SaṃsāraSaṃsāra (/səmˈsɑːrə/) is a Sanskrit word that means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitouschange.[1][2] It also refers to the concept of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of mostIndian religions.[3][4] In short, it is the cycle of death and rebirth.[2][5] Saṃsāra is sometimes referred to with terms or phrases suchas transmigration, karmic cycle, reincarnation, and "cycle of aimless drifting, wandering or mundane existence".[2][6]

The concept of Saṃsāra has roots in the post-Vedic literature; the theory is not discussed in the Vedas themselves.[7][8] It appears indeveloped form, but without mechanistic details, in the early Upanishads.[9][10] The full exposition of the Saṃsāra doctrine is foundin Sramanic religions such as Buddhism and Jainism, as well as various schools of Hindu philosophy after about the mid-1stmillennium BCE.[10][11] The Saṃsāra doctrine is tied to the Karma theory of Indian religions, and the liberation from Saṃsāra hasbeen at the core of the spiritual quest of Indian traditions, as well as their internal disagreements.[12][13] The liberation from Saṃsārais called Moksha, Nirvana, Mukti or Kaivalya.[6][14][15]

Etymology and terminology

Definition and rationale

HistoryPunarmrityu: redeathEvolution of ideas

Samsāra in HinduismDifferences within the Hindu traditions

Saṃsāra in Jainism

Samsara in Buddhism

Saṅsāra in Sikhism

See also

ReferencesBibliography

External links

Saṃsāra (Sanskrit: ससार) means "wandering",[2][16] as well as "world" wherein the term connotes "cyclic change".[1] Saṃsāra is afundamental concept in all Indian religions, is linked to the karma theory, and refers to the belief that all living beings cyclically gothrough births and rebirths. The term is related to phrases such as "the cycle of successive existence", "transmigration", "karmiccycle", "the wheel of life", and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence".[2][5][17] Many scholarly texts spell Saṃsāra asSamsara.[5][18]

According to Monier-Williams, Saṃsāra is rooted in the term Saṃsṛ (सस), which means "to go round, revolve, pass through asuccession of states, to go towards or obtain, moving in a circuit".[19] A conceptual form from this root appears in ancient texts asSaṃsaraṇa, which means "going around through a succession of states, birth, rebirth of living beings and the world", withoutobstruction.[19] The term shortens to Saṃsāra, referring to the same concept, as a "passage through successive states of mundane

Contents

Etymology and terminology

existence", a transmigration, metempsychosis, a circuit of living where one repeats previous states, from one body to another, aworldly life of constant change, that is rebirth, growth, decay and redeath.[6][19][20] The concept is then contrasted with the conceptof moksha, also known as mukti, nirvana, nibbana or kaivalya, which refers to liberation from this cycle of aimless wandering.[6][19]

The concept of Samsara developed in the post-Vedic times, and is traceable in the Samhita layers such as in sections 1.164, 4.55, 6.70and 10.14 of the Rigveda.[9][21][22] While the idea is mentioned in the Samhita layers of the Vedas, there is lack of clear expositionthere, and the idea fully develops in the early Upanishads.[23][24] Damien Keown states that the notion of "cyclic birth and death"appears around 800 BCE.[25] The word Saṃsāra appears, along with Moksha, in several Principal Upanishads such as in verse 1.3.7of the Katha Upanishad,[26] verse 6.16 of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad,[27] verses 1.4 and 6.34 of the Maitri Upanishad.[28][29]

The word Samsara is related to Saṃsṛti, the latter referring to the "course of mundane existence, transmigration, flow, circuit orstream".[19]

The word literally means "wandering through, flowing on", states Stephen J. Laumakis, in the sense of "aimless and directionlesswandering".[30] The concept of Saṃsāra is closely associated with the belief that the person continues to be born and reborn invarious realms and forms.[31]

The earliest layers of Vedic text incorporate the concept of life, followed by an afterlife in heaven and hell based on cumulativevirtues (merit) or vices (demerit).[32] However, the ancient Vedic Rishis challenged this idea of afterlife as simplistic, because peopledo not live an equally moral or immoral life. Between generally virtuous lives, some are more virtuous; while evil too has degrees,and the texts assert that it would be unfair for god Yama to judge and reward people with varying degrees of virtue or vices, in "eitheror" and disproportionate manner.[33][34][35] They introduced the idea of an afterlife in heaven or hell in proportion to one's merit, andwhen this runs out, one returns and is reborn.[33][11][36] This idea appears in ancient and medieval texts, as the cycle of life, death,rebirth and redeath, such as section 6:31 of the Mahabharata and section 6.10 of Devi Bhagavata Purana.[33][17][21]

The historical origins of a concept of a cycle of repeated reincarnation are obscure but the idea appears in texts of both India andancient Greece during the first millennium BCE.[37][38]

The idea of Samsara is hinted in the late Vedic texts such as the Rigveda, but the theory is absent.[9][39] The late textual layers of theVedas mention and anticipate the doctrine of Karma and rebirth, however states Stephen Laumakis, the idea is not fullydeveloped.[23] It is in the early Upanishads where these ideas are more fully developed, but there too the discussion does not providespecific mechanistic details.[23] The detailed doctrines flower with unique characteristics, starting around the mid 1st millenniumBCE, in diverse traditions such as in Buddhism, Jainism and various schools of Hindu philosophy.[10]

Some scholars state that the Samsara doctrine may have originated from the Sramana traditions and was then adopted by theBrahmanical traditions (Hinduism).[40][41][42] The evidence for who influenced whom in the ancient times, is slim and speculative,and the odds are the historic development of the Samsara theories likely happened in parallel with mutual influences.[43]

While Saṃsāra is usually described as rebirth and reincarnation of living beings, the chronological development of the idea over itshistory began with the questions on what is the true nature of human existence and whether people die only once. This led first to theconcepts of Punarmṛtyu ("redeath") and Punaravṛtti ("return").[20][44][45] These early theories asserted that the nature of humanexistence involves two realities, one unchanging absolute Atman (soul) which is somehow connected to the ultimate unchangingimmortal reality and bliss called Brahman,[46][47] and that the rest is the always-changing subject (body) in a phenomenal world(Maya).[48][49][50] Redeath, in the Vedic theosophical speculations, reflected the end of "blissful years spent in svarga or heaven",and it was followed by rebirth back in the phenomenal world.[51] Samsara developed into a foundational theory of the nature ofexistence, shared by all Indian religions.[52]

Definition and rationale

History

Punarmrityu: redeath

Rebirth as a human being, states John Bowker, was then presented as a "rare opportunity to break the sequence of rebirth, thusattaining Moksha, release".[47] Each Indian spiritual tradition developed its own assumptions and paths (marga or yoga) for thisspiritual release,[47] with some developing the ideas of Jivanmukti (liberation and freedom in this life),[53][54][55] while otherscontent with Videhamukti (liberation and freedom in after-life).[56][57]

The Sramanas traditions (Buddhism and Jainism) added novelideas, starting about the 6th century BCE.[60] They emphasizedhuman suffering in the larger context, placing rebirth, redeath andtruth of pain at the center and the start of religious life.[61] Samsarawas viewed by the Sramanas as a beginningless cyclical processwith each birth and death as punctuations in that process,[61] andspiritual liberation as freedom from rebirth and redeath.[62] Thesamsaric rebirth and redeath ideas are discussed in these religionswith various terms, such as Āgatigati in many early Pali Suttas ofBuddhism.[63]

Across different religions, different soteriology were emphasized as the Saṃsāra theories evolved in respective Indian traditions.[13]

For example, in their Saṃsāra theories, states Obeyesekere, the Hindu traditions accepted Atman or soul exists and asserted it to bethe unchanging essence of each living being, while Buddhist traditions denied such a soul exists and developed the concept ofAnatta.[52][13][64] Salvation (moksha, mukti) in the Hindu traditions was described using the concepts of Atman (self) and Brahman(universal reality),[65] while in Buddhism it (nirvana, nibbana) was described through the concept of Anatta (no self) and Śūnyatā(emptiness).[66][67][68]

The Ajivika tradition combined Saṃsāra with the premise that there is no free will, while the Jainism tradition accepted the conceptof soul (calling it "jiva") with free will, but emphasized asceticism and cessation of action as a means of liberation from Saṃsāra itcalls bondage.[69][70] The various sub-traditions of Hinduism, and of Buddhism, accepted free will, avoided asceticism, acceptedrenunciation and monastic life, and developed their own ideas on liberation through realization of the true nature of existence.[71]

In Hinduism, Saṃsāra is a journey of the soul.[72] The body dies, assert the Hindu traditions, but not the soul which it assumes to bethe eternal reality, indestructible and bliss.[72] Everything and all existence is connected, cyclical and composed of two things, thesoul and the body or matter.[18] This eternal soul called Atman never reincarnates, it does not change and cannot change in the Hindubelief.[18] In contrast, the body and personality, can change, constantly changes, is born and dies.[18] Current Karma impacts thefuture circumstances in this life, as well as the future forms and realms of lives.[73][74] Good intent and actions lead to good future,bad intent and actions lead to bad future, in the Hindu view of life.[75]

A virtuous life, actions consistent with dharma, are believed by Hindus to contribute to a better future, whether in this life or futurelives.[76] The aim of spiritual pursuits, whether it be through the path of bhakti (devotion), karma (work), jnana (knowledge), or raja(meditation) is self-liberation (moksha) from Samsara.[76][77]

The Upanishads, part of the scriptures of the Hindu traditions, primarily focus on self-liberation from Saṃsāra.[78][79][80] TheBhagavad Gita discusses various paths to liberation.[72] The Upanishads, states Harold Coward, offer a "very optimistic viewregarding the perfectibility of human nature", and the goal of human effort in these texts is a continuous journey to self-perfectionand self-knowledge so as to end Saṃsāra.[81] The aim of spiritual quest in the Upanishadic traditions is find the true self within andto know one's soul, a state that it believes leads to blissful state of freedom, moksha.[82]

The First Truth

The first truth, suffering (Pali: dukkha; Sanskrit: duhkha), is characteristic of existence in the realm of rebirth, called samsara (literally “wandering”).

