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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t17: Lokayata

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t17

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Lokayata

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Lokayata is a school of ancient Indian philosophy and one of three non-orthodox schools of thought. It is popular mainly among lower classes. In ancient Chinese text, it is also known as Lokaayatika, Carapace and the like. It has a very old origin and began to exert an important influence around the 6ᵗʰ century BCE.

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**Evolution and Relevant Literature** - Lokayata dates back at least to the Vedic Age or earlier. Some scholars think it is associated with the earliest Ganges civilisation and primitive Indian folk beliefs. In the *Vedas*, we can see that some hymns are doubtful of the existence of Gods, and this is consistent with later atheism of Lokayata. In the Upanishads, material and element theories mentioned in some texts are quite close to those of Lokayata.

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Its important representative is Ajita Kesakambala, one of the “Six Teachers” who were active before and after the birth of Buddhism, and this indicates that Lokayata then already enjoyed certain influence.

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Lokayata is recorded or mentioned in a number of Buddhist texts. Beside Hinayana and Agama sutras, Mahayana texts also contain Lokayata discussion. According to Buddhist records, when at the Nalanda, Xuanzang argued with non-Buddhist schools, indicating that Lokayata was very active in India in the 7ᵗʰ century CE.

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Hindu texts between the 8ᵗʰ and 13ᵗʰ century CE also recorded Lokayata ideas, showing that Indians then were still familiar with Lokayata.

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In the latter 19ᵗʰ century CE, several thousand of a certain Sikh sect followed the same ideas with Lokayata.

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As a very special school, Lokayata opposes many popular religious and philosophical thoughts in India as well as dominating ideas in Indian society, and therefore, as an antagonist, it’s extremely difficult to disseminate, and this also affects the preservation and circulation of its written texts.

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No independent works on Lokayata can be found now. The *Brihaspati Sutra*, an alleged classic text in the 7^th century BCE, is already lost. In India, very few Lokayata texts have been preserved. People mainly depend on other Indian schools' introduction or criticism to find out the development and ideas of Lokayata. Such extant texts include among others: the *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* composed by Samkara (788-820), the *Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha* by Madhva (about 13^th century CE), the *Prabodhacandrodaya* by Krsna Mis'ra (about 12^th century CE), and the *Saddār ana-samuccaya* by Haribhandra Suri (about the 8^th century CE). Besides, Buddhist texts and others also contain many but sporadic Lokayata activities and ideas, and lack of any systematic discussion. The two great Indian epics also contain some information on Lokayata.

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*Dirghagama Sutra (Chang Ahan Jing); early Ming supplementary edition of an earlier version from Song and Yuan periods*

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*Carvaka/Lokayata: An Anthology of Source Material and Some Recent Studies* (front cover)

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Main Ideas

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Lokayata is materialistic and atheistic in many aspects. Its ideas on four elements, reincarnation and karma, consciousness as an outcome of elements, means of valid knowledge and asceticism are eyecatching in ancient India.

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Four Elements as the Basis of All Things

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Lokayata holds a materialist opinion on the basis of the world, and thinks, the world, in essence, is formed by four elements, that is, earth, water, fire and wind. Nothing exists except four elements. Everything is made up of four elements, and human body is also a mixture of four elements. As Samkara explains in the *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* (Chapter 1), "*Lokayata considers four elements ie earth, water, fire and wind, as the eventual origin, which can be nothing else.*" The *Samyuktagama-sutra* points out in Book 7, “A living being lives in this world and dies with nothing. A body is made up of four elements, and when life expires, earth returns to earth, water to water, fire to fire and wind to wind.”

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Lokayata holds that things are all made up of four elements, and denies any supernatural thing as a fundamental cause for the creation. In ancient India, many religious schools attribute this cause to the Gods, Brahma and the like, and think that all things are created by this supernatural fundamental cause. In contrast, Lokayata insists that, there is no such a cause, master or creator, and everything is born of the Nature. For instance, the *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* (5.3) relates Lokayata as follows: “Who decorates the peacock? Who makes the cuckoo sing? Nothing else but the Nature.” “Building temples, water houses, ponds, wells and rest places are praised by travelers only, not any other existent beings.” With such an opinion, Lokayata, resolutely opposed to theism and attacked by many other schools, is extremely hard to develop itself in ancient India.

