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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s8.t3: Vimukti

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s8.t3

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English

Vimukti

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*Vimukti* or *vimokùa* is an important part of the ancient Indian philosophy of religion. Many major religious sects also involve such content. Its early ideological form can be seen in Upanishad and other ancient Indian scriptures obviously. Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism all take it as the ultimate goal that everyone pursues. This concept is also introduced into China, exerting an influence on Chinese religion. Vimukti in Upanishad philosophy - *Vimukti* in ancient India mainly refers to freeing people from pain. Indian religions think that the specific form of life is *Samsara* which is filled with pain, while *Vimukti* is free from *Samsara*. The concept of *Vimukti* can be found earliest in Upanishad in India. Upanishad philosophy thinks that *Samsara* is painful in nature, while *Vimukti* is jumping out of the *Samsara* and getting rid of the pain. There are two approaches in Upanishad: pitr·yāna and devayāna. *Pitr·yāna* is the road to *Samsara*, while *devayāna* is the road to *Vimukti*.

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In the view of many ideologists of Upanishad, *Vimukti* in the highest level is directly related to the understanding of the relationship between *Brahman* and *Atman*. *Brahman* is the core concept of the Upanishad and even the entire Indian philosophy. In Upanishad, Brahman is described as the noumenon of everything and the highest reality of the universe by most ideologists. Brahman is a kind of consciousness in essence, but it is different from those common ones in the world. Brahman cannot be understood as and described by common concepts. Atman’s transliteration is Ateman, and it is usually used with two meanings in Upanishad. One refers to “ego” or the individual soul, ie it is taken as the subject of human’s body organs or the centre of human’s life activities for use, and the other refers to Brahman. When discussing the Brahman as the noumenon of the world, many Upanishads will not use Brahman, but only use Atman, and such “ego” is the so-called “spiritual self”. Among the discussions in Upanishad on the relationship between Brahman and Atman by many ideologists, the dominant view is the so-called “Brahman and Atman are one”. They think that the Brahman (spiritual self) as the noumenon of universe and the Atman (ego) as the individual are same in essence. Brahman is the root of everything, and is the essence of the ego. The worldly people regard Brahman and ego as different things, think that only the ego is the root of human, and do not know Brahman, which is ignorance. Ignorance urges people to pursue things that does not exist in fact, which will need the concrete behaviour. People think that behaviour will produce a variety of “karma”, promoting people to suffer in the Samsara. Therefore, to get rid of the pain for achieving the Vimukti, people shall obtain the greatest wisdom, and the wisdom is the cognition of “Brahman and Atman are one”. In such state, people will no longer pursue something outside the Brahman, and no longer believe that there is difference between Brahman (spiritual self) and Atman (ego). People who have such cognition will no longer have the desire and behaviour, and no behaviour means no karma, then no karma means no Samsara, finally Vimukti is achieved. One sentence in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is that “people understanding the Brahman will go to heaven and achieve Vimukti after they die.” The concept of Vimukti in Upanishad produces some influence upon that of many schools of philosophy of religion in India.

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**Vimukti in Astikya:** Various philosophical schools of Brahmanism appeared very early in India, about 300 BCE to early CE. There are six schools, namely, *Sankhya*, *Yoga*, *Vaishesika*, *Nyaya*, *Mimamsa* and *Vedanta*, being collectively called “Astikya”. These schools have their own opinion on the Vimukti.

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Vedanta directly inherits the Vimukti in Upanishad, and thinks that achieving the cognition of “Brahman and Atman are one” is liberation. Sankaracarya, the most influential ideologist of Vedanta, thinks that liberation can be divided into “gradual liberation” and “true liberation”. Gradual liberation means that people’s ego will enter Brahmaloka for enjoyments after they die, which is not a complete liberation, while true liberation is achieved after eliminating ignorance, knowing spiritual self or Brahman, which is “non-body liberation”. Sankaracarya believes that human nature is pure, and true liberation is to eliminate ignorance, know spiritual self or real Brahman. Two ideologists Prabhakara and Kumarila of Mimamsa in the 8th century or so had more discussions on liberation. They argue that liberation is that eliminating the proper dharma and improper dharma according to the principle stipulated in Brahman’s scripture makes “Atman” is unable to return to the world of Samsara. Kumarila thought that liberation is that “Atman” gets rid of all the pains to reach the state of self-nature, also keeps the state of the destruction of body possessed by “Atman” and unproduced body in the future.

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Statue of reclining Buddha, Nirvana Temple, Kushinagar

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Sankhya holds the opinion that Samsara is produced by the combination of material entity - Prakriti and spiritual entity - Purusha. Liberation is escaping from the world of Samsara full of pain. The way to be free from pain is to prevent their combination. Yoga thinks that the process producing life or everything in the Samsara is painful. The cause of suffering is the combination of the observer and the observed. Achieving “Samadhi” through the practice of yoga can eradicate all troubles and ungodliness to obtain liberation. Vaisesika thought that 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 behaviours. If there is no invisible force, there is also no combination of “Atman” and the body. When the Samsara is over, people will get liberated. Nyaya believes that liberation is to get rid of the pain in Samsara. Samsara is the existence of life form. The emergence of the form is connected with the karma produced by human behaviour, and karma relates to mistaken understanding. In order to eliminate the mistaken understanding, people shall get the correct knowledge. In the view of Nyaya, the correct knowledge is related to man’s appropriate reasoning and debate, as well as thinking method. And such knowledge mainly exists in the theoretical system of Nyaya’s “16 truths” (16 basic concepts involving rules of reasoning and debate). By knowing 16 truths, people can eliminate the mistaken understanding to reach the state of “highest good”, namely, liberation.

