedicated for praising the gods. In ancient Chinese books it was translated as “Samaveda”. There are totally 10 volumes of the anthology, collecting 1,028 hymns. These hymns were also chanted by Brahmin priests for praising God while presiding over ritual ceremonies, and rich in primitive religious atmosphere. Each poem contains several verses, where each verse is a “Rig.” In the anthology, most poems, about 250 poems, were praising the Thunder and Lightning God Indra; the second in quantity was for praising Vulcan Agni, about 200 poems; the third was for the Bacchus Soma, about 120 poems. All the gods have their own roles and responsibilities and were in charge of the triple realm of heaven, air and land separately.

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In heaven, there is mainly the king of the universe Varuna, who is the most powerful god in heaven and in charge of the order and morality of the universe, he keeps an eye on the offenses in the world. Dyaus is the deification of sunlight, also known as the heavenly Father and in the shape of cattle. There are several other sun gods with different functions: Surya, the god representing the specific image of the sun, in the poetry he rode a seven horse-drawn cart through the sky, drove away the darkness and brought light; Savitri, the incarnation of the sun in the morning and evening, in the poetry he was described his whole body was shining and rode a golden cart, pulled by two glowing horses galloping in the heaven; Mitra is the incarnation of radiant sun during daytime; Usas represents the goddess of the dawn radiating beautiful morning glow.

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In the air realm, there’s mainly the God of Thunder and Lightning Indra (Later was absorbed by Buddhism, and known as the “Sakka”), with tall body and infinite power, holding vajra, when angry

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*Rigveda: Selected Hymns, Chinese edition (front cover)*

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appearing piloerection, Indra is the most powerful god in the air realm. Later, he gradually evolved from Thunder God to the God of War who can destroy the enemy and symbolises victory. Storm God Rudra is in charge of storm, his whole body is brown with gold decoration, wearing braids and holding bows and arrows, he appears very evil. Aeolus Vayu has quick action and is a friend of Indra, they often ride in the same cart pulled by a thousand horses, which is extraordinarily swift and violent. There is also Rain God Parjanya, the Water God Apas and so on.

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In the land realm, there’s mainly Vulcan Agni, who can dispel the darkness and eliminate evils, is the most important god in the land realm. Bacchus Soma, is the deification of soma wine, which was often used for rituals in ancient India, people thought all gods enjoy the wine, as wine can make gods excited, with courage and power multiplied. In addition, there’re also the Earth Mother Goddess Bolidipi, Alpheus Saraswati, Horse God Dadhikra and so on.

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Rama and Sita

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In addition to a lot of hymns praising Gods, in the *Rig Veda* there are also some poems speaking of the origin of the universe. Vedic poets raised various different views about the generation of the universe through direct observation or subjective speculation

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Infant Krishna (Balgopal)

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on the universe: some believed that the universe was born by “The One”, some thought it was born from “golden base”, and some hold the opinion that it was born from “Purusha”. *Rig Veda* not only has the literature value, but also is the most important historical documents for the study of ancient Indian religion and society.

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With the introduction of Buddhism, *Rig Veda* was introduced to China very early, in many Chinese translation of Buddhist scriptures there were records of *Rig Veda*. In modern times, Chinese people had a more in-depth research on *Rig Veda*. Jin Kemu in his *History of Sanskrit Literature* (1964) made a profound statement regarding the literature value and the position of *Rig Veda* in the history of world literature: *Rigveda Samhita*, referred to as *Rig Veda* is one of cultural treasures left from the ancient human society. It is a collection of poems, emitting lights in world literature, same as *The Book of Songs* the poetry collection of our ancient society. Wu Baihui translated a large number of poems of *Rig Veda*, and offered detailed analysis on poems. His translation works of *Selections of Rigveda Sanskrit Philosophical Poems* and *Selections of Rigveda Sanskrit Aesthetics Poems* were published in the book *The Wisdom of Moon Country* (1997). Wu Baihui’s another book, *Indian philosophy - exploring of the meaning of the Vedas and analysis of Upanishads* (2000) also conducted in-depth discussion on the philosophical meaning of *Rig Veda* poetry.

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(Zhu Mingzhong)

Brahmanas

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Brahmana is an ancient Indian Brahmanism Sutra, also known as “Brahman book” or “Brahmanas”, formed about between 1000 BCE and 700 BCE. It is an important book of ancient codes and records, further explaining the origin, purpose, meaning and methods of sacrifice, based on the four Vedas. Brahmana is a prosy scripture, its contents are mainly in three aspects: ritual procedure, illustrating the ritual details and a variety of specific provisions, like the type of sacrifice, number of sacrificial fire and priests, time and location of sacrifices, etc.; interpretation, explaining the hidden meanings of hymn, prayers and spell used in rituals, ultimate implications, indicating the purpose and, meaning and philosophy to be achieved of ritual.