—Four Noble Truths, Donald Lopez[58][59]

Evolution of ideas

Samsāra in Hinduism

Differences within the Hindu traditions

All Hindu traditions and Darśanas share the concept of Saṃsāra, but they differ in details and what they describe the state ofliberation from Saṃsāra to be.[83] The Saṃsāra is viewed as the cycle of rebirth in a temporal world of always changing reality orMaya (appearance, illusive), Brahman is defined as that which never changes or Sat (eternal truth, reality), and moksha as therealization of Brahman and freedom from Saṃsāra.[65][84][85]

The dualistic devotional traditions such as Madhvacharya's Dvaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism champion a theistic premise, assertthe individual human soul and Brahman (Vishnu, Krishna) are two different realities, loving devotion to Vishnu is the means torelease from Samsara, it is the grace of Vishnu which leads to moksha, and spiritual liberation is achievable only in after-life(videhamukti).[86] The nondualistic traditions such as Adi Shankara's Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism champion a monisticpremise, asserting that the individual human soul and Brahman are identical, only ignorance, impulsiveness and inertia leads tosuffering through Saṃsāra, in reality they are no dualities, meditation and self-knowledge is the path to liberation, the realization thatone's soul is identical to Brahman is moksha, and spiritual liberation is achievable in this life (jivanmukti).[68][87]

In Jainism, the Saṃsāra and Karma doctrine are central to its theological foundations, as evidenced by the extensive literature on itin the major sects of Jainism, and their pioneering ideas on karma and Saṃsāra from the earliest times of the Jaina tradition.[88][89]

Saṃsāra in Jainism represents the worldly life characterized by continuous rebirths and suffering in various realms ofexistence.[90][89][91]

The conceptual framework of the Saṃsāra doctrine differs between the Jainism traditions and other Indian religions. For instance, inJaina traditions, soul (jiva) is accepted as a truth, as is assumed in the Hindu traditions, but not assumed in the Buddhist traditions.However, Saṃsāra or the cycle of rebirths, has a definite beginning and end in Jainism.[92]

Release from Saṃsāra, or Moksha, is considered the ultimate spiritual goal in Hinduism, but its traditions disagreeon how to reach this state. Left: Loving devotion is recommended in dualistic Hindu traditions. Right: Meditation isrecommended in nondualistic Hindu traditions.

Saṃsāra in Jainism

Souls begin their journey in a primordial state, and exist in a state of consciousnesscontinuum that is constantly evolving through Saṃsāra.[93] Some evolve to a higherstate, while some regress, a movement that is driven by karma.[94] Further, Jainatraditions believe that there exist Abhavya (incapable), or a class of souls that cannever attain moksha (liberation).[92][95] The Abhavya state of soul is entered after anintentional and shockingly evil act.[96] Jainism considers souls as pluralistic each ina karma-Saṃsāra cycle, and does not subscribe to Advaita style nondualism ofHinduism, or Advaya style nondualism of Buddhism.[95]

The Jaina theosophy, like ancient Ajivika, but unlike Hindu and Buddhisttheosophies, asserts that each soul passes through 8,400,000 birth-situations, as theycircle through Saṃsāra.[97][98] As the soul cycles, states Padmanabh Jaini, Jainismtraditions believe that it goes through five types of bodies: earth bodies, waterbodies, fire bodies, air bodies and vegetable lives.[99] With all human and non-human activities, such as rainfall, agriculture, eating and even breathing, minusculeliving beings are taking birth or dying, their souls are believed to be constantlychanging bodies. Perturbing, harming or killing any life form, including any humanbeing, is considered a sin in Jainism, with negative karmic effects.[100][91]

A liberated soul in Jainism is one who has gone beyond Saṃsāra, is at the apex, is omniscient, remains there eternally, and is knownas a Siddha.[101] A male human being is considered closest to the apex with the potential to achieve liberation, particularly throughasceticism. Women must gain karmic merit, to be reborn as man, and only then can they achieve spiritual liberation in Jainism,particularly in the Digambara sect of Jainism;[102][103] however, this view has been historically debated within Jainism and differentJaina sects have expressed different views, particularly the Shvetambara sect that believes that women too can achieve liberationfrom Saṃsāra.[103][104]

In contrast to Buddhist texts which do not expressly or unambiguously condemn injuring or killing plants and minor life forms, Jainatexts do. Jainism considers it a bad karma to injure plants and minor life forms with negative impact on a soul's Saṃsāra.[105]

However, some texts in Buddhism and Hinduism do caution a person from injuring all life forms, including plants andseeds.[105][106][107]

Saṃsāra in Buddhism, states Jeff Wilson, is the "suffering-laden cycle of life, death, and rebirth, without beginning or end".[109]

Also referred to as the wheel of existence (Bhavacakra), it is often mentioned in Buddhist texts with the term punarbhava (rebirth,re-becoming); the liberation from this cycle of existence, Nirvana, is the foundation and the most important purpose ofBuddhism.[109][110][111]

Samsara is considered impermanent in Buddhism, just like other Indian religions. Karma drives this impermanent Samsara inBuddhist thought, states Paul Williams, and "short of attaining enlightenment, in each rebirth one is born and dies, to be rebornelsewhere in accordance with the completely impersonal causal nature of one's own karma; This endless cycle of birth, rebirth, andredeath is Saṃsāra".[112] The Four Noble Truths, accepted by all Buddhist traditions, are aimed at ending this Samsara-related re-becoming (rebirth) and associated cycles of suffering.[113][114][115]

Like Jainism, Buddhism developed its own Samsara theory, that evolved over time the mechanistic details on how the wheel ofmundane existence works over the endless cycles of rebirth and redeath.[116][117] In early Buddhist traditions, Saṃsāra cosmologyconsisted of five realms through which wheel of existence recycled.[109] This included hells (niraya), hungry ghosts (pretas), animals(tiryak), humans (manushya), and gods (devas, heavenly).[109][116][118] In latter traditions, this list grew to a list of six realms ofrebirth, adding demi-gods (asuras).[109][119] The "hungry ghost, heavenly, hellish realms" respectively formulate the ritual, literaryand moral spheres of many contemporary Buddhist traditions.[109][116]

Symbolic depiction of Saṃsāra atShri Mahaveerji temple of Jainism.

Samsara in Buddhism

The Saṃsāra concept, in Buddhism, envisions that these six realms areinterconnected, and everyone cycles life after life, and death is just a state for anafterlife, through these realms, because of a combination of ignorance, desires andpurposeful karma, or ethical and unethical actions.[109][116] Nirvana is typicallydescribed as the freedom from rebirth and the only alternative to suffering ofSamsara, in Buddhism.[120][121] However, the Buddhist texts developed a morecomprehensive theory of rebirth, states Steven Collins, from fears of redeath, calledamata (death-free), a state which is considered synonymous with nirvana.[120][122]

Sikhism incorporates the concepts of Saṃsāra (sometimes spelled as Sansara inSikh texts), Karma and cyclical nature of time and existence.[123][124] Founded inthe 15th century, its founder Guru Nanak had a choice between the cyclical conceptof ancient Indian religions and the linear concept of early 7th-century Islam, and hechose the cyclical concept of time, state Cole and Sambhi.[124][125] However, statesArvind-Pal Singh Mandair, there are important differences between the Saṅsāraconcept in Sikhism from the Saṃsāra concept in many traditions withinHinduism.[123] The difference is that Sikhism firmly believes in the grace of God asthe means to salvation, and its precepts encourage the bhakti of One Lord for mukti (salvation).[123][126]

Sikhism, like the three ancient Indian traditions, believes that body is perishable, there is a cycle of rebirth, and that there is sufferingwith each cycle of rebirth.[123][127] These features of Sikhism, along with its belief in Saṃsāra and the grace of God, is similar tosome bhakti-oriented sub-traditions within Hinduism such as those found in Vaishnavism.[128][129] Sikhism does not believe thatascetic life, as recommended in Jainism, is the path to liberation. Rather, it cherishes social engagement and householder's lifecombined with devotion to the One God as Guru, to be the path of liberation from Saṅsāra.[130]

BhavacakraKarmaReincarnationRebirthResurrectionMetempsychosisNirvanaMaya (illusion)

1. Klaus Klostermaier 2010, p. 604.

2. Mark Juergensmeyer & Wade Clark Roof 2011, pp. 271-272.

3. Yadav, Garima (2018), "Abortion (Hinduism)" (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_484-1), Hinduism andTribal Religions, Springer Netherlands, pp. 1–3, ISBN 9789402410365, retrieved 2019-02-24

4. Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press

5. Rita M. Gross (1993). Buddhism After Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=PK37AxCfxVEC). State University of New York Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-1-4384-0513-1.

6. Shirley Firth (1997). Dying, Death and Bereavement in a British Hindu Community (https://books.google.com/books?id=pYNXC-HK1u0C). Peeters Publishers. pp. 106, 29–43. ISBN 978-90-6831-976-7.

