Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t11.4

v1.c7.s9.t11.4

Radhakrishnan was a representative of new Vedanta philosophy and occupied an important position in the history of Indian modern philosophy. The characteristics of his philosophy were the integration of Indian Advaita Vedanta with Western absolute idealism. He named the supreme noumenon of the universe to be “Bráhman”, also known as “absolute.” Like Vedanta followers, he believed that “Bráhman” was the “only” existence of universe; also like an absolute idealist, he believed that everything in the world were products of the “only one”. In his opinion, Bráhman is “pure consciousness, pure freedom and with unlimited possibilities.” Bráhman is the infinite and eternal pure spiritual entity; it contains infinite possibilities, not subject to any restrictions and interference and could create endless things freely. The world we live in is a creation of Bráhman. He opposed Advaita Vedanta’s “Illusory World Theory,” and argued the material world has a real existence. All things in the world have three features, ie materiality, temporality and spatiality. The existence of matter is not the single existence of one feature, but the combination and unity of the three features. The material world develops and changes continuously, and there are certain law for the changes.