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Denial of Reincarnation and Karma -

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Historically, major Indian philosophical schools all agree with reincarnation and liberation, with the exception of Lokayata. Lokayata holds that this theory is unfounded, and heaven and hell do not exist at all, sacrifice is meaningless, and various religious obligations or requirements are nothing but falsehood.

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Lokayata considers heaven and hell as false and unreal. According to the *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* (Chapter 8), “There is no other world that is different from this world, no heaven and no hell, and places for sivas are fabricated by foolish swindlers of other schools.” Lokayata believes that the so called heaven and hell are only descriptions of real life. The *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* (9.10) states, “The joy of the heaven is: eat good, stay with young women, and enjoy requisite clothes, spice, garland and sandalwood, etc. The pain of the hell is troubles caused by enemies, weapons and diseases.”

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Lokayata denies reincarnation and liberation on the basis of common sense, as the *Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha* states, “When once the body becomes ashes, how can it ever return again?” The *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* (Chapter 10) says, “Liberation is death and the end of life.”

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Directly related to reincarnation, “karma” for long has been a popular concept for Indian religions and philosophies. Under this concept, a man's deeds will produce a kind of force to affect his future life, and he will reap what he sows. Resolutely opposed to this idea, Lokayata denies karma. As for this, the *Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha* states, “Nor do the actions of the four castes, orders, produce any real effect.”

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Lokayata clearly negates any religious practice intended for good fruits.. According to the *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* (11.12), “The wise need not bother about liberation, and only fools afflict themselves with ascetic practice and hunger. Chastity and other such ordinances are laid down by clever weaklings.”

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Lokayata denies any connection between joy & pain and karma. The *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* (Chapter 4) says, “Do not imagine the existence of karma in light of happiness or pain, and man feels joy or pain because of the Nature, and there is no other cause.”

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Such denial of karma, heaven, hell, religious practice and the like is directly associated with Lokayata’s assertion of “four elements” as the only fundamental cause of the world.

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**Consciousness as an Outcome of Elements** - Lokayata holds, human consciousness cannot be separated from human body, and consciousness exists when body exists, and disappears when body is destroyed. Human body is an outcome of the mixture of four elements, and therefore, consciousness, ultimately, is derived from elements. Though an individual element may not be conscious in itself, yet, when combined in some way, that is, when they form a body, consciousness will show itself. The *Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha* describes Lokayata as follows, “In this school there are four elements, earth, water, fire, and air; and from these four elements alone is intelligence produced, just like the intoxicating power from the mixed ingredients for wine making . When elements that constitute the body dissolve, consciousness disappears instantly.” As the *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* (7) states, “Consciousness arises from the change of soulless elements just as red color arises from the mixture of betel nut and lime.”

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For many Indian religious sects, man has conscious, since he has a spiritual body, that is, atman (ie soul). When a man dies, his atman (soul) is gone, and his body is dead and no longer conscious. Lokayata disagrees, and it opposes an independent substance that masters or controls consciousness and denies consciousness being an attribute of atman. It asserts, if body dissolves, then consciousness is non-existent, and no atman can go up to heaven and realize rebirth. For Lokayata, atman, as a subject of religion or consciousness, does not exist. If atman indeed exists, it is nothing but a mixture of four elements. This concept of no soul is similar to and yet also different from the Buddhist anatman. Buddhism asserts anatman, but does not oppose reincarnation and liberation, while Lokayata insists on non-existence of soul on the basis on denying reincarnation. Therefore, Lokayata is a more resolute opponent of atman.

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Perception to be the Only Valid Source of Knowledge

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Lokayata is particularly concerned with perception. It is stated in many texts that, Lokayata considers perception as the only source of valid knowledge. For example, the *Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha* states, “This school holds that perception is the only source of knowledge and does not allow inference, etc.” The *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* (Chapter 2) also says, “it holds that an object exists if it can be perceived, and does exist if it is never felt through senses.” While emphasising the importance of perception, Lokayata also examines other means of knowledge, with a focus on reference. It deems inference as unreliable, since inference is based on necessary causation among things, while such connection cannot be fully perceived.

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Lokayata also examines testimony and comparison. It rejects the reliability of testimony, since testimony in itself relies on recognition of a kind of language signs, and such language used by an old man when a kid appears. Comparison is also rejected as the means of the knowledge of the connection, since the objective of using comparison is to establish a different kind of knowledge, ie the relation of a name to something so named.