Traditional Tibetan thangka showingthe bhavacakra and six realms ofSaṃsāra in Buddhist cosmology.[108]

Saṅsāra in Sikhism

See also

References

7. A.M. Boyer: Etude sur l'origine de la doctrine du samsara. Journal Asiatique, (1901), Volume 9, Issue 18, S. 451-453, 459-468

8. Yuvraj Krishan: . Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1997, ISBN 978-81-208-1233-8

9. A.M. Boyer (1901), Etude sur l'origine de la doctrine du samsara, Journal Asiatique, Volume 9, Issue 18, pages 451-453, 459-468

10. Stephen J. Laumakis 2008, pp. 90-99.

11. Yuvraj Krishan (1997). The Doctrine of Karma: Its Origin and Development in Brāhmaṇical, Buddhist, and JainaTraditions (https://books.google.com/books?id=_Bi6FWX1NOgC). Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. pp. 17–27. ISBN 978-81-208-1233-8.

12. Obeyesekere 2005, p. 1-2, 108, 126-128.

13. Mark Juergensmeyer & Wade Clark Roof 2011, pp. 272-273.

14. Michael Myers 2013, p. 36.

15. Harold Coward 2008, p. 103.

16. Lochtefeld 2002, p. 589.

17. Yuvraj Krishan (1988), Is Karma Evolutionary?, Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research, Volume 6,pages 24-26

18. Jeaneane D. Fowler 1997, p. 10.

19. Monier Monier-Williams (1923). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (https://books.google.com/books?id=_3NWAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1040). Oxford University Press. pp. 1040–1041.

20. Wendy Doniger (1980). Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions (https://books.google.com/books?id=4WZTj3M71y0C). University of California Press. pp. 268–269. ISBN 978-0-520-03923-0.

21. Louis de La Vallée-Poussin (1917). The way to Nirvana: six lectures on ancient Buddhism as a discipline of salvation(https://books.google.com/books?id=Ito8AAAAIAAJ). Cambridge University Press. pp. 24–29.

22. Yuvraj Krishan (1997). The Doctrine of Karma: Its Origin and Development in Brāhmaṇical, Buddhist, and JainaTraditions (https://books.google.com/books?id=_Bi6FWX1NOgC). Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. pp. 11–15. ISBN 978-81-208-1233-8.

23. Stephen J. Laumakis 2008, p. 90.

24. Dalal 2010, p. 344, 356-357.

25. Damien Keown 2004, p. 248.

26. Katha Upanishad �थमो�यायः/ततीयव�ली (https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/कठोपिनषदत/�थमो�यायः/ततीयव�ली)Wikisource

27. Shvetashvatara Upanishad ष�ठः अ�यायः (https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/�ता�तरोपिनषत/ष�ठः_अ�यायः) Wikisource

28. Maitri Upanishad (https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/म�ाय�यपिनषत) Wikisource, Quote: ३ िच�मव िह ससारम त��य�ननशोधयत

29. GA Jacob (1963), A concordance to the Principal Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita (https://archive.org/stream/UpanishadVakyaKosha-AConcordanceOfThePrincipalUpanishadsAndBhagavad/UpanishadVakyaKoshaSktEng#page/n953/mode/2up), Motilal Banarsidass, pages 947-948

30. Stephen J. Laumakis 2008, p. 97.

31. Goa, David J.; Coward, Harold G. (2014-08-21). "Hinduism" (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/hinduism/). The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140227223922/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/hinduism/) from the original on 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2015-07-31.

32. James Hastings; John Alexander Selbie; Louis Herbert Gray (1922). Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics (https://books.google.com/books?id=UD8TAAAAYAAJ). T. & T. Clark. pp. 616–618.

33. Jessica Frazier & Gavin Flood 2011, pp. 84-86.

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37. Norman C. McClelland (2010). Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma (https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC). McFarland. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-0-7864-5675-8.

38. Clifton D. Bryant; Dennis L. Peck (2009). Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience (https://books.google.com/books?id=4Zt2AwAAQBAJ). SAGE Publications. pp. 841–846. ISBN 978-1-4522-6616-9.

39. Vallee Pussin (1917). The way to Nirvana: six lectures on ancient Buddhism as a discipline of salvation (https://books.google.com/books?id=Ito8AAAAIAAJ). Cambridge University Press. pp. 24–25.

40. Gavin D. Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521438780, page 86,Quote: “The origin and doctrine of Karma and Samsara are obscure. These concepts were certainly circulatingamongst sramanas, and Jainism and Buddhism developed specific and sophisticated ideas about the process oftransmigration. It is very possible that the karmas and reincarnation entered the mainstream brahmanical thoughtfrom the sramana or the renouncer traditions. Yet, on the other hand, although there is no clear doctrine oftransmigration in the vedic hymns, there is the idea of redeath, that a person having died in this world, might die yetagain in the next.”

41. Padmanabh S. Jaini 2001 “Collected Paper on Buddhist Studies” Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1776-1, page51, Quote: "Yajnavalkya’s reluctance to discuss the doctrine of karma in public (...) can perhaps be explained by theassumption that it was, like that of the transmigration of soul, of non-brahmanical origin. In view of the fact that thisdoctrine is emblazoned on almost every page of sramana scriptures, it is highly probable that it was derived fromthem."

42. Govind Chandra Pande, (1994) Life and Thought of Sankaracarya, Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 81-208-1104-6, page135, Quote: (...) They Sramanas could have been connected with the Harappan Civilization which is itself enigmatic.It seems that some Upanishad thinkers like Yajnavalkya were acquainted with this kind [sramanic] thinking (...) andtried to incorporate these ideas of Karma, Samsara and Moksa into the traditional Vedic thought.

43. Wendy Doniger (1980). Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions (https://books.google.com/books?id=4WZTj3M71y0C). University of California Press. pp. xvii–xviii. ISBN 978-0-520-03923-0.; Quote: "There was such constantinteraction between Vedism and Buddhism in the early period that it is fruitless to attempt to sort out the earliersource of many doctrines, they lived in one another's pockets, like Picasso and Braque (who were, in later years,unable to say which of them had painted certain paintings from their earlier, shared period)."

44. Buitenen 1957, pp. 34-35.

45. Mircea Eliade 1987, pp. 56-57.

46. Jessica Frazier & Gavin Flood 2011, p. 18.

47. John Bowker 2014, pp. 84-85.

48. Jessica Frazier & Gavin Flood 2011, pp. 18-19, 24-25.

49. Harold Coward 2012, pp. 29-31.

50. John Geeverghese Arapura 1986, pp. 85-88.

51. Robert S. Ellwood; Gregory D. Alles (2007). The Encyclopedia of World Religions (https://books.google.com/books?id=1pGbdI4L0qsC). Infobase Publishing. pp. 406–407. ISBN 978-1-4381-1038-7.

52. Obeyesekere 1980, pp. 139-140.

53. Klaus Klostermaier, Mokṣa and Critical Theory, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Jan., 1985), pages 61-71

54. Norman E. Thomas (April 1988), Liberation for Life: A Hindu Liberation Philosophy, Missiology, Volume 16, Number2, pp 149-160

55. Gerhard Oberhammer (1994), La Délivrance dès cette vie: Jivanmukti, Collège de France, Publications de l'Institutde Civilisation Indienne. Série in-8°, Fasc. 61, Édition-Diffusion de Boccard (Paris), ISBN 978-2868030610, pages 1-9

56. M. von Brück (1986), Imitation or Identification?, Indian Theological Studies, Vol. 23, Issue 2, pages 95-105

57. Paul Deussen, The philosophy of the Upanishads (https://books.google.com/books?id=2h0YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA356), p. 356, at Google Books, pages 356-357

58. Four Noble Truths, Buddhist philosophy (http://www.britannica.com/topic/Four-Noble-Truths), Donald Lopez,Encyclopædia Britannica

59. Robert E. Buswell Jr.; Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ). Princeton University Press. pp. 304–305. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8.

60. Michael Myers 2013, p. 79.

61. Michael Myers 2013, pp. 79-80.

62. Paul Williams; Anthony Tribe (2000). Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition (https://books.google.com/books?id=BVvFBQAAQBAJ). Routledge. pp. 18–19, chapter 1. ISBN 0-415207002.

63. Thomas William Rhys Davids; William Stede (1921). Pali-English Dictionary (https://books.google.com/books?id=0Guw2CnxiucC&pg=PA94). Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 94–95, Entry for Āgati. ISBN 978-81-208-1144-7.

64. [a] Anatta (http://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta), Encyclopædia Britannica (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism,the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is adeparture from the Hindu belief in atman (“the self”)."; [b] Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason(Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791422175, page 64; "Central toBuddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman iscentral to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, noself, no unchanging essence."; [c] Edward Roer (Translator), Shankara's Introduction (https://books.google.com/books?id=3uwDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA2), p. 2, at Google Books to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, pages 2-4; [d] KatieJavanaud (2013), Is The Buddhist ‘No-Self’ Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana? (https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana), Philosophy Now; [e] David Loy(1982), Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?, InternationalPhilosophical Quarterly, Volume 23, Issue 1, pages 65-74; [f] KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory ofKnowledge, ISBN 978-8120806191, pages 246-249, from note 385 onwards;

65. Moksha (http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/essays/moksha), Georgetown University

66. Stephen J. Laumakis (2008). An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=_29ZDAcUEwYC). Cambridge University Press. pp. 68–70, 125–128, 149–153, 168–176. ISBN 978-1-139-46966-1.

67. Masao Abe; Steven Heine (1995). Buddhism and Interfaith Dialogue (https://books.google.com/books?id=11kAD7_pIXgC). University of Hawaii Press. pp. 7–8, 73–78. ISBN 978-0-8248-1752-7.

68. Loy, David (1982). "Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?".International Philosophical Quarterly. 22 (1): 65–74. doi:10.5840/ipq19822217 (https://doi.org/10.5840%2Fipq19822217).