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**Vimukti in Buddhism:** It is mainly manifested in its “nirvana” theory. The original meaning of Nirvana (nirvàoa in Sanskrit, nibbàna in Pali) is “extinguishing”. In Buddhism, its main meaning is removing troubles to achieve the highest state without any troubles, ie to obtain the supreme consciousness or liberation. Although various schools of Buddhism all discuss nirvana, the interpretations of nirvana are different.

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Buddhism believes that the world is full of pain, which is directly related to man’s greed or desire, and desire comes from ignorance. Everything in the world or life phenomena is nothing but the separation and reunion of karma. With people being in ignorance believe that there are everlasting things, and pursue the eternal existence of self, but finally fail to realise it, which is because that everything is changeable, life is short, and there is no eternal entity (Atman) in life phenomena. When people pursue those things beyond their reach with the ignorant opinion, they will confront all sorts of troubles and pains. If people realise that everything or life phenomena is preordained, changeable and egoless, they will eliminate ignorance and not go for those that do not exist, thus, they will have no greed. In this way, people can remove the trouble and pain, or reach nirvana or liberation.

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Hinayana thinks that if you want to reach nirvana, it is necessary to become a monk and live the ascetic life. It puts emphasis on individual liberation, not on helping others for liberation. Directed against the Vimukti in Hinayana, Mahayana puts forward the concept of taking across sentient beings universally, and it emphasises the unity of nirvana and world. Volume five of *Saddharmapundarika-sutra* writes that “For taking across sentient beings universally and showing what nirvana will become after life ends, the Bodhisattva will not conduct the real nirvana”. The sutra is to show that nirvana is not isolated from the world, instead, lives in the world, which is because of the reason that Bodhisattva need to moralise humans. Volume 4 of *Madhyamika-sastra*, the main works of Madhyamaka, writes that “there is no difference between nirvana and world”. The sutra emphasises that nirvana is a spiritual or cognitive state relating to the world. In this state, people realise that all dharmas are atyanta-sunyata, and don’t persist in any prejudice.

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*Mahaparinirvana-sutra* defines a new boundary between nirvana and world, which maintains the independence of Buddhist sangha to a certain extent. But from the view of Buddhism going deep into the secular society, it is not as convenient as the theory of Madhyamika, because “reality nirvana” theory of Madhyamika provides an important theoretical basis for Mahayana going deep into secular society for religious activities.

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**Vimukti in Jainism:** Jainism argues that liberation refers to the state that jīva (soul) as the subject of human or life phenomena gets rid of the Samsara. Jainism thinks that jīva can be divided into two kinds - jīva being in Samsara and jīva achieving liberation. The former is bound, while the latter is unbound. The reason that jīva gets into Samsara and is bound is that the materials of karma produced by the behaviour of body, words and thoughts flow into it, making jīva and material combine to form the body, from birth to death. Such material flowing into jīva is called a 'leak'. For liberation, it is necessary to destroy the leak and make jīva free from the material. For ways to destroy the leak or to achieve liberation, the main scripture of Jainism - *Tattvarthadhigama* thinks that jāva can get rid of the yoke of the material to reach liberation by relying on “three treasures” of Jainism, namely - correct faith, correct wisdom and correct behaviour.

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**Spread and influence in China:** Vimukti was introduced into China with Buddhism. Chinese translation of *Mahaparinirvana-sutra* and other Buddhism scriptures provide direct discussions on the concept of nirvana of Buddhism, and there are also many discussions on nirvana or liberation in Indian Buddhism. In China, Vimukti in Mahayana is the most prevalent. The understanding of Indian Vimukti by the Chinese mainly refers to being Buddha or enlightenment, which can be reflected from some main sects of Buddhism in China. The dominant one among Chinese Buddhist sects is dhyana, and its *Altar Sutra* puts forward that, “The Buddhadharma is here in the world, enlightenment is not apart from the world”, which shows the basic opinion of Chinese Buddhism on liberation or being Buddha, namely, enlightenment or liberation shall be conducted in the world. Pure land sect advocates some Indian Buddhist scriptures, and takes the rebirth in West Pure Land as the main content of liberation. Other Chinese Buddhist sects often take the realisation of greatest wisdom of Buddhist scriptures as the state of liberation. These thoughts about liberation are widely spread in China and exert a profound influence on Chinese culture.

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In addition to Buddhism, Indian thoughts introduced into China also include Brahmanism thought. These thoughts also include Vimukti. Some important literatures (*Hiran Yasaptati* and *Vais/es!ika-das/a-pada^rtha-prakaran!a*) of Samkhya and Vaisesika in Brahmanism Astikya were translated into Chinese in ancient China, making the Chinese gain some knowledge of basic thoughts of Indian Brahmanism philosophy about liberation. These thoughts and Buddhism thoughts produce influence on Chinese culture to some extent, and are the important contents of cultural exchange between ancient India and China.

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In modern China, India’s Vimukti still has some impacts on the Chinese public, and this concept in Buddhism still plays a major role. The Vimukti is also attached great importance in modern Chinese academic circle, and is given the special attention in study of Indian religious culture. Many papers on this aspect are often published in Chinese academic journals, and China has even published the monograph on such contents.

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(*Yao Weiqun*)

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