Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s8.t2: Samsara

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s8.t2

Language: English

Samsara

v1.c7.s8.t2.1

Samsara is an important part of the ancient Indian philosophy of religion. Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism regard it as the fundamental part of their own theoretical system. The concept has also been introduced in China, and produced great influence to Chinese culture.

v1.c7.s8.t2.2

Samsara concept in Vedic Upanishad - In the vedic period, Indians started to think where they would go after death. ègveda mentions of Death “Yama” and Western Pure Land, and believed that people who do good will enter Western Pure Land after they die. ègveda says that “reuniting with ancestor, meeting Yama, and obtaining the returns of benevolence in Western Pure Land”. In Vedic period, people believed that the soul lasted forever, and death meant that the soul could walk from one world to another. Indian religions in later ages emphasised that Samsara was directly related to a human’s behaviour. Such contents were also mentioned in the Veda, but the difference was that the latter stressed that people doing good would ascend to heaven, but it had not directly shown that people doing evil things would go to hell.

v1.c7.s8.t2.3

The core thought of Indian philosophy of religion was formed in the Upanishad period, when the Samsara concept gradually developed into a system. At this period, Samsara was directly related to Vimukti, and closely connected with ethics. The famous theory of Samsara in Upanishad was “five stages and two approaches”. “Five stages” referred to the five Samsara stages from death to rebirth, namely, a human is cremated after death, first enters the moon, then becomes the rain, subsequently, turns into food after raining, sperm after eating food, finally enters the mother’s womb. The so-called “two approaches” referred to devayana and pitçyàna. Devayana is the road in which humans cannot return to the original world after death, while pitçyàna is the road in which humans can return to the original world following the order of the five stages after death.

v1.c7.s8.t2.4

Ideologists of Upanishad have made a clear distinction between good and bad results of Samsara, and have had a definite concept of karma. The good and bad results of Samsara were considered to be related to a human’s behaviour (ie good or evil). Well-doing and evildoing produce their corresponding karmas, which directly affects the living pattern or state of the doer in life and afterlife. Ideologists of Upanishad believe that people doing good will become saint, while doing evil will become villain. Well-doing mainly refers to compliance with various religious regulations of Brahmanism and performance of various obligations. Many ideologists of Upanishad clearly put forward the subject of Samsara during discussion, that is “me” or “Altman”, which is the producer of Karma, and the bearer of good and evil results in Samsara. Ideologists of Upanishad believe that the state of Samsara is associated with pain. Therefore, people should jump out of Samsara to reach a state of liberation, and to achieve this goal, the most fundamental point is to know the true nature of things, and obtain the supreme wisdom of “Brahman and Atman are one”. Samsara concept in Vedic Upanishad produces enormous influence to the philosophy of religion of later generations in India.

v1.c7.s8.t2.5

*Wheel of Life painting*

v1.c7.s8.t2.6

**Samsara concept in Astikya** - About 300 BCE to early CE, Brahmanism developed “Astikya”, namely Sankhya, Yoga, Vaishesika, Nyaya, Mimamsa and Vedanta. In Samsara concept, Vedanta inherits the core idea of ancient scripture of Brahmanism. Its famous ideologist Sankaracarya (788-820 CE) adhered to the thought that “Brahman and Atman are one” in Upanishad, and thought that Brahman was same with the phenomenal world composed of innumerable ego and related things in nature. Everything in the world is Brahman in nature, and if people fail to realise it, they will get caught into ignorance and Samsara. Mimamsa holds that what makes people fall into the Samsara are proper dharma and improper dharma, and what produces proper dharma and improper dharma is behaviour (karma). If people want to jump out of Samsara, they should not hate the troubles confronted in the world, and realise that happiness is always associated with pain, and that they should give up enjoyment, so no karma will be produced, and “Atman” will no longer return to Samsara. According to *Samkhya*, Samsara is the combination of two entities - Prakriti and Purusha, divides Samsara into natural law, animal law and humanity, and believes that everything in Samsara is painful in nature. The way to be free from pain is to eliminate the mistaken understanding, make Prakriti and Purusha survive alone, in this way, Samsara can be eliminated. The Samsara concept of Yoga is similar to that of *Samkhya*, which thinks that everything in Samsara is painful. If people want to jump out of it, it is necessary to eliminate ignorance and practice yoga to achieve liberation. Vaisesika believes that the state of Samsara is the combination of “Atman” and the body, which results from the ‘invisible force”. Invisible force is generated by man’s good and evil behaviour. If there is no invisible force, there is also not the combination of “Atman” and the body; thus, no body will appear, so it will annihilate Samsara. Nyaya believes that the state of Samsara is “pain”. Pain evolves from “rebirth”, rebirth from “behaviour” (proper dharma and improper dharma), behaviour from “negligence”, and negligence from mistaken understanding. When people obtain the “correct understanding”, the mistaken understanding will disappear, thus, no mistaken understanding means no negligence, no negligence means no behaviour, no behaviour means no rebirth, and finally, no rebirth means no pain. Nyaya holds that to get the correct understanding is key to get rid of pain. Mistake and mistaken thought lead to Samsara, and the way to correct it is to obtain the “correct understanding”, thereby eliminating negligence and getting rid of Samsara.