69. Padmanabh S Jaini, George L Jart III (1980). Wendy Doniger, ed. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions(https://books.google.com/books?id=4WZTj3M71y0C). University of California Press. pp. 131–133, 228–229.ISBN 978-0-520-03923-0.

70. Christopher Partridge (2013). Introduction to World Religions (https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3AjAwAAQBAJ).Fortress Press. pp. 245–246. ISBN 978-0-8006-9970-3.

71. George L Jart III (1980). Wendy Doniger, ed. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions (https://books.google.com/books?id=4WZTj3M71y0C). University of California Press. pp. 131–133. ISBN 978-0-520-03923-0.

72. Mark Juergensmeyer & Wade Clark Roof 2011, p. 272.

73. Mukul Goel (2008). Devotional Hinduism: Creating Impressions for God (https://books.google.com/books?id=63w84TKjEu0C). iUniverse. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-595-50524-1.

74. Christopher Chapple (1986), Karma and creativity, State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-88706-251-2, pages60-64

75. Jeaneane D. Fowler 1997, p. 11.

76. Flood, Gavin (2009-08-24). "Hindu concepts" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/concepts/concepts_1.shtml). BBC Online. BBC. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140411171600/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/concepts/concepts_1.shtml) from the original on 2014-04-11. Retrieved 2015-07-31.

77. George D. Chryssides; Benjamin E. Zeller (2014). The Bloomsbury Companion to New Religious Movements (https://books.google.com/books?id=HLZMAgAAQBAJ). Bloomsbury Academic. p. 333. ISBN 978-1-4411-9829-7.

78. Jeaneane D. Fowler 1997, pp. 111-112.

79. Yong Choon Kim; David H. Freeman (1981). Oriental Thought: An Introduction to the Philosophical and ReligiousThought of Asia (https://books.google.com/books?id=omwMQA_DUVEC). Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 15–17.ISBN 978-0-8226-0365-8.

80. Jack Sikora (2002). Religions of India: A User Friendly and Brief Introduction to Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, andthe Jains (https://books.google.com/books?id=FLRifVnKnh8C). iUniverse. pp. 17–19. ISBN 978-1-4697-1731-9.

81. Harold Coward 2008, p. 129.

82. Harold Coward 2008, pp. 129, also see pages 130-155.

83. Jeaneane D. Fowler (1997). Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices (https://books.google.com/books?id=RmGKHu20hA0C). Sussex Academic Press. pp. 10–12, 132–137. ISBN 978-1-898723-60-8.

84. H Chaudhuri (1954), The Concept of Brahman in Hindu Philosophy, Philosophy East and West, 4(1), pages 47-66

85. M. Hiriyanna (1995). The Essentials of Indian Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=QeRIP-TuKLAC).Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 24–25, 160–166. ISBN 978-81-208-1330-4.

86. Jeaneane D. Fowler (2002). Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism (https://books.google.com/books?id=8dRZ4E-qgz8C). Sussex Academic Press. pp. 340–347, 373–375. ISBN 978-1-898723-93-6.

87. Jeaneane D. Fowler (2002). Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism (https://books.google.com/books?id=8dRZ4E-qgz8C). Sussex Academic Press. pp. 238–240, 243–245, 249–250, 261–263, 279–284. ISBN 978-1-898723-93-6.

88. Padmanabh Jaini 1980, pp. 217-236.

89. Paul Dundas (2003). The Jains (https://books.google.com/books?id=X8iAAgAAQBAJ). Routledge. pp. 14–16, 102–105. ISBN 978-0415266055.

90. Padmanabh Jaini 1980, pp. 226-228.

91. Tara Sethia (2004). Ahimsā, Anekānta, and Jainism (https://books.google.com/books?id=QYdlKv8wBiYC). MotilalBanarsidass. pp. 30–31. ISBN 978-81-208-2036-4.

92. Padmanabh Jaini 1980, p. 226.

93. Padmanabh Jaini 1980, p. 227.

94. Padmanabh Jaini 1980, pp. 227-228.

95. Paul Dundas (2003). The Jains (https://books.google.com/books?id=X8iAAgAAQBAJ). Routledge. pp. 104–105.ISBN 978-0415266055.

96. Padmanabh Jaini 1980, p. 225.

97. Padmanabh Jaini 1980, p. 228.

98. Padmanabh S. Jaini (2000). Collected Papers on Jaina Studies (https://books.google.com/books?id=HPggiM7y1aYC). Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 130–131. ISBN 978-81-208-1691-6.

99. Padmanabh Jaini 1980, pp. 223-224.

100. Padmanabh Jaini 1980, pp. 224-225.

101. Padmanabh Jaini 1980, pp. 222-223.

102. Jeffery D Long (2013). Jainism: An Introduction (https://books.google.com/books?id=ajAEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT36).I.B.Tauris. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-85773-656-7.

103. Graham Harvey (2016). Religions in Focus: New Approaches to Tradition and Contemporary Practices (https://books.google.com/books?id=wrTsCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT182). Routledge. pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-1-134-93690-8.

104. Paul Dundas (2003). The Jains (https://books.google.com/books?id=X8iAAgAAQBAJ). Routledge. pp. 55–59.ISBN 978-0415266055.

105. Lambert Schmithausen (1991), Buddhism and Nature, Studia Philologica Buddhica, The International Institute forBuddhist Studies, Tokyo Japan, pages 6-7

106. Rod Preece (1999), Animals and Nature: Cultural Myths, Cultural Realities, ISBN 978-0-7748-0725-8, University ofBritish Columbia Press, pages 212-217

107. Christopher Chapple (1990), Ecological Nonviolence and the Hindu Tradition, in Perspectives on Nonviolence,Springer, ISBN 978-1-4612-4458-5, pages 168-177; L Alsdorf (1962), Beiträge zur Geschichte von Vegetarismus und Rinderverehrung in Indien, Akademie derWissenschaften und der Literatur, F. Steiner Wiesbaden, pages 592-593

108. Patrul Rinpoche; Dalai Lama (1998). The Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a ClassicIntroduction to Tibetan Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=40i38mGQ6aAC&pg=PA61). RowmanAltamira. pp. 61–99. ISBN 978-0-7619-9027-7.

109. Jeff Wilson (2010). Saṃsāra and Rebirth, in Buddhism. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0141 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fobo%2F9780195393521-0141). ISBN 9780195393521.

110. Edward Conze (2013). Buddhist Thought in India: Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=kY5TAQAAQBAJ). Routledge. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-134-54231-4., Quote: "Nirvana is the raison d’être ofBuddhism, and its ultimate justification."

111. Gethin 1998, p. 119.

112. Williams 2002, pp. 74-75.

113. Paul Williams, Anthony Tribe & Alexander Wynne 2012, pp. 30–42.

John Geeverghese Arapura (1986). Hermeneutical Essays on Vedāntic Topics. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0183-7.Buitenen, J. A. B. Van (1957). "Dharma and Moksa". Philosophy East and West. 7 (1/2): 33. doi:10.2307/1396832.John Bowker (2014). God: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-870895-7.Robert Buswell Jr.; Donald Lopez Jr. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press.ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8.Harold Coward (2008). The Perfectibility of Human Nature in Eastern and Western Thought: The Central Story. StateUniversity of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7336-8.Harold Coward (2012). Religious Understandings of a Good Death in Hospice Palliative Care. State University ofNew York Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-4275-4.Dalal, Roshen (2010). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6.Mircea Eliade (1987). The encyclopedia of religion. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-02-909480-8.Jeaneane D. Fowler (1997). Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-898723-60-8.

114. Robert Buswell Jr. & Donald Lopez Jr. 2013, pp. 304-305.

115. Peter Harvey (2015). Steven M. Emmanuel, ed. A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 26–44. ISBN 978-1-119-14466-3. Quote: "the first featuresdescribed as painful [dukkha] in the above DCPS [Dhamma-cakka-pavatana Sutta in Vinaya Pitaka] quote are basicbiological aspects of being alive, each of which can be traumatic. The dukkha of these is compounded by the rebirthperspective of Buddhism, for this involves repeated re-birth, re-aging, re-sickness, and re-death."

116. Kevin Trainor (2004). Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide (https://books.google.com/books?id=_PrloTKuAjwC). OxfordUniversity Press. pp. 62–63. ISBN 978-0-19-517398-7.; Quote: "Buddhist doctrine holds that until they realizenirvana, beings are bound to undergo rebirth and redeath due to their having acted out of ignorance and desire,thereby producing the seeds of karma".

117. Dalai Lama 1992, pp. xi-xii, 5-16.

118. Robert DeCaroli (2004). Haunting the Buddha: Indian Popular Religions and the Formation of Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=q_2XtkSRyTYC). Oxford University Press. pp. 94–103. ISBN 978-0-19-803765-1.

119. Akira Sadakata (1997). Buddhist Cosmology: Philosophy and Origins (https://books.google.com/books?id=bcYGAAAAYAAJ). Kōsei Publishing 佼成出版社, Tokyo. pp. 68–70. ISBN 978-4-333-01682-2.

120. Steven Collins (2010). Nirvana: Concept, Imagery, Narrative (https://books.google.com/books?id=d5pshUYiUVwC).Cambridge University Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-521-88198-2.

121. Carl B. Becker (1993). Breaking the Circle: Death and the Afterlife in Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=hbgjrC7o-mYC). Southern Illinois University Press. pp. viii, 57–59. ISBN 978-0-8093-1932-9.

122. Frank J. Hoffman (2002). Rationality and Mind in Early Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=O3ecE9j3qXsC). Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 103–106. ISBN 978-81-208-1927-6.

123. Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair (2013). Sikhism: A Guide for the Perplexed (https://books.google.com/books?id=Jn_jBAAAQBAJ). Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 145–146, 181, 220. ISBN 978-1-4411-5366-1.