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There are 15 types of existing Brahmana; they are all attached to the Vedas. Among which the most important ones are: *Aitareya Brahmana* and *Kausītāki Brahmana* attached to *Rig Veda*; *Pañcavimśa Brahmana*, *Sadvimsa Brahmana* and *Jaiminiya Brahmana* attached to *Sama Veda*; *Satapatha Brahmana*, *Caraka-Katha Brahmana* and *Taittiriya Brahmana* attached to *Yajur Veda*; and *Gopatha Brahmana* attached to *Arharva Veda* and so on. Brahmana were passed on from generation to generation by priests of different schools in accordance with the master-apprentice relationship, as during the teaching, there formed different schools. Brahmana’s basic principle is to emphasize the role of ritual and the position of priest, and provides the theoretical basis for Brahmanism which is guided by sacrifice. From the viewpoint of academic value, Brahmana is the oldest and most valuable information for studying ancient Brahmanism religious rituals and social development status, through the provisions of these rituals, the construction details of sacrificial altar, and the methods to decide sacrificial date, we can learn the status of material production of that time, as well as the development level of astronomy, mathematics, calendar and other natural sciences.

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Indian Brahmana and a variety of related sacrificial rituals and procedures of ancient Brahmanism had been introduced to China long time ago together with Buddhism, thus Chinese people have a certain understanding of it. In many Chinese translated Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist classics written by Chinese eminent monks, there were related records as well. For example, in Sui Dynasty, the Chinese eminent monk, Ji Zang in his book *Illustration of Sata-sastra* described horse sacrifice, the most popular and largest ritual in ancient Brahmanism, “therefore set the horse sacrifice, choose a white horse, set it free for 100 days, or say three years, then trace its footprint, at the cost of gold, with all means to take the horse and kill it, while killing the horse they would sing: Vasu kills thee, the horses might go to heaven for its sacrifice.”

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(Zhu Mingzhong)

Upanishad

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The Upanishads are a collection of classic texts that first proposed a host of brilliant philosophical thoughts in ancient India that were later instrumental in the formation of the key philosophical theories of Brahmanism and Hinduism. The creation of the Upanishads spanned an extremely long period of time, with the first few Upanishad texts emerging as early as 9th century BCE, as followed by a myriad of other related texts over the ensuing centuries. The latest among the Upanishad collection did not come out until well after the start of the Common Era. One of the most important books the world has ever known, the Upanishads exerted considerable influence on the development of Indian culture, especially Indian philosophy, with numerous philosophical schools in ancient India able to trace the roots of their theories to the Upanishad texts and many renowned thinkers of contemporary India also profoundly exposed to the far-reaching sway of the canon. The major ideas and theories contained in the Upanishads spread to China along with Buddhism, where they went on to make a notable impact on the Chinese philosophical scene.

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Major Upanishads and Issues Discussed

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The Sanskrit term Upanishad translates to “sitting down near”, referring to the student sitting down near the teacher while receiving esoteric knowledge. There are over 200 Upanishads, which collectively reflect some of the very basic theories of Indian philosophy and religion as evolved over a lengthy period of time. Among this voluminous body of texts, only a dozen or so are considered relatively significant or influential:

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Some of the earliest significant Upanisads include the *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad*, *Chāndogya Upanishad*, *Aitareya Upanishad*, *Taittiriya Upanishad*, *Kaushitaki Upanishad* and *Kena Upanishad*, which were generally believed to be composed between 800 BCE and 500 BCE. Those that emerged still later include the *Katha Upanishad*, *Isha Upanishad*, *Shvetashvatara Upanishad*, *Mundaka Upanishad*, *Prashna Upanishad*, *Mandukya Upanishad*, and *Maitrayaniya Upanishad*, which were believed to be created between 500 BCE and 200 BCE.

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The *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad* is the oldest and longest of the Upanishads. It elaborates systematically on the central concept of the Brahmanist philosophy: Brahman, including the essence of Brahman, the indescribability of Brahman, the two types of Brahman, and the relationship between Brahman and Atman, while also covering a variety of other topics such as the creation of the world, life after death, ascetic austerities, abstinence and release.