v1.c7.s8.t2.7

**Samsara concept in Buddhism** - The theoretical system of early Buddhism absorbs the Samsara concept in Vedic Upanishad. It thinks that life phenomenon is controlled by the karma of sentient beings, and believes that there is a circulation process, namely, so-called Samsara, but denies that there is an eternal Samsara subject. Buddhism advocates the “theory of Anatman” (or theory of no subject), uses the idea of “destiny” to explain the phenomena in the world or life, and thinks that things and human are composed of many elements or “destinies”, the changes in life phenomena of things or human are just the separation and reunion of various elements or destinies, and the causality in life phenomena are correlative or interdependent relationship of various elements or destinies. Early Buddhist scriptures put forward the Samsara of "five paths lam lnga" (heaven, hell, hungry ghost, human and animal). On the basis of five paths lam lnga, the later Buddhism schools add an "Asura", forming "six-path metempsychosis". In the division of Samsara forms, Mahayana adds some paths from Samsara to nirvana, namely, Sravakayana, Pratyekabuddha, Bodhisattva and Buddhism, thus, there is a ten-path theory in Mahayana.

v1.c7.s8.t2.8

*Wheel of Life painting, Tibetan Buddhism*

v1.c7.s8.t2.9

*Wheel of Life, Dazu Rock Carvings, Chongqing, China*

v1.c7.s8.t2.10

**Samsara concept in Jainism** - Jainism thinks that the subject of Samsara phenomenon is "jāva" (soul), and jāva can be divided into two kinds - jāva being in Samsara and jāva achieving liberation. Jāva being in Samsara is divided into the immobile jāva and mobile jāva. The immobile jāva exists in land, water and plants, while mobile jāva exists in animals with more than two sense organs. Jainism argues that material of karma produced by behaviour of body, words and thoughts flowing into "jāva" will make people be bound and fall into Samsara. Samsara concept in Indian history has been keeping a wide range of effects, except for Lokayatika, all sects of Indian philosophy of religion insist on this theory until modern times.

v1.c7.s8.t2.11

**The spread and influence in China** - Samsara concept was introduced in China with Buddhism. In ancient China, the most famous representative who advocates that there is a subject in Samsara is Hui Yuan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He thinks that "the body can be destroyed, but the spirit cannot be". In *Disrespect of Sramana to King*, he says that "desire is the mother of life, while spirit is the root of desire. Desire can change things from one form to another, while spirit can also be transmitted with it", "firewood is burned to ashes, while fire can spread from one firewood to another, never extinguished Similarly, the body is destroyed, while the spirit can move from one body to another". Hui Yuan thinks that there exists an immortal "spirit" in life phenomenon, and that once the human body is dead, the "spirit" is still alive, because it can move to another body, which is a typical theory of Atman. Hui Yuan advocating such theory is related to the influence of the original traditional culture in ancient China, (e.g., theory of Chuang tzu and Yellow Emperor).

v1.c7.s8.t2.12

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a heated debate about whether humans have an eternal subject after death has ever been conducted. For example, Fan Zhen in Qi and Liang Dynasties struggles against the independent existence of "spirit" (soul). He says in his *Theory of Spiritual Perishability* that, "the spirit and the body are the same one. They are interdependent whether existence or destruction". Fan Zhen does not fight against the theory of Atman on the basis of the theory of *Anatman* of Buddhism, but against the theory of *Samsara*. However, in Northern and Southern Dynasty, there are also many people who think that there exists a Samsara subject after death, such as Emperor Wu of Liang, Cao Siwen. They believe in the existence of Samsara from the point of view of Buddhism. About the retribution forms in *Samsara*, Chinese Buddhism not only absorbs a lot of relevant contents from Indian Buddhism, but also keeps its own characteristics. For instance, Hui Yuan in his *Theory of Three Retributions* puts forward three forms of retribution: present-life retribution, next-life retribution and future-life retribution. After Sui and Tang Dynasty, there were many discussions on Samsara by some Chinese Buddhism sects such as Tiantai Sect.

v1.c7.s8.t2.13

*Samsara* concept also produces a huge impact on Chinese masses, and it is also reflected in Chinese literary and artistic works. The thought of *Samsara* and *karma* plays a role of restricting people’s behaviour. The thought of “the good will be rewarded with good and the evil with evil” is deeply rooted in people’s minds. Many people do good, pray to Buddha and worship Bodhisattva to get a good retribution or have a good end-result in the afterlife. Considering karma, those who believe in *Samsara* will actively do good and strictly avoid evil to seek advantages and keep away from the disadvantages, which is of positive significance for social peace and stability.

v1.c7.s8.t2.14

*Wheel of Life mural at Zhaohua temple, Hebei, China*

Linked texts (2)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Upaniṣad — Sanskrit