Samsara
In Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and other related religions, samsāra refers to reincarnation or rebirth in Indian philosophical traditions. Etymologically, Samsara is derived from the the Sanskrit and Pāli phrases "to flow together," "to go or pass through states", "continous movement", "continuous flowing" or "to wander". In most Indian philosophical traditions, including the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain systems, an ongoing and beginningless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is assumed to be a principle of nature. This cycle is inextricably linked with the doctrine of karma, which is said to determine one's rebirth in within the material world. Each tradition differs, however, in the terminology with which they describe the process and in the metaphysics they use to interpret it. There are also variations between sects within the tradition. Most of these traditions, in their evolved forms, regard Samsāra negatively, as a fallen condition marked by suffering, sorrow and inpermanence. Actions motivated by desire, selfish individualism, and/or ignorance of the true nature of the self and reality lead to rebirths. According to the merit of their karma, an individuals may be reincarnated as another human, an animal, or even an insect or plant. One may also be reborn in a particular locale, such as heaven or hell. The ultimate goal of all three religions is to escape this realm. Some later adaptations of these traditions identify Samsāra as a mere metaphor. The term is also generally applied to conditioned, transient existence within the material world, which is in juxtaposed with liberated states such as moksha and nirvana.
Origins
Belief in the cycle of rebirth has been linked, by some scholars, to the Aryan emphasis on fire sacrifices as is seen in the Vedas. During Vedic rituals, fire (personified by the god Agni), was seen as the medium through which humanity connected with the heavens, and thereby allowed human beings to gain favour of the gods. This notion that actions in the present could have effects upon the future results may have been reconceptualized in the later doctrine of karma. Further, Vedic religion upheld the idea of punar mrtyu, or "redeath" which took place in heaven, and preceded punar avrtti, or return to life on earth. Alternate theories attribute the rebirth doctrine to ancient non-Aryan tribal people, or else groups located around the Ganges which opposed the Vedas. Regardless of origin, the doctrine of rebirth was widespread in India during the sixth century B.C.E., when the Upanishads were composed, and the new religions of Buddhism and Jainism were founded.
Samsāra in Hinduism
In some types of Hinduism, Samsāra is seen as ignorance of the True Self, Brahman, and thus the soul is led to believe in the reality of the temporal, phenomenal world.
In Hinduism, it is avidya, or ignorance, of one's true self, that leads to ego-consciousness of the body and the phenomenal world. This grounds one in desire and the perpetual chain of karma and reincarnation. The state of illusion is known as Maya.
Hinduism had many terms for the state of liberation like moksha, mukti, nirvana, and mahasamadhi.
The Hindu Yoga traditions hold various beliefs. Moksha may be achieved by love of Ishwar/God (see bhakti movement), by psycho-physical meditation (Raja Yoga), by discrimination of what is real and unreal through intense contemplation (Jnana Yoga) and through Karma Yoga, the path of selfless action that subverts the ego and enforces understanding of the unity of all. Advaita Vedanta, which heavily influenced Hindu Yoga, believes that Brahman, the ultimate Truth-Consciousness-Bliss, is the infinite, impersonal reality (as contrasted to the Buddhist concept of shunyata) and that through realization of it, all temporal states like deities, the cosmos and samsara itself are revealed to be nothing but manifestations of Brahman.
Some, such as Advaita Vedanta regard the world and Saṃsāric participation in it as fundamentally illusory.
Samsāra in Jainism
In Jainism, karma, anuva (ego) and the veil of maya are central. Liberation from samsara is called moksha or mukti.
Samsāra in Buddhism
Samsāra, term for refers in Buddhism to the concept of a cycle of birth (jāti) and consequent decay and death (jarāmaraṇa), in which all beings in the universe participate and which can only be escaped through enlightenment. It is generally opposed to nirvāṇa or nibbāna.
Whereas in Hinduism some being (Atman], jīva, etc.) is regarded as being subject to Samsāra, Buddhism was founded on a rejection (anatta) of such metaphysical substances, and originally accounts for the process of rebirth/reincarnation by appeal to phenomenological or psychological constituents. Later schools of Buddhism such as the Pudgalavāda, however, re-introduce the concept of a "person" which transmigrates. The basic idea that there is a cycle of birth and rebirth is, however, not questioned in early Buddhism and its successors, and neither is, generally, the concept that saṃsāra is a negative condition to be abated through religious practice concluding in the achievement of final nirvāṇa.
According to several strands of the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition, the division of Samsāra and nirvāṇa is attacked using an argument that extends some of the basic premises of anātman and of Buddha's attack on orthodox accounts of existence. This is found poetically in the "Perfection of Wisdom" literature and more analytically in the philosophy of Nāgārjuna and later writers. It is not entirely clear which aspects of this theoretical move were developed first in the sutras and which in the philosophical tradition.
Samsārais uncontrollably recurring rebirth, filled with suffering and problems (according to Kālacakra tantra as explained by Dr. A. Berzin). In this sense, Samsara may be translated "Wheel of Suffering."
See also
- Bhavacakra
- Reincarnation
- Nirvana
- Moksha
External links
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