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The *Chāndogya Upanishad* mainly expounds its

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Fifty Upanishads, translated by Xu Fancheng (front cover)

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Brahman-Atman unity theory, its theory on world creation, the relationship between man’s fate and man’s actions in the past life, and man’s duties and obligations.

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The *Aitareya Upanishad* focusses on such issues as life after death, world creation and primary cause thereof.

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The *Taittiriya Upanishad* pays special attention to the issue of ethics, and also examines certain issues concerning the understanding of Brahman and relevant practices.

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The *Kaushitaki Upanishad* explores such issues as the “breath”, the “knower” and the “Known”.

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The *Kena Upanishad* reveals the real power behind the workings of the universe both external and internal, and describes the amazing qualities of Brahman.

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The *Katha Upanishad* focuses its critical lens on the essentiality of Brahman.

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The *Isha Upanishad* is the shortest of the Upanishads, and discusses, among other things, man’s understanding, actions, wisdom and essence of Atman.

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The *Shvetashvatara Upanishad* examines some samkhya and yoga thoughts, and also presents its theories on the “Lord”;

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The *Mundaka Upanishad* attaches great importance to ascetic austerities, maintaining that ascetic austerities can dispel ignorance; it also divides the knowledge that leads to self realisation into two types: Para Vidya and Apara Vidya.

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The *Prashna Upanishad* holds the Highest Self (Brahman) to be the basis of everything, by understanding which one can attain a sublime state of immortality.

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Despite its relatively short length, the *Mandukya Upanishad* nonetheless garnered a great deal of attention by proposing the famous Four States of Consciousness, namely, waking, dreaming, deep sleep and fourth, known as turiya, which is the highest.

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The *Maitrayaniya Upanishad* discusses the two forms of Atman and the means to achieve Brahman-Atman unity.

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It’s fair to say that the abovementioned Upanishads shed revealing light on some of the most representative thoughts of the leading philosophers and thinkers in ancient India.

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Basic Theories

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Despite the expansive scope of the Upanishads, encompassing the philosophical and religious viewpoints and ideas of a galaxy of thinkers in ancient India over a span of several hundred years, it is not difficult for us to identify the few key points of theoretical significance that commanded the most attention of those thinkers. The basic theories of the Upanishads are primarily comprised of three ones: the Brahman-Atman unity (Brahmatmaikyam) theory; the reincarnation and release (Moksha) theory; and the basic elements theory.

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*Brahman-Atman unity theory (Brahmatmaikyam)* The contributing thinkers to the Upanishads held that the primary cause or absolute essence of all phenomena in the world and human life is Brahman or Atman, and they paid the greatest attention to the relationship between Brahman and Atman. As a matter of fact, Brahman-Atman relationship is a central topic most Upanishads chose to discuss at great length.

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The word “Brahman” was not first proposed by the Upanishads. In pondering the primary cause or supreme “lord” responsible for the creation of the world, besides “Brahmā”, the Brahmana and the Aranyaka also mentioned the concept of “Brahman”, albeit rather ambiguously and infrequently. And when the first Upanishad began to emerge, “Brahman” as an abstract philosophical concept also came to dominate the contemporary Indian philosophical debate.

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In the Upanishads, Brahman was depicted by most thinkers as the essence of all things and the supreme being of the universe. For instance, according to Chandogya Upanishad 3.14.1, “All this is truly Brahman”, and Shvetashvatara Upanishad 3.7 also states that “The Supreme Lord(Brahman) is higher than Virat, beyond Hiranyagarbha”.

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[Figure: *Upanishads, English edition* *(front cover)*]

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Some Upanishads also described Brahman, or the “Supreme Being” equivalent to Brahman, as “Vijana” (“Consciousness”). For instance, *Aitareya Upanishad* 3.1.3 states that “All this is guided by Vijana, is supported by Vijana. The basis is Vijana.” It’s worth noting, however, that the “Vijana” concept in the Upanishads is distinct from the regular concept of “consciousness”; it is not a concrete manifestation of things, but rather, the fundamental basis of everything. Under most circumstances, Brahman is considered to be above all concrete things.

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The Upanishads thinkers believed that as a supreme state of being, Brahman adopts no concrete form and exhibits no concrete attribute, or it will be subject to the constraints or limitations that come with concrete things, thus disqualifying it as a “supreme” being. Brahman cannot be understood or expressed in regular, secular terms, for the simple reason that anything that can be understood or expressed in concepts or words is limited, while true Brahman shall be infinite. There is no way to accurately “define” Brahman using ordinary, worldly concepts. In order to grasp the true meaning of Brahman, one must try and understand it from the various negations thereof. The only valid attempt to define Brahman is to use the famous phrase “neti-neti” (“not this - not this”). In other words, in describing Brahman, we shall relinquish the notion that Brahman have concrete attributes or forms and focus instead on describing what Brahman is not, rather than what it is. As *Kena Upanishad* 2.3 puts it, most brilliantly, “It is not known by those who know It; It is known by those who do not know It.”