124. W.O. Cole; Piara Singh Sambhi (2016). Sikhism and Christianity: A Comparative Study (https://books.google.com/books?id=G8KMCwAAQBAJ). Springer. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-1-349-23049-5.

125. Arvind-Pal Singh Mandair (2013). Sikhism: A Guide for the Perplexed (https://books.google.com/books?id=Jn_jBAAAQBAJ). Bloomsbury Academic. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-4411-5366-1.

126. H. S. Singha (2000). The Encyclopedia of Sikhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C). HemkuntPress. pp. 68, 80. ISBN 978-81-7010-301-1.

127. Pashaura Singh; Louis E. Fenech (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies (https://books.google.com/books?id=7YwNAwAAQBAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 231, 607. ISBN 978-0-19-100411-7.

128. James Thrower (1999). Religion: The Classical Theories (https://books.google.com/books?id=luQnAAAAYAAJ).Georgetown University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-87840-751-4.

129. J. S. Grewal (2006). Religious Movements and Institutions in Medieval India (https://books.google.com/books?id=MSkvAAAAYAAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 394–395. ISBN 978-0-19-567703-4.

130. Pashaura Singh; Louis E. Fenech (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies (https://books.google.com/books?id=7YwNAwAAQBAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 230–231. ISBN 978-0-19-100411-7.

Bibliography

Jessica Frazier; Gavin Flood (2011). The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies. Bloomsbury Academic.ISBN 978-0-8264-9966-0.Gethin, Rupert (1998), Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0192892232Padmanabh Jaini (1980). Wendy Doniger, ed. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions. University ofCalifornia Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03923-0.Mark Juergensmeyer; Wade Clark Roof (2011). Encyclopedia of Global Religion. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-1-4522-6656-5.Damien Keown (2004). A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-157917-2.Klaus Klostermaier (2010). A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-8011-3.Dalai Lama (1992), The Meaning of Life, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Wisdom, ISBN 978-1459614505Stephen J. Laumakis (2008). An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46966-1.Lochtefeld, James (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N-Z. Rosen Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8239-2287-1.Michael Myers (2013). Brahman: A Comparative Theology. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-83565-0.Obeyesekere, Gananath (1980). Wendy Doniger, ed. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions. University ofCalifornia Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03923-0.Obeyesekere, Gananath (2005). Wendy Doniger, ed. Karma and Rebirth: A Cross Cultural Study. MotilalBanarsidass. ISBN 978-8120826090.Stephen Phillips (2009). Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy. Columbia University Press.ISBN 978-0-231-51947-2.Williams, Paul (2002), Buddhist Thought, Routledge, ISBN 0-415207010Paul Williams; Anthony Tribe; Alexander Wynne (2012), Buddhist Thought, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-136-52088-4

Samsara (Hinduism), Georgetown UniversityReincarnation: A Simple ExplanationThe Wheel of Life, C. George Boeree, Shippensburg UniversityThe difference between Samsara and Nirvana, Minnesota State University, MankatoSaṃsāra and Rebirth, Buddhism, Oxford Bibliographies

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Yangsi Rinpoche, in contrast, the suffering of the beings born in therealm of the hungry ghosts is far more intense than those born in theanimal realm.[52]

Hell realm:[49] beings in hell (naraka)[42] enter this realm for evil karmasuch as theft, lying, adultery and others. The texts vary in their details,but typically describe numerous hellish regions each with different formsof intense suffering, such as eight extremely hot hellish realms, eightextremely cold, being partially eaten alive, beating and other forms oftorture in proportion to the evil karma accumulated.[41] These beings arereborn in another realm after their evil karma has run its course, theydie, and they get another chance.[50] This realm is not similar to afterlife hell in Christianity, states Damien Keown,because in Buddhism there is no realm of final damnation and existence in this realm is also a temporary state.[50]

Samsara is perpetuated by one's karma, which is caused by craving and ignorance (avidya).[18][19][note 5]

Samsara is perpetuated by karma.[note 7] Karma or 'action' results from an intentional physical or mental act, which causes a futureconsequence.[note 8] Gethin explains:

Thus acts of body and speech are driven by an underlying intention or will (cetanā), and they are unwholesome orwholesome because they are motivated by unwholesome or wholesome intentions. Acts of body and speech are, then,the end products of particular kinds of mentality. At the same time karma can exist as a simple 'act of will', a forcefulmental intention or volition that does not lead to an act of body or speech.[57]

In the Buddhist view, therefore, the type of birth one has in this life is determined by actions or karma from the previous lives; andthe circumstances of the future rebirth are determined by the actions in the current and previous lives.[note 9]

Inconsistencies in the oldest texts show that the Buddhist teachings on craving and ignorance, and the means to attain liberation,evolved, either during the lifetime of the Buddha, or thereafter.[note 10] According to Frauwallner, the Buddhist texts show a shift inthe explanation of the root cause of samsara.[58] Originally craving was considered to be the root cause of samsara,[note 11] whichcould be stilled by the practice of dhyana, leading to a calm of mind which according to Vetter is the liberation which is beingsought.[62][63]

The later Buddhist tradition considers ignorance (avidya) to be the root cause of samsara.[59][18][19] Avidya is misconception andignorance about reality, leading to grasping and clinging, and repeated rebirth.[64][65] According to Paul Williams, "it is the not-knowingness of things as they truly are, or of oneself as one really is."[66] It can be overcome by insight into the true nature of reality.In the later Buddhist tradition "liberating insight" came to be regarded as equally liberating as the practice of dhyana.[67][63]

According to Vetter and Bronkhorst, this happened in response to other religious groups in India, who held that a liberating insightwas an indispensable requisite for moksha, liberation from rebirth.[68][69][note 12]

The ideas on what exactly constituted this "liberating insight" evolved over time.[62][71] Initially the term prajna served to denote this"liberating insight." Later on, prajna was replaced in the suttas by the four truths.[72][73] This happened in those texts where"liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas, and where this practice of the four jhanas then culminates in "liberatinginsight."[74][note 13] The four truths were superseded by pratityasamutpada, and still later, in the Hinayana schools, by the doctrine ofthe non-existence of a substantial self or person.[77] And Schmithausen states that still other descriptions of this "liberating insight"exist in the Buddhist canon:

Hungry Ghosts realm of Buddhistsamsara, a 12th-century paintingfrom Kyoto Japan

Cause and end

Karma

Craving and ignorance

"that the five Skandhas are impermanent, disagreeable, and neither the Self nor belonging to oneself";[note 14] "thecontemplation of the arising and disappearance (udayabbaya) of the five Skandhas";[note 15] "the realisation of theSkandhas as empty (rittaka), vain (tucchaka) and without any pith or substance (asaraka).[note 16] [78]

Samsara ends when one attains moksha, liberation.[79][80][81][82] In early Buddhism, Nirvana, the "blowing out" of desire, is moksha.In later Buddhism insight becomes predominant, for example the recognition and acceptance of non-self, also called the anattadoctrine.[83] One who no longer sees any soul or self, concludes Walpola Rahula, is the one who has been liberated from the samsarasuffering cycles.[9][note 17] The theme that Nirvana is non-Self, states Peter Harvey, is recurring in early Buddhist texts.[85]

Some Buddhist texts suggest that rebirth occurs through the transfer of vinnana (consciousness) from one life to another. When thisconsciousness ceases, then liberation is attained.[86] There is a connection between consciousness, karmic activities, and the cycle ofrebirth, argues William Waldron, and with the destruction of vinnana, there is "destruction and cessation of "karmic activities"(anabhisankhara, S III, 53), which are considered in Buddhism to be "necessary for the continued perpetuation of cyclicexistence."[86]

While Buddhism considers the liberation from samsara as the ultimate spiritual goal, in traditional practice, Buddhists seek andaccumulate merit through good deeds, donations to monks and various Buddhist rituals in order to gain better rebirths rather thannirvana.[87]

According to Chogyam Trungpa the realms of samsara can refer to both "psychological states of mind and physical cosmologicalrealms".[note 18]

Gethin argues, rebirth in the different realms is determined by one's karma, which is directly determined by one's psychologicalstates. The Buddhist cosmology may thus be seen as a map of different realms of existence and a description of all possiblepsychological experiences.[89] The psychological states of a person in current life lead to the nature of next rebirth in Buddhistcosmology.[90]

Paul Williams acknowledges Gethin's suggestion of the "principle of the equivalence of cosmology and psychology," but notes thatGethin is not asserting the Buddhist cosmology is really all about current or potential states of mind or psychology.[91] The realms inBuddhist cosmology are indeed realms of rebirths. Otherwise rebirth would always be into the human realm, or there would be norebirth at all. And that is not traditional Buddhism, states Williams.[91]

David McMahan concludes that the attempts to construe ancient Buddhist cosmology in modern psychological terms is modernisticreconstruction, "detraditionalization and demythologization" of Buddhism, a sociological phenomenon that is seen in all religions.[92]

Conditioned existence (Daniel Goleman)Cycle of clinging and taking birth in one desire after another (Phillip Moffitt)Cycle of existenceCyclic existence (Jeffry Hopkins)Uncontrollably recurring rebirth (Alexander Berzin)Wheel of suffering (Mingyur Rinpoche)

BhavacakraBuddhist cosmology

Liberation

Psychological interpretation

Alternate translations

See also

Buddhist cosmologyIndex of Buddhism-related articlesNirvana (Buddhism)Rebirth (Buddhism)Secular BuddhismSix realmsWheel of Life

1. Earlier Buddhist texts refer to five realms rather than six realms; when described as five realms, the god realm anddemi-god realm constitute a single realm.[6]