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According to the *Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha*, the *Sarva-Siddhānta-Samgraha* and other texts, Lokayata dismisses inference and other means of knowledge as incredible and asserts perception as the only reliable source of valid knowledge. Yet, not all texts say so, and some texts testifies, Lokayata does not deny inference indiscriminately, and it only denies reference in respect of matters such as another world.

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Disapproval of Asceticism

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Lokayata suggests that everything is an outcome of the mixture of four elements, and there are no heaven, no hell and no karma. And so, ethically, it denies the meaning of asceticism and urges people to see for a happy life in the real world.

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For many Indian philosophical and religious schools, the real world is filled with pains, and a moment of delight or joy is always accompanied by pains and never lasts long. Man should free himself from this world and not seek after pleasures in this world. Moreover, they also hold, ascetic practice in secular life will produce good fruits and help avoid pains, while hedonism or sensual pleasures will produce evil fruits and pains. Lokayata disagrees, and asserts that only fools will refuse pleasure for the sake of its connection with pain. According to the *Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha*, Lokayata holds that “the only end of man is enjoyment produced by sensual pleasures. Nor may you say that such cannot be called the end of man as they are always mixed with some kind of pain, because it is our wisdom to enjoy the pure pleasure as far as we can, and to avoid the pain which inevitably accompanies it; just as the man who desires fish takes the fish with their scales and bones, and having taken as many as he wants, desists; or just as the man who desires rice, takes the rice, straw and all, and having taken as much as he wants, desists. Therefore for us, we should not reject pleasure through a fear of pain… While life remains let a man live happily, let him feed on ghee even though he runs in debt.” It is of the opinion, that ascetic practice cannot bring pleasure and avoid the pain, and so, is meaningless.

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In this respect, Lokayata is called by many as “hedonism”. With original works on Lokayata no longer available, existing descriptions about it may be distortions. However, no matter whether these descriptions are accurate or not, Lokayata has a clear stance, that is, it holds that man should seek for a happy life or secular joy. This is rare in ancient thinking. Other religious and philosophical schools also call for happiness, which, however, mainly refers to supreme happiness in a religious sense, realised through wise liberation, that is, by recognising that things are unreal, a man can eliminate his ignorance, stop pursuing external objects or secular pleasures, and thus avoid pains arising from failure to obtain pleasures, and eliminate relevant karma and reincarnation. With a firm opposition to various religious doctrines, Lokayata calls for secular

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Lokayata: A study in Ancient Indian Materialism, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Chinese edition (front cover)

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happiness. This is directly related to the firmly opposition against any other religious theories. Since another world does not exist, the theory of karma and reincarnation will be unfounded, and it will be ethical or rational for people to do the best to have a happy life in this world.

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Lokayata survives, despite its consistent opposition to ruling ideas and its being suppressed for thousands of years. But, compared with other philosophical schools, its influence in the history of India is limited. To be noted, a number of its ideas are quite close to modern science and represent the thinking of ancient middle and lower classes in India. It makes the great ancient Indian civilisation more diversified.

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Dissemination and Influence in China

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Lokayata is also brought into China, and Chinese know it mainly through Buddhist texts. Due to its materialism and anti-religion stance, Buddhists considers it as heretical and something that should be refuted. As a result, it is rebuked in many of ancient Chinese translations and works by ancient Buddhist monks.

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Lokayata is directly mentioned, retold or criticised in many ancient Buddhist texts. For instance, Agama translations refer to some Lokayata thinkers and their ideas when refuting the ideas of the “Six Teachers”. In the *Madhyamaka Shastra*, composed by Nagarjuna, translated by Kumarajiva and with commentary from Qing Mu, mentions the “birth from inherent nature” or “elements” advocated by Lokayata. The *Vijbaptimatratasiddhi*, translated by Xuanzang, also refutes Lokayata’s elements (atomism). Many ancient Chinese texts contain direct discussion on Lokayata.

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In modern China, Lokayata is attached great importance. Due to its atheism and materialism, it attracts attention from quite many Chinese thinkers, and there are translations of Indian works on Lokayata, while Chinese scholars also publish their studies of Lokayata. Some works on Indian philosophy have chapters dedicated to Lokayata, and college courses on Indian philosophy also have introduction or study of Lokayata.

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(*Yao Weiqun*)

Cites (9)