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The reason why many thinkers adopted the “negative” approach to describe Brahman is that the supremacy or essentiality of Brahman can be highlighted in this way. Although the Upanishads also contain many passages directly addressing the characteristics and attributes of Brahman, on the whole, their primary emphasis was invariably placed on the indescribability, formlessness and attributelessness of Brahman. This overarching belief held a tremendous sway over the later development of the Indian religious philosophy, exerting a notable influence not only on the orthodox philosophical schools of Brahmanism, but also on some unorthodox schools of philosophy.

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In Sanskrit, “Atman” has many meanings, including self, breathing, spirit, body, transcendent self, etc. In the Upanishads, however, the word is normally used to denote the following two meanings:

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The first one is the individual self, a “small” kind of self in the sense that it refers merely to the owner of body organs or the centre of life activities. As is stated in *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad* 3.7.23, “he is thy Self, the puller (ruler) within, the immortal; unseen, but seeing; unheard, but hearing; unperceived, but perceiving; unknown, but knowing. There is no other seer but he, there is no other hearer but he, there is no other perceiver but he, there is no other knower but he. This is thy Self (Atman), the ruler within, the immortal.”

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The other meaning of “Atman” is “Brahman”. Instead of the word “Brahman”, many Upanishads used the word “Atman” in describing Brahman as the source and essence of the material world. And the “Atman” used for this purpose is the so-called “(greater) Self”. *Chāndogya Upanishad* 6.9.4 states that “Now that which is the subtle essence, in it all that exists has its True Self. It is Pure Being. It is Atman, and, O Svetaketu, That thou art.” Verse 7.26.1 of the same book also explains that “When one sees this, thinks this, knows this, one’s breath is of Atman; one’s hope is of Atman; one’s memory is of Atman; one’s space is of Atman; one’s fire is of Atman; one’s water are of Atman; one’s appearance and disappearance are of Atman; one’s food is of Atman; one’s strength is of Atman; one’s understanding is of Atman; one’s meditation is of Atman; one’s intelligence is of the self; one’s will is of Atman; one’s mind is of Atman; one’s speech is of Atman; one’s name is of Atman; one’s mantras are of Atman; one’s actions are of Atman; all this is of Atman.” As we can see, the “Atman” used in the quoted verses refers to the fundamental essence of everything, and therefore has virtually the same meaning as “Brahman”.

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In the Upanishads and later-day Indian religious philosophy, the word “Atman” often adopts the first meaning ie unless otherwise specified, “Atman” shall mean the owner of an individual life, the controller of one’s spirit and consciousness, or the reincarnated. Used in this sense, the word is often translated as “soul” too.

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Among the various theories on Brahman-Atman relationship as proposed in the Upanishads, there is a dominant one ie the Brahman-Atman unity theory (Brahmatmaikyam). The proponents of the theory posited that Brahman and Atman are essentially one and the same, and “everything is nothing but Brahman”. In other words, everyone has an individual self (“small self”), and others’ “small self”, to one, are external objects, while one’s “small self”, to others, is also an external object. Thus, countless “small selves” and related things in actuality constitute the myriad external phenomena and objects. In illustrating this, *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad* 3.7.15 states that “He who, dwelling in all things, Yet is other than all things, Whom all things do not know, Whose body all things are, Who controls all things from within, He is your soul, the inner controller - The immortal.” In here, one’s self and the “inner controller” of all things are actually one and the same. Verse 2 of *Mandukya Upanishad* puts it still more clearly: “All this, verily, is Brahman. The Self is Brahman”.

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The Upanishad thinkers believed that, the overwhelming multiplicity of “small selves” or worldly things notwithstanding, only Brahman, as the highest and infinite being, is real. Anyone who treats Brahman and Atman as two separate things, or only regards Atman as the fundamental essence of a person and fails to recognise the grand quality of Brahman, is bound to fall into an abyss of delusion and agony. As Verse 7 of the *Isha Upanishad* puts it, “He who has known that all beings have become one with his own self, and he who has seen the oneness of existence, what sorrow and what delusion can overwhelm him?”

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