2. Ending samsara:Kevin Trainor: "Buddhist doctrine holds that until they realize nirvana, beings are bound to undergo rebirth andredeath due to their having acted out of ignorance and desire, thereby producing the seeds of karma".[21]

Conze: "Nirvana is the raison d’être of Buddhism, and its ultimate justification."[22]

3. Samsara is the continual repetitive cycle of rebirth within the six realms of existence:Damien Keown: "Although Buddhist doctrine holds that neither the beginning of the process of cyclic rebirth norits end can ever be known with certainty, it is clear that the number of times a person may be reborn is almostinfinite. This process of repeated rebirth is known as saṃsāra or 'endless wandering', a term suggestingcontinuous movement like the flow of a river. All living creatures are part of this cyclic movement and willcontinue to be reborn until they attain nirvana."[15]

Ajahn Sucitto: "This continued movement is [...] what is meant by samsāra, the wandering on. According to theBuddha, this process doesn't even stop with death—it's like the habit transfers almost genetically to a newconsciousness and body."[14]

4. Samsara is characterized by dukkha:

Chogyam Trungpa: "Samsara arises out of ignorance and is characterized by suffering."[16]

Rupert Gethin: "This precisely is the nature of saṃsāra: wandering from life to life with no particular direction orpurpose."[13]

5. Ignorance and craving:John Bowker: "In Buddhism, samsāra is the cycle of continuing appearances through the domains of existence(gati), but with no Self (anātman, [ātman means the enduring, immortal self]) being reborn: there is only thecontinuity of consequence, governed by karma."[web 1]

Chogyam Trungpa states: "Cyclic existence [is] the continual repetitive cycle of birth, death, and bardo thatarises from ordinary beings' grasping and fixating on a self and experiences. (...) Samsara arises out ofignorance and is characterized by suffering."[16] Note that Chogyam Trungpa's description includes a referenceto the bardo, or intermediate state, that is emphasized in the Tibetan tradition.

Huston Smith and Philip Novak state: "The Buddha taught that beings, confused as they are by ignorant desiresand fears, are caught in a vicious cycle called samsara, freedom from which—nirvana—was the highest humanend."[20]

6. Other scholars[45][46] note that better rebirth, not nirvana, has been the primary focus of a vast majority of layBuddhists. This they attempt through merit accumulation and good karma.

Notes

7. The driving force behind rebirth in the six realms of samsara is karma:Peter Harvey: "The movement of beings between rebirths is not a haphazard process but is ordered andgoverned by the law of karma, the principle that beings are reborn according to the nature and quality of theirpast actions; they are 'heir' to their actions (M.III.123)."[53]

Damien Keown: "In the cosmology [of the realms of existence], karma functions as the elevator that takes peoplefrom one floor of the building to another. Good deeds result in an upward movement and bad deeds in adownward one. Karma is not a system of rewards and punishments meted out by God but a kind of natural lawakin to the law of gravity. Individuals are thus the sole authors of their good and bad fortune."[54]

Sogyal Rinpoche states: "The kind of birth we will have in the next life is determined, then, by the nature of ouractions in this one. And it is important never to forget that the effect of our actions depends entirely upon theintention or motivation behind them, and not upon their scale."[55]

Rupert Gethin: "What determines in which realm a being is born? The short answer is karma (Pali kamma): abeing’s intentional ‘actions’ of body, speech, and mind—whatever is done, said, or even just thought with definiteintention or volition. In general, though with some qualification, rebirth in the lower realms is considered to be theresult of relatively unwholesome (akuśala/akusala), or bad (pāpa) karma, while rebirth in the higher realms theresult of relatively wholesome (kuśala/kusala), or good (puṇya/puñña) karma."[13]

Paul Williams: "short of attaining enlightenment, in each rebirth one is born and dies, to be reborn elsewhere inaccordance with the completely impersonal causal nature of one's own karma; this endless cycle of birth, rebirth,and redeath is Saṃsāra."[17]

8. Aṅguttara Nikāya III.415: "It is "intention" that I call karma; having formed the intention, one performs acts (karma) bybody, speech and mind.[56]

9. Padmasambhava: "If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition; if you want to know yourfuture life, look at your present actions."[55]

10. See: * Erich Frauwallner (1953), Geschichte der indischen Philosophie, Band Der Buddha und der Jina (pp. 147-272) * Andre Bareau (1963), Recherches sur la biographie du Buddha dans les Sutrapitaka et les Vinayapitaka anciens,Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient * Schmithausen, On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in EarlyBuddhism * K.R. Norman, Four Noble Truths (http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/Articles/The%20Four%20Noble%20Truths_Norman_PTS_2003.pdf) * Tilman Vetter, (http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/The%20Ideas%20and%20Meditative%20Practices%20of%20Early%20Buddhism_Vetter.pdf)The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism, by Tilmann Vetter (http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/The%20Ideas%20and%20Meditative%20Practices%20of%20Early%20Buddhism_Vetter.pdf) * Richard F. Gombrich (2006). (https://books.google.com/books?id=hQOAAgAAQBAJ)How Buddhism Began: TheConditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings (https://books.google.com/books?id=hQOAAgAAQBAJ). Routledge.ISBN 978-1-134-19639-5., chapter four * Bronkhorst, Johannes (1993), The Two Traditions Of Meditation In Ancient India, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers,chapter 7 * Anderson, Carol (1999), Pain and Its Ending: The Four Noble Truths in the Theravada Buddhist Canon, Routledge

11. Frauwallner (1953), as referenced by Vetter (1988),[59] Flores (2009),[60] and Williams, Tribe and Wynne (2012).[61]

12. Tillmann Vetter: "Very likely the cause was the growing influence of a non-Buddhist spiritual environment·whichclaimed that one can be released only by some truth or higher knowledge. In addition, the alternative (and perhapssometimes competing) method of discriminating insight (fully established after the introduction of the four nobletruths) seemed to conform so well to this claim."[70] According to Bronkhorst, this happened under influence of the "mainstream of meditation," that is, Vedic-Brahmanical oriented groups, which believed that the cessation of action could not be liberating, since action cannever be fully stopped. Their solution was to postulate a fundamental difference between the inner soul or self andthe body. The inner self is unchangeable, and unaffected by actions. By insight into this difference, one wasliberated. To equal this emphasis on insight, Buddhists presented insight into their most essential teaching as equallyliberating. What exactly was regarded as the central insight "varied along with what was considered most central tothe teaching of the Buddha."[69]

13. In the Nikayas the four truths are given as the "liberating insight" which constituted the awakening, or"enlightenment" of the Buddha. When he understood these truths, he was "enlightened," and liberated, as reflectedin Majjhima Nikaya 26:42: "his taints are destroyed by his seeing with wisdom."[75] Typically, the four truths referhere to the eightfold path as the means to gain liberation, while the attainment of insight in the four truths isportrayed as liberating in itself.[76]

14. Majjhima Nikaya 26

15. Anguttara Nikaya II.45 (PTS)

16. Samyutta Nikaya III.140-142 (PTS)

17. Phra Thepyanmongkol: "The designation that is Nibbana [Nirvana] is anatta (non-self)", states Buddha, in ParivaraVinayapitaka.[84]

18. Chogyam Trungpa states: "In the Buddhist system of the six realms, the three higher realms are the god realm, thejealous-god realm, and the human realm; the three lower realms are the animal realm, the hungry ghost realmm, andthe hell realm. These realms can refer to psychological states or to aspects of Buddhist cosmology."[88]

1. Trainor 2004, p. 58, Quote: "Buddhism shares with Hinduism the doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings passthrough an unceasing cycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberation from the cycle. However,Buddhism differs from Hinduism in rejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a changeless soulwhich constitutes his or her ultimate identity, and which transmigrates from one incarnation to the next..

2. Wilson 2010.

3. Juergensmeyer & Roof 2011, p. 271-272.

4. McClelland 2010, p. 172, 240.

5. Williams, Tribe & Wynne 2012, p. 18–19, chapter 1.

6. Buswell 2004, p. 711-712.

7. Buswell & Gimello 1992, p. 7–8, 83–84.

8. Choong 1999, p. 28–29, Quote: "Seeing (passati) the nature of things as impermanent leads to the removal of theview of self, and so to the realisation of nirvana.".

9. Rahula 2014, p. 51-58.

10. Laumakis 2008, p. 97.

11. http://suttacentral.net/en/sn15.3 - SN 15.3 Assu-sutta

12. Bowker 1997.

13. Gethin 1998, p. 119.

14. Ajahn Sucitto 2010, pp. 37-38.

15. Keown 2000, Kindle locations 702-706.

16. Chogyam Trungpa 2009, p. 137.

17. Williams 2002, pp. 74-75.

18. Keown 2004, pp. 81, 281.

19. Fowler 1999, p. 39–42.

20. Smith & Novak 2009, Kindle Location 2574.

21. Trainor 2004, p. 62–63.

22. Conze 2013, p. 71.

23. Trainor 2004, p. 58, Quote: "Buddhism shares with Hinduism the doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings passthrough an unceasing cycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberation from the cycle. However,Buddhism differs from Hinduism in rejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a changeless soulwhich constitutes his or her ultimate identity, and which transmigrates from one incarnation to the next..

24. Naomi Appleton (2014). Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Buddhist and Jain Multi-Life Stories (https://books.google.com/books?id=AhT7AgAAQBAJ). Cambridge University Press. pp. 76–89. ISBN 978-1-139-91640-0.

25. Anatta Buddhism (http://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta), Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)

References

26. [a] Christmas Humphreys (2012). Exploring Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC).Routledge. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-1-136-22877-3. [b] Brian Morris (2006). Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction (https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51). Cambridge University Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-521-85241-8., Quote: "(...) anatta is thedoctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent selfis a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas orheaps - the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these fiveskandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering." [c] Richard Gombrich (2006). Theravada Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=jZyJAgAAQBAJ).Routledge. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-134-90352-8., Quote: "(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abidingessence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."

27. David J. Kalupahana (1975). Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=GOYGAAAAYAAJ). University Press of Hawaii. pp. 115–119. ISBN 978-0-8248-0298-1.

28. David J. Kalupahana (1975). Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=GOYGAAAAYAAJ). University Press of Hawaii. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-8248-0298-1.

29. William H. Swatos; Peter Kivisto (1998). Encyclopedia of Religion and Society (https://books.google.com/books?id=6TMFoMFe-D8C). Rowman Altamira. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-7619-8956-1.

30. Bruce Mathews (1986). Ronald Wesley Neufeldt, ed. Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments (https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC). State University of New York Press. pp. 123–126. ISBN 978-0-87395-990-2.

31. James McDermott (1980). Wendy Doniger, ed. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions (https://books.google.com/books?id=4WZTj3M71y0C&pg=PA169). University of California Press. pp. 168–170. ISBN 978-0-520-03923-0.

32. Robert Buswell & Donald Lopez 2013, pp. 49-50, 708-709.

33. Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Vol. 1, p. 377

34. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Translator.Wisdom Publications. Sutta 44.9

35. Patrul Rinpoche; Dalai Lama (1998). The Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a ClassicIntroduction to Tibetan Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=40i38mGQ6aAC&pg=PA61). RowmanAltamira. pp. 61–99. ISBN 978-0-7619-9027-7.

36. McClelland 2010, pp. 40, 107.

37. Bryan J. Cuevas; Jacqueline Ilyse Stone (2007). The Buddhist Dead: Practices, Discourses, Representations (https://books.google.com/books?id=o1dkea_IgJUC). University of Hawaii Press. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-0-8248-3031-1.

38. Dalai Lama 1992, pp. 5-8.

39. Patrul Rinpoche 1998, pp. 61-99.

40. Keown 2013, pp. 35-40.

41. Trainor 2004, p. 62.

42. McClelland 2010, p. 136.

43. Keown 2013, p. 35.

44. Keown 2013, p. 37.

45. Merv Fowler (1999). Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices (https://books.google.com/books?id=A7UKjtA0QDwC). SussexAcademic Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-898723-66-0., Quote: "For a vast majority of Buddhists in Theravadin countries,however, the order of monks is seen by lay Buddhists as a means of gaining the most merit in the hope ofaccumulating good karma for a better rebirth."

46. Christopher Gowans (2004). Philosophy of the Buddha: An Introduction (https://books.google.com/books?id=EbU4Hd5lro0C). Routledge. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-134-46973-4.

47. Keown 2013, pp. 37-38.

48. Keown 2013, pp. 36-37.

49. Trainor 2004, p. 63.

50. Keown 2013, p. 36.

51. McClelland 2010, p. 114, 199.

52. Yangsi Rinpoche (2012). Practicing the Path: A Commentary on the Lamrim Chenmo (https://books.google.com/books?id=wjM6AwAAQBAJ). Wisdom Publications. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-86171-747-7.

53. Harvey 1990, p. 39.

54. Keown 2000, Kindle Location 794-797.

55. Sogyal Rinpoche 2009, p. 97.

56. Gethin 1998, p. 120.

57. Rupert Gethin (1998). The Foundations of Buddhism (https://books.google.com/books?id=FUwSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA120). Oxford University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-19-289223-2.

58. Erich Frauwallner (1953), Geschichte der indischen Philosophie, Band Der Buddha und der Jina (pp. 147-272)

59. Vetter 1988, p. xxi.

60. Flores 2009, p. 63–65.

61. Williams, Tribe & Wynne 2012, p. 33-34.

62. Vetter 1988, p. xxi-xxxvii.

63. Bronkhorst 1993, p. 93-111.

64. Edelglass 2009, p. 3-4.

65. Laumakis 2008, p. 136.

66. Williams, Tribe & Wynne 2012, p. 46–47.

67. Gombrich 1997, p. 99-102.

68. Vetter 1988, p. xxxii, xxxiii.

69. Bronkhorst 1993, p. 54-55, 96, 99.

70. Vetter 1988, p. xxxiii.

71. Bronkhorst 1993, p. chapter 7.

72. Bronkhorst 1993, p. 99-100, 102-111.

73. Anderson 1999.

74. Bronkhorst 1993, p. 108.

75. Bhikkhu Nanamoli (translator) 1995, p. 268.

76. Bronkhorst 1993.

77. Bronkhorst 1993, p. 100-101.

78. Bronkhorst 1993, p. 101.

79. Williams, Tribe & Wynne 2012, pp. 30–42.

80. Robert Buswell & Donald Lopez 2013, pp. 304-305.

81. Peter Harvey (2015). Steven M. Emmanuel, ed. A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 26–44. ISBN 978-1-119-14466-3.

82. Ted Honderich (2005). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=bJFCAwAAQBAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 113, 659. ISBN 978-0-19-103747-4.

83. Melford E. Spiro (1982). Buddhism and Society: A Great Tradition and Its Burmese Vicissitudes (https://books.google.com/books?id=GnYou0owQ5MC). University of California Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-520-04672-6.

84. Phra Thepyanmongkol (2012). A Study Guide for Right Practice of the Three Trainings (https://books.google.com/books?id=6XFW45RDK6wC). Wat Luang Phor Sodh. pp. 412–418. ISBN 978-974-401-378-1.

85. Peter Harvey (2015). Steven M. Emmanuel, ed. A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy (https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 36–37, Note: Harvey clarifies that non-Self does not mean "no-self", but denial of Self or "I" or 'I am' is clearly a vital soteriological idea in Buddhism. ISBN 978-1-119-14466-3.

86. Waldron 2003, p. 22.

87. Michael D. Coogan (2003). The Illustrated Guide to World Religions (https://books.google.com/books?id=BshpqnbLOvQC). Oxford University Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-19-521997-5.

88. Chogyam Trungpa 2009, p. 127.

89. Gethin 1998, pp. 119-120.

90. Gethin 1998, p. 121.

91. Williams 2002, pp. 78-79.

1. John Bowker. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 24 Nov. 2012 "Saṃsāra."(http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Sasra.html); John Bowker (2014). God: A Very Short Introduction (https://books.google.com/books?id=Te9wBAAAQBAJ). OxfordUniversity Press. pp. 84–86. ISBN 978-0-19-870895-7.

Ajahn Sucitto (2010), Turning the Wheel of Truth: Commentary on the Buddha's First Teaching, Shambhala

Bhikkhu Nanamoli (translator) (1995), The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of theMajjhima Nikaya, Boston: Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-072-X

Bowker, John (editor) (1997), The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, Oxford

Buswell, Robert E.; Gimello, Robert M. (1992), Paths to Liberation: The Mārga and Its Transformations in BuddhistThought, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0-8248-1253-9

Buswell, Robert E., ed. (2004), Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Macmillan Reference USA, ISBN 0-02-865718-7

Robert Buswell; Donald Lopez (2013), Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,ISBN 9780691157863

Bronkhorst, Johannes (1993), The Two Traditions Of Meditation In Ancient India, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

Chogyam Trungpa (2009), The Truth of Suffering and the Path of Liberation (edited by Judy Leif), Shambhala

Choong, Mun-Keat (1999), The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-1649-7

Cohen, Robert S. (2006). Beyond Enlightenment: Buddhism, Religion, Modernity. Routledge.

Conze, Edward (2013), Buddhist Thought in India: Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-134-54231-4

Dalai Lama (1992), The Meaning of Life, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Wisdom

Edelglass, William; et al. (2009), Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-532817-2

Flores, Ralph (2009), Buddhist Scriptures as Literature: Sacred Rhetoric and the Uses of Theory, State University ofNew York Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-7340-5

Fowler, Merv (1999), Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 978-1-898723-66-0

Gethin, Rupert (1998), Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford University Press

Gombrich, Richard F. (1997). How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings. Routledge.ISBN 978-1-134-19639-5.

Harvey, Peter (1990), An Introduction to Buddhism, Cambridge University Press

Padmanabh Jaini (1980). Wendy Doniger, ed. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions. University ofCalifornia Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03923-0.

Juergensmeyer, Mark; Roof, Wade Clark (2011), Encyclopedia of Global Religion, SAGE Publications, ISBN 978-1-4522-6656-5

Keown, Damien (2013). Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-966383-5.

Keown, Damien (2000), Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Kindle Edition

Keown, Damien (2004), A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-157917-2

Laumakis, Stephen J. (2008). An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46966-1.

92. David L. McMahan (2008). The Making of Buddhist Modernism (https://books.google.com/books?id=XU6HNwlxhCAC). Oxford University Press. pp. 45–48, 57–58. ISBN 978-0-19-972029-3., Quote: "Clearly, the interaction ofBuddhism with psychology exhibits aspects of both detraditionalization and demythologization as already described.In addition, the legitimacy that is granted Buddhism in its reconstrual as a kind of psychology reverberates back tothe very conception of Buddhism among Buddhists themselves, (...)"

Web references

Sources

McClelland, Norman C. (2010), Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma, McFarland, ISBN 978-0-7864-5675-8

Obeyesekere, Gananath (1980). Wendy Doniger, ed. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions. University ofCalifornia Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03923-0.

Obeyesekere, Gananath (2005). Wendy Doniger, ed. Karma and Rebirth: A Cross Cultural Study. MotilalBanarsidass. ISBN 978-8120826090.

Patrul Rinpoche (1998), The Words of My Perfect Teacher, Altamira

Rahula, Walpola (2014), What the Buddha Taught, Oneworld Classics, ISBN 978-1-78074-000-3

Smith, Huston; Novak, Philip (2009), Buddhism: A Concise Introduction, HarperOne, Kindle Edition

Sogyal Rinpoche (2009), The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Harper Collins, Kindle Edition

Trainor, Kevin (2004), Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-517398-7

Vetter, Tilmann (1988), The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism, BRILL

Waldron, William S. (2003), The Buddhist Unconscious: The Alaya-vijñana in the context of Indian Buddhist Thought,Routledge

Williams, Paul (2002), Buddhist Thought, Routledge, ISBN 0-415207010

Williams, Paul; Tribe, Anthony; Wynne, Alexander (2012), Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the IndianTradition, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-136-52088-4

Wilson, Jeff (2010), Saṃsāra and Rebirth, in Buddhism, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0141, ISBN 9780195393521

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Saṃsāra (Jainism)Saṃsāra (transmigration) in Jain philosophy, refers to the worldly lifecharacterized by continuous rebirths and reincarnations in various realms ofexistence. Saṃsāra is described as mundane existence, full of suffering and miseryand hence is considered undesirable and worth renunciation. The Saṃsāra iswithout any beginning and the soul finds itself in bondage with its karma since thebeginning-less time. Moksha is the only way to be liberated from saṃsāra.

Influx of karmas (asrava)

See also

Notes

References

According to the Jain text, Tattvartha sutra:

(There are two kinds of influx, namely) that of persons with passions, which extends transmigration, and that ofpersons free from passions, which prevents or shortens it.

— Tattvārthsūtra (6-4-81)[1]

Activities that lead to the influx of karmas (asrava) which extends transmigration are:[2]

Five sensesFour passions (kasāya)

AngerEgoDeceitGreed

The non-observance of the five vowsNon-observance of the twenty-five activities like Righteousness

Saṃsāra bhavanā

Jain texts prescribe meditation on twelve forms of reflection (bhāvanā) for those who wish to stop the above described asrava.[3] Onesuch reflection is Saṃsāra bhavanā.

It has been described in one of the Jain text, Sarvārthasiddhi as:

Transmigration is the attainment of another birth by the self owing to the ripening of karmas. The five kinds ofwhirling round have been described already. He, who wanders in the endless cycle of births and deaths, undergoingmillions of afflictions in innumerable wombs and families, takes different relationships such as father, brother, son,

Symbolic depiction of Saṃsāra

Contents

Influx of karmas (asrava)

grandson, etc, or mother, sister, wife, daughter and so on, being propelled by the mechanism of karmas. The masterbecomes servant and the servant master, just as an actor acts several parts on the stage. To be brief, sometimes onebecomes one’s own son. There is no end to the transformations undergone by the self owing to the influence ofkarmas. Thus to reflect on the nature of mundane existence is contemplation on worldly existence. He whocontemplates thus is alarmed at the miseries of transmigration and becomes disgusted with worldly existence. And he

who is disgusted with it endeavours to free himself from it.[4]

Champat Rai Jain, a 20th century Jain writer in his book The Practical Dharma wrote:

Endless is the cycle of transmigration; painful is every form of life; there is no happiness in any of the four conditionsof existence; devas, human beings, animals and residents of hells are all involved in pain and misery of some kind orother; moksha alone is blissful and free from pain; the wise should, therefore, only aspire for moksha; all otherconditions are temporary and painful."[3]

Jain Cosmology

1. Vijay K. Jain 2011, p. 81.

2. Vijay K. Jain 2011, p. 81-82.

3. Champat Rai Jain 1917, p. 52.

4. S.A. Jain 1992, p. 246.

Jain, Vijay K. (2011), Acharya Umasvami's Tattvarthsutra (1st ed.), Uttarakhand: Vikalp Printers, ISBN 81-903639-2-1, " This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain."Jain, Prof. S.A. (1992) [First edition 1960], Reality (English Translation of Srimat Pujyapadacharya's Sarvarthasiddhi)(Second ed.), Jwalamalini Trust, " This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain."Jaini, Padmanabh S. (1998) [1979], The Jaina Path of Purification, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1578-5Champat Rai Jain (1917), The Practical Path, The Central Jaina Publishing House

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See also

Notes

References

Samsāra (Buddhism)

Translations of samsāra

English cycle of existence, endlessrebirth, wheel of suffering

Pali samsāra

Sanskrit samsāra, sangsara (Dev: ससार)Bengali সংসার (sôngsarô)

Burmese သသရာ (IPA: [θàɴðajà])

Chinese ⽣�, ��, �轉 (Pinyin: shēngsǐ, lúnhuí,liúzhuǎn)

Japanese 輪廻 (rōmaji: rinne)

Khmer សង�រ , សង�រវដ� , វដ�សង�រ (Sangsa, Sangsaravord,Vordsangsa)

Korean 윤회, 생사유전 (RR: Yunhoi, Saengsayujeon)

Mongolian ᠣᠷᠴᠢᠯᠠᠩ, орчлон(orchilang, orchlon)

Sinhalese සංසාරය (sansāra)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Samsara (disambiguation).

Samsāra (Sanskrit, Pali; also samsara) in Buddhism is the beginningless cycle of repeatedbirth, mundane existence and dying again.[1] Samsara is considered to be dukkha,unsatisfactory and painful,[2] perpetuated by desire and avidya (ignorance), and theresulting karma.[3][4][5]

Rebirths occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god,human) and three evil realms (animal, ghosts, hellish).[note 1] Samsara ends if a personattains nirvana,[note 2] the "blowing out" of the desires and the gaining of true insight intoimpermanence and non-self reality.[7][8][9]

Contents [hide]

1 Characteristics1.1 Mechanism

2 Realms of rebirth3 Cause and end

3.1 Karma

3.2 Craving and ignorance3.3 Liberation

4 Psychological interpretation

5 Alternate translations6 See also7 Notes

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Tibetan འཁར་བ་ (khor ba)

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Characteristics [ edit ]

In Buddhism, samsāra is the "suffering-laden, continuous cycle of life, death, and rebirth,without beginning or end".[2][10] In several suttas of the Samyutta Nikaya's chapter XV inparticular it's said "From an inconstruable beginning comes transmigration. A beginningpoint is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving aretransmigrating & wandering on".[11] It is the never ending repetitive cycle of birth and death,in six realms of reality (gati, domains of existence),[12] wandering from one life to anotherlife with no particular direction or purpose.[13][14][note 3] Samsara is characterized by dukkha("unsatisfactory," "painful").[note 4] Every rebirth is temporary and impermanent. In eachrebirth one is born and dies, to be reborn elsewhere in accordance with one's ownkarma.[17] It is perpetuated by one's avidya ("ignorance"), particularly about anicca andanatta,[18][19] and from craving.[note 5] Samsara continues until moksha is attained by meansof insight and nirvana.[15][note 2] the "blowing out" of the desires and the gaining of trueinsight into impermanence and non-self reality.[7][8][9]

Mechanism [ edit ]

The Samsāra doctrine of Buddhism asserts that while beings undergo endless cycles ofrebirth, there is no changeless soul that transmigrates from one lifetime to another - a viewthat distinguishes its Samsāra doctrine from that in Hinduism and Jainism.[23][24] This no-soul (no-self) doctrine is called the Anatta or Anatman in Buddhist texts.[25][26]

The early Buddhist texts suggest that Buddha faced a difficulty in explaining what is reborn and how rebirth occurs, after he innovated theconcept that there is "no self" (Anatta).[27] Later Buddhist scholars, such as the mid-1st millennium CE Pali scholar Buddhaghosa,suggested that the lack of a self or soul does not mean lack of continuity; and the rebirth across different realms of birth – such asheavenly, human, animal, hellish and others – occurs in the same way that a flame is transferred from one candle to another.[28][29]

Buddhaghosa attempted to explain rebirth mechanism with "rebirth-linking consciousness" (patisandhi).[30][31]

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A thangka showing the bhavacakrawith the ancient five cyclic realms ofsamsāra in Buddhist cosmology.Medieval and contemporary textstypically describe six realms ofreincarnation.

The mechanistic details of the Samsara doctrine vary within the Buddhist traditions. Theravada Buddhists assert that rebirth is immediatewhile the Tibetan schools hold to the notion of a bardo (intermediate state) that can last up to forty-nine days before the being isreborn.[32][33][34]

Realms of rebirth [ edit ]

See also: Desire realm, Bhavacakra, and Ghost Festival

Buddhist cosmology typically identifies six realms of rebirth and existence: gods, demi-gods,humans, animals, hungry ghosts and hells.[35] Earlier Buddhist texts refer to five realms ratherthan six realms; when described as five realms, the god realm and demi-god realm constitute asingle realm.[6]

The six realms are typically divided into three higher realms (good) and three lower realms(evil).[36][37] The three higher realms are the realms of the gods, demi-gods, and humans; thethree lower realms are the realms of the animals, hungry ghosts and hell beings.[38][39] The sixrealms are organized into thirty one levels in east Asian literature.[40] Buddhist texts describethese realms as follows:[38][39]

Gods realm:[41] the gods (devas)[42] is the most pleasure-filled among six realms, andtypically subdivided into twenty six sub-realms.[43] A rebirth in this heavenly realm is believedto be from very good karma accumulation.[41] A Deva does not need to work, and is able toenjoy in the heavenly realm all pleasures found on earth. However, the pleasures of thisrealm lead to attachment (Upādāna ), lack of spiritual pursuits and therefore no nirvana.[44]

The vast majority of Buddhist lay people, states Kevin Trainor, have historically pursuedBuddