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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s10.t11: Bhagavadgita

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s10.t11

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English

Bhagavadgita

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*Bhagavadgītā* is an important classic of ancient Hinduism; it is also known as *Buddha Song*; originally it was a part of *Bhismaparvam*, the sixth chapter of the great Indian epic *Mahabharata*, which later evolved into an independent classic of Hinduism. The book was formed during the time period between 2ⁿᵈ and 3ʳᵈ century CE. It is divided into 18 chapters, with 700 odes in all. *Bhagavadgītā* is a collection of poems, elaborating Hindu philosophy of life in the form of a dialogue. The dialogue occurred in the battlefield while the two armies of Pandavas and Kauravas were confronting each other. Prince Arjuna (one of the younger brothers of Yudhishtira) of Pandavas commanded the army to encounter the

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Bhagavad Gita, an illustration

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of life and ethical concepts. It is argued that a believer must follow their own “Dharma” to act, and should not consider personal gains or losses, honor or disgrace, only through action, he could achieve the unity of his own soul “Atman” with “Bráhman”, the supreme soul of the universe, finally to achieve the highest purpose - liberation.

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In order to achieve liberation, *Bhagavadgītā* also strongly promotes three kinds of yoga as roads: “Karma Yoga”, “Jnana Yoga” and “Bhakti Yoga”. “Karma” refers to the behaviour or actions. The so-called “Karma Yoga” is requiring its believers to fulfill individual’s social obligations and responsibilities in a detached attitude, do not do anything with a personal desire or self-interest, and do not care about the success or failures, gains or losses of actions, finally through this way to achieve liberation. “Jnana” in the *Bhagavadgītā* refers to the Upanishad’s wisdom of life and wisdom of Samkhya Philosophy. The so-called “Jnana Yoga” is requiring the believers to study the wisdom of the Upanishads and Samkhya Philosophy, and to behave under the guidance of this wisdom to ultimately achieve liberation. The wisdom of the Upanishads refers to that the human soul - “Atman” and the highest cosmic soul - “Bráhman” are essentially the same, once a man is enlightened with the truth of “Advaita Vedānta”, he could achieve the highest ideal of life. The wisdom of Samkhya Philosophy, refers to that all physical phenomena in the world have “three virtues” (three kinds of nature), human behaviour also has three natures, namely good action, fearful action and dark action, Krishna in *Bhagavadgītā* instructed Arjuna to constantly keep the purity of the soul, not subject to the “three natures” of action, do not seek personal gain, not persistent with behavioral consequences, selflessly fulfill his social responsibilities. “Bhakti”, refers to the piety, reverence and faithfulness toward the divinity. The so-called “Bhakti Yoga” in the *Bhagavadgītā* is requiring the believers to worship Krishna devoutly, regard all their actions as devotions

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Krishna teaching flute

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army of Kauravas. Being confronted of the killing fight, he saw many relatives, friends and teachers in the enemy camp. He was compassionate and he was not ready to go to war with his own relatives. He had no intention for the battle. At that time, Krishna, in the embodiment of Arjuna’s royal hand (ie the incarnation of Mahavisnu), started a serious dialogue with him and instructed him that he should not consider personal honour or disgrace, gains or losses. Only through unswervingly fulfilling his own mission, will be true loyalty to divinity and also the noblest acts. Under Krishna’s instruction, Arjuna finally abandoned personal affairs and followed the principle of a warrior again and devoted himself into the battle. Leaving aside the story, the fundamental idea of *Bhagavadgītā* is to promote Hindu philosophy to Krishna. Though *Bhagavadgītā* emphasised the importance of Karma Yoga, it argued that to truly understand and implement Karma Yoga, it must be combined with Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Only through the mutual coordination of the three yogas, the highest ideal of life - liberation could be achieved as soon as possible.

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*Bhagavadgītā* is well-known to all in India; it occupies a high position and absolute authority in the minds of Hindus. In modern times, many advanced Hindu thinkers, like national independence movement leader Tilak and Gandhi, etc., had made reinterpretation of *Bhagavadgītā*, and praised it highly as the most important classic. They vigorously promoted the noble spirits in *Bhagavadgītā* to firmly fulfill their obligations (“Dharma”), abandon personal gains and losses, and make selfless dedication. They took this classic as a spiritual weapon to mobilise the people for anti-British struggle. Tilak called on the Indian people to follow the teachings of *Bhagavadgītā*, act positively, and make more contributions to society, serving the society was also serving the divinity.

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Dasavatara

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The thoughts of *Bhagavadgītā* had been introduced to China very early. In 1940s, Jin Kemu had introduced the philosophy of *Bhagavadgītā* to students in the courses opened for Indian philosophy at Wuhan University and Peking University. However, the actual translation work of *Bhagavadgītā* from Sanskrit into Chinese was made in 1980s. Today, there are two versions of Chinese *Bhagavadgītā*, one version was translated by Zhang Baosheng (in 1989), another one was translated by Huang Baosheng (in 2010). These two versions have made a lot of comments on the original work, and made elaboration of the philosophy contained in it. Zhang Baosheng’s translation was republished in 2007, in this edition he added a new content, that is, *Preface to the Translation of Bhagavadgītā* which was written in 1929 by Indian national movement leader Mahatma Gandhi, was incorporated in this book. The translation of *Bhagavadgītā* into Chinese greatly promoted Chinese people’s understanding on Hinduism and also helped Chinese scholars to study Indian culture.

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(*Zhu Mingzhong*)

Cites (2)