Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s8.t1: Brahmatmaikya
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s8.t1
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Brahmatmaikya
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Brahman is “Atman” which is the core concept in the Brahman philosophy of Ancient India. It appears first in some early Upanishads. It is later regarded as the main philosophical thought by the Vedanta. The Hinduism which is popular in the later ages of India also takes it as its theoretical basis.
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Upanishad is a batch of Veda document in the later ages which put forward large amount of clear philosophy theories earlier in India. The main content discussed in the documents is the relationship between Brahman and Atman. The so called Brahman is the noumenon of all things. It is the highest reality in the cosmos. The so-called “I” is the transliteration of Atman. It usually refers to the subject and soul of biological phenomena.
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Many ideologists of Upanishad think that Brahman is the highest reality without any specific property, and we cannot give a precise definition to Brahman by the general conceptual category. If we are sure to know the true meaning of Brahman, we can only understand and realise it by various negations. In Upanishad, Brahman is described as the supreme god by some thinkers. It is viewed as the fundamental cause or the creator for things in the world.
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There are many meanings for “Atman” in Sanskrit, such as self, breath, nature, the whole body and the highest noumenon of human life. In Upanishad, this word is used in two meanings. One meaning of “Atman” refers to self (individual), which is used as the main part of many organs in human’s body or the centre of vital movement, being the so-called “individual”. Another sense of “Atman” means “Brahman”. When discussing Brahman as the noumenon of the world by many Upanishads, “Atman” (I) is only applied instead of “Brahman”. Such kind of “Atman” is the so-called “Collective Self” or “Brahman”. The “Atman” in this kind of Upanishad is the noumenon of everything, which has no difference as that of “Brahman” in its actual meaning.
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In Upanishad or the Indian philosophy of religion in later generations, “I” or “Atman” is generally made use of the former meaning. If not otherwise indicated, it means the subject-of-a-life or the master of spirit and consciousness of person, being the main body of eternal cycle of birth and death. In modern times, “I” or “Atman” is frequently translated into “soul”. There are many types of “Atman”, however numerous forms of “Atman” are known as the phenomenal world.
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In Upanishad, many ideologists discuss the relationship between Brahman and Atman, and the predominant viewpoint is the so-called “Brahman is Atman”. They consider that the noumenon of thing (Brahman or the spiritual self) and the human’s main part (Atman or individual) are the same at heart.
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“Brahman is Atman” has an important position in the development of Brahman later. The key reference or branch of Vedanta, which is mostly influenced in the Indian Philosophy, has this kind of thoughts. However, many ideologists of this school have different attitudes towards the same degree or the actual relation to Brahman and Atman; thus, diverse branches of Vedanta have been formed.
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Badarayana, the originator of Vedanta has a standpoint of “bhedābheda” in this main work named “Brahma-sutra”. He thinks that the creator of world or fundamental cause (Brahman) and Atman or the phenomenal world are different. Therefore, Atman has the nature of Brahman. If all things cannot be existent in the world without Brahman, then Brahman and Atman is the same.
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Gaudapada and Sankara, the thinkers of Vedanta, think that Brahman and Atman have the relationship of “Advaita”. In their opinions, Brahman or the spiritual self is the universal foundation; everything is the image of Brahman or spiritual self without things other than being independent of Brahman or spiritual self. Individual is not the part of Brahman, nor its variation. As the life phenomenon, innumerable individual and spiritual self are the same thing, only due to the limitation of the body, they are different; in fact, both of them are the same things. Ramanuja, the ideologist of Vedanta, considers that Brahman and Atman have the relationship of “Visistadvaita”. In his opinion, Atman (individual or phenomenal world) is the property or part of Brahman (substance or entity). Although the property or part attaches to substance or entity, we cannot think that the property and part are not complied with each other. The phenomenon in the world is not visional. However, Ramanuja is also acknowledging that the supreme Atman
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*Upanishads: The Holy Spirit of Vedas (front cover)*
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or Brahman exists as noumenon. He deems that although the phenomenal world (individual) is not meaningless, it is only to limit the nature or part of the supreme entity. The supreme entities of an object are same or identical.
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In modern and contemporary times of India, “Brahman is Atman” still has a great influence. Because the mainstream ideology of Vedanta, “Advaita” has been mainly accepted by the great majority ideologists, while the origin of thought or the core ideology of “Advaita” originates from “Brahman is Atman” in Upanishad.
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“Brahman is Atman” has had its influence on China. In ancient China, when some Chinese Buddhist scriptures criticised the heterodox ideology, the thought of Upanishad or Vedanta had been related or demonstrated. In modern and contemporary times of China, the orthodoxy of ancient philosophy in India has been given great importance in the academic world, to do research on Upanishad and Vedanta. There are many research papers on “Brahman is Atman” in Chinese academic journals. The introduction to “Brahman is Atman” is also published by China in the treatise or textbook about the Indian philosophy of religion.
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*(Yao Weiqun)*
Linked texts (1)
- Brahmasūtra — Bādarāyaṇa, Sanskrit