Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t8: Swami Vivekananda
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t8
- Language
- English
Swami Vivekananda
v1.c7.s9.t8.1
Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902 CE) was an Indian modern philosopher, religious reformer, and pioneer of Indian nationalism. His name was paraphrased to be "Identification of Joy" and transliterated as Swami Vivekananda. He was born in the Kshatriya caste in Calcutta in 1883. He graduated from Calcutta Provincial Academy, and in the following year he was transferred to the City College of Calcutta, where continued his studies in law. In college, Vivekananda once had keen interest in Western philosophy and had read the works of Hegel, Kant, Descartes, Spencer and others. After graduation, due to social influence, he gave up his dream of being a judge and followed Ramakrishna, the Hinduism reformer, as his guide and was determined to throw himself into the Indian religious reform movement. Since 1888, he spent five years in the identity of mendicant monk, roaming all over India and extensively contacting the masses to understand their needs. In 1893, he broke the canon of Hinduism forbidding Hindus travelling overseas and went alone to Chicago,in the United States of America. Here, he attended the World Conference of Religions. At the meeting, his excellent speeches won the attention of the meeting attendants on this young Hinduism scholar. After the meeting, he was employed by Harvard University, Columbia University as a lecturer of Eastern philosophy and made dozens of speeches regarding Indian Vedanta philosophy throughout the United States of America, which were popular in the American intellectual circles. Here, he also published a number of papers on Indian philosophy, such as *Vedanta Philosophy*, *Karma Yoga*, *Raja Yoga*, and so on. In 1896, he established in New York a “Vedanta Society” and began to spread Vedanta thought to the United States of America. In the same year, he paid a visit to Europe, England, Germany, Switzerland and other countries, and had speaking tour. In 1897, he returned to his motherland and welcomed by all circles in India. On May 1st of the same year, he founded in Calcutta Ramakrishna Mission Association named after his teacher. This organisation later became one of the most influential religious reform communities in India. In 1899, Vivekananda created at the foothills of Himalaya an “Advaita Vedanta Academy”, with the purpose to study and reform the traditional Vedanta philosophy. In June of the same year, he again went abroad to the United States and gave academic lectures, then went to France to participate in the World Religions History Conference. Vivekananda died in 1902 at the age of 39.
v1.c7.s9.t8.2
*Swami Vivekananda*
v1.c7.s9.t8.3
New Vedanta Doctrine
v1.c7.s9.t8.4
Vivekananda devoted his life to research and spreading of Indian Vedanta philosophy, he was the first scholar who had promoted innovation of traditional Vedanta, therefore he was known as the initiator of New Vedanta philosophy. He took advantage of viewpoints of Western philosophy and natural science, made a completely new interpretation of traditional Vedanta. First, he criticised Sankara’s “Illusory World” theory, advocated everything in the world were not illusory but manifestations of Bráhman. He believed that the world’s highest noumenon was Bráhman, also known as “Cosmic Rationality.” Bráhman is a pure existence and has no differences of attributes, position, quantity and quality. It is the basis of the entire universe, any phenomena in the world, regardless of the nature, human society or human thinking activity, are all Bráhman’s manifestations.
v1.c7.s9.t8.5
While expounding the issue of the formation of the world, Vivekananda advocated that Bráhman manifested (or created) the world through the media of time, space and causality. Time, space and causality were like a mirror. Bráhman manifested all things in the world with the aid of reflections in this mirror. The universe includes not only the physical world, but also the mental world or spiritual world. The relationship between material world and spiritual world was not the relationship between primary and secondary, but a parallel and juxtaposed relationship, of which both originated from Bráhman. Here, he had changed the concept of “Maya” in traditional Vedanta. The traditional Vedanta usually regarded “Maya” as a kind of magic power, so the world manifested through “Maya” was an illusory world. However, Vivekananda believed “Maya” was not a magic force or magician, but the real time, space and causality. The time, space and causality were real existences, thus the world manifested through the media of time, space and causality by Bráhman was bound to be true. His interpretation of “Maya” enabled his new Vedanta philosophy to step out from the dilemma of the traditional Advaita Vedanta, which believed the world was illusory, and could explain all kinds of phenomena in the world in more scientific ways.
v1.c7.s9.t8.6
While explaining the material world, Vivekananda also changed the view of Vedanta and proposed a lot of materialistic viewpoints by absorbing a lot of contents of materialism and natural science from Western philosophy. He believed that the world composed of constantly changing matter, things differing in thousands of ways were all manifestations of matter. The whole universe was like an ocean of matter, all matters were in the state of flowing changes. Matter constantly developed and changed, nothing was immutable, and kept on condensing or dispersing forever. He also emphasised that the changes of all things in nature followed laws and moved in accordance with its own laws, there was no exception. This view of Vivekananda broke the negation of the material world of ancient Vedanta, changed the direction of traditional Vedanta and manifested the features of new Vedanta philosophy.
v1.c7.s9.t8.7
Vivekananda’s philosophy contains many elements of dialectics. He often talked about the unity of opposites and contradictions of matter, while he analysed the various natural and social phenomena. He believed that all things felt by man’s sense organ or imagined by man’s mind included the two forces of action and reaction, one force working on another force, resulting in a complex and mixed phenomenon. These opposing forces took the forms in the external world of attractive and repulsive force or centripetal and centrifugal force; take the forms in the inner world of love and hatred, good and bad, and so on. The opposite phenomena were only the different manifestations of the same thing seen from different standpoints; they were two forms of a whole. Regarding the topic of dialectics, Vivekananda offered a lot of vivid exposition: good and bad were not two separate and discrete existences, a phenomenon manifested as good now, tomorrow it might be bad; same thing might produce pain for a man, while for another man might be happiness; fire could burn the child, but could also cook a good meal for a hungry man. The same nerve might produce a painful feeling, but also might bring the feeling of happiness. Life or death and bitter or sweet could not exist alone, because some aspects inside them were just the different manifestations of the same thing. The concept of life had already contained the concept of death; the concept of happiness also contained the concept of suffering, and so on. Although Vivekananda discussed a lot about the phenomena of the unity of opposites and transformation of contradictions of relative things, he concluded that contradiction and transformation between the two contradicted sides were only relative, temporary, and their harmony and unity were absolute and eternal.
v1.c7.s9.t8.8
Raja Yoga, Swami Vivekananda (front cover)
v1.c7.s9.t8.9
Regarding epistemological issue, Vivekananda believed there were two ways of gaining knowledge: one was through experience, another was through introspection or intuition. Human knowledge arises from experience, which we call rational understanding, ie the understanding is gained from the partial to the general or from the general to the partial, also based on experience. Without experience nothing can be understood. Scientific research is an understanding based on man’s experiences. In this regard, there were materialistic components in Vivekananda’s epistemology, he affirmed that man’s correct understanding came from social practice and experience; there would be no correct understanding without practice and experience. But on the other hand, as a religious scholar, he also often discussed about this issue from the viewpoint of religious understanding. He believed that human beings also had a gifted cognitive ability, which was called “self-explanatory quality”; man could take advantage of this natural “self-explanatory quality”, through introspection or intuition to gain religious truth, which could not be understood through scientific methods, like the understanding of the truth of “Bráhman”, the highest noumenon of the universe or “Brahman is Atman”, and so on. He believed that Hindus were the people with this kind of 'self-explanatory quality', they could be finally enlightened and recognise their inner “I' were identical to Bráhman, the noumenon of universe, thus came to realise the supreme truth of “Brahman is Atman” through intuition and meditation in a variety of yoga practices.
v1.c7.s9.t8.10
Regarding the issue of man, Vivekananda opposed against the pessimistic view of traditional Vedanta, and fully affirmed the role of man and the value of life. He did not regard man’s body as opposite to “I”, the essence of spirit, but complementary to “I”. In his view, the ability of man’s body is much greater than that of any other living beings. Although there are many animals stronger than man, also many animals are more sensitive than man, however in the overall capacity, man surpasses them a lot. He believed that because the aspects of human body (including his physical, psychological and thinking ability, etc.) were more organically organised together than that of animals and showed a strong unity. Man’s reaction to external stimuli is not like that of other living beings, which is simply intuitive or mechanical response. All actions taken by man to react on the external environment always follow a plan, with a strong sense of purpose and selectivity. Man also has a self-transcendence capability and can reach beyond himself through his own efforts to achieve a high spiritual realm. In addition, the emergence of human brain and thinking system in a man’s body made a fundamental distinction between man and animals and put man at a special position in the world. In his view, the human body is the greatest body in the universe, a human’s existence is the greatest one in the universe; human is above all animals, also above all angels, nothing is greater than human. In order to emphasise the role of human, Vivekananda even regarded the man’s inner “I” or soul as “God” or “Divinity”, regarded the man’s body as a “temple of God.” He pointed out that it was impossible to find God outside of our body. Our own internal soul represented all divinity outside of our body and our body was the temple of the greatest God.
v1.c7.s9.t8.11
The greatest contribution of Vivekananda in new Vedanta philosophy was his opposition against pessimistic and reclusive view of life of traditional Vedanta, and fully affirmed the value of life, and encouraged people to act positively and realise the dreams of life through their own efforts. He argued that every individual could improve his own humanity to divinity, but this must go through their own hard work. Through practical action, more good deeds and selflessly serving the community, the humanity of a man can be transformed and spiritual liberation could be achieved. If you want to find God, first you need to serve the society; if you want to gain strength, it is necessary to serve your fellow citizens. He asked his disciples to eliminate selfish desires, do more good deeds and called on them to the countryside to help poor farmers. To realise one's good, it can be only through doing
v1.c7.s9.t8.12
Swami Vivekananda
v1.c7.s9.t8.13
more good things for others; to realise liberation, only through guiding the others to the road of liberation. Vivekananda's philosophy affirming the value of life and encouraging people to positively act and devote selflessly is also known as the “Action Vedanta Theory.”
v1.c7.s9.t8.14
Religious Reform Thought
v1.c7.s9.t8.15
Based on the inherited Ramakrishna's idea of “human religion”, Vivekananda further proposed the thought of “Universal Religion”. The so-called “universal religion” took Hindu Vedanta philosophy as the theoretical basis and was created as a new type of religion which could be accepted by any religious sects all over the world, as it integrated the commonness and advantages of various religions in the world and was beyond the differences and disagreements between the various religions. In 1893, Vivekananda proposed the ideal of establishment of a “universal religion” at the Conference of World Religions in Chicago, with the purpose to eliminate the differences between different religions and to realise harmony and unity between the world's different religions. His view gained praise and attention from the attendants. In his opinion, all religions believe in the divinity they worship, though the divinities are in different names, they are the same supreme eternal entity. Like God for Christian, Allah for Islam, Buddha for Buddhism, Vishnu and Shiva for Hinduism, and so on, though these divine names are different, they are essentially the manifestations of the same omnipresent, omniscient divinity. Although different religions have different ways of worship and the liberation is achieved through different ways as well, however their ultimate goal to achieve is the same. The ultimate goal of all religions is to make people free from sufferings and to achieve universal human love, harmony and unity between people. Although the precepts implemented by various religions are different, they all require their followers to do good things and love others, have mutual tolerance and help others. Vivekananda believed that the various religions in the world had these commonness or universality, which laid the foundation for establishing a “universal religion”. He therefore appealed to the followers of different religion sects to break the restrictions set by the name of religion and to eliminate the religious sectarianism, to promote exchanges and cooperation between different religions. He also called on people to break the sectarian prejudices, without denominational restrictions they could voluntarily worship and pray to the divinities in the temple of any religions. He also emphasised that “universal religion” is also an “action religion”, although this religion could help one's humanity to be raised to divinity, it required each person's continuous efforts. Everyone must realise their human transformation through their own actions and selfless work for the community, to achieve their union with divinity. Regarding the contradictions and conflict between Hindus and Muslims in India, Vivekananda strongly urged Hindus and Muslims to eliminate differences and prejudices and unite as soon as possible. He pointed out that to make our Motherland be stronger, India's only hope was the combination of the two systems of Hinduism and Islam.
v1.c7.s9.t8.16
Nationalism Theory
v1.c7.s9.t8.17
Vivekananda's nationalism theory is one of the most influential nationalist theories in early India. First, he boldly exposed the hideous disasters brought by the British colonial rule to the Indian people and actively promoted patriotism. He felt very sad when he saw the “slave-like weakness” shown by many intellectuals in India under the colonial rule, and advocated Indians need “iron muscles”, “ steel nerves”, “giant’s will” and dare to resist any enemy. He proposed a programme of national rejuvenation, the core of which was “action religion and unity of India.” He advocated that all nations and religions in India should unite on the basis of Indian spirit, break the sectarian opposition and caste segregation, improve the labour and living conditions of masses, improve the social status and rights of women, popularise modern education and scientific knowledge, promote national culture, develop industry and commerce to revitalise India as soon as possible. He also designed a beautiful blueprint for the future of India. He believed that Indian spiritual philosophy and religious culture were the best in the world, the European science and technology, production methods and liberal democratic political system were also models for other countries to learn, so the best social model in the future should be a combination of these two, namely the society combined by “Indian religion” and “European production mode and liberal democratic system”. Vivekananda’s nationalism theory had exerted a significant influence on the later Indian nationalist movement.
v1.c7.s9.t8.18
Swami Vivekananda
v1.c7.s9.t8.19
Chinese Study on Vivekananda
v1.c7.s9.t8.20
In 1893, Vivekananda had been to China on his way to Chicago to attend the World Religions Conference. He visited Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places and had certain understanding of China. In addition, he was very concerned about the history and current situation of China, there were many discussions about China in his works, like he said, “Though today’s China seems like an unorganised group, however in her great prime period, she had the most enviable organisation not known to any country. A lot of skills and creation which we may call as modern have been carried out centuries or even thousands of years ago in China. One example is the competitive imperial examination system. “(Complete Works of Swami *Vivekananda*, volume 5, page 129)
v1.c7.s9.t8.21
Chinese people have started understanding and researching about Vivekananda since the 1940s. In 1946, Jin Kemu opened the course of Indian philosophy for the Philosophy Department of Wuhan University; he once offered the students lectures about Vivekananda philosophy. In 1948, he went to teach Indian philosophy in the Philosophy Department of Peking University and also taught Vivekananda’s new Vedanta thoughts. In 1979, Huang Xinchuan published his scholarly monograph *Research of Modern Indian Philosopher Vivekananda*, which comprehensively introduced Vivekananda’s life and biographies and discussed his philosophical, social and political thoughts, and also analysed his role in the history of Indian philosophy and the Indian national independence movement. In another book written by Huang Xinchuan, *Indian Modern Philosophy*, there was also a chapter dedicated to discuss Vivekananda’s philosophy and religious reform theory. In 1991, Zhu Mingzhong translated Indian philosopher Basant Kumar Lal’s book *Contemporary Indian Philosophy* (1991), the book included a chapter fully expounding Vivekananda’s philosophy and Yoga ideology, so the understanding of Vivekananda by Chinese people goes further. In addition, there are also introduction about Vivekananda in the *Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy Volume* (1987) and the *Dictionary of South Asia* (1998).
v1.c7.s9.t8.22
The main works of Vivekananda include: *Vedanta Philosophy*, *Spirit of Vedanta and Its Influence*, *Practical Vedanta*, *Buddhism and Vedanta*, *Vedanta Philosophy and Christianity*, *Reason and Religion*, *Religion and Science*, *Indian Religion*, *Karma Yoga*, *Jnana Yoga* and *Bhakti Yoga* and so on.
v1.c7.s9.t8.23
(Zhu Mingzhong)
Linked texts (2)
- Vedānta — Sanskrit
- Advaita Vedānta — Sanskrit