The History of Buddhist Thought c16.8

c16.8

The word ātman is found in the earliest Vedic hymns. The derivation of the word is uncertain. It is sometimes held to have meant " breath ", but it had already acquired a more special meaning. It is breath in the sense of " life ". The soma drink is said to be the ātman of the sacrifice. The sun is called the ātman of all that moves and stands. The commonest meaning is that of " self ", a use which is still found in the modern Indian languages. These meanings were probably not distinctly separated. This life or self was something which could leave the body and return. As such it is spoken of in the Rigveda as manas.¹ Such conceptions coming down from what are called primitive times are continued in the Upanishads. There is the self, the size of a thumb, which abides in the heart. From the heart pass a hundred and one channels, from which the ātman may issue. From one passage at the top of the head it may pass to immortality. It may leave the body in sleep. " Therefore let not one wake him suddenly, they say ; for hard is the healing of one to whom he does not return."² But a deeper conception is expressed, that the ātman is that which is most real. " This person consists of the essence of food. This is his head, this is his right side, this is his left side, this is his ātman, this is his lower part, the base."³ Here the body is being described, and the ātman appears to be the trunk of the body. But the passage goes on to say that besides this ātman consisting of food there is another ātman consisting of breath, and its ātman is space ; behind this is another consisting of mind, and its ātman is instruction (the Vedas) ; behind this is another consisting of knowledge, and its ātman is yoga ; behind this is another consisting of bliss, and its ātman is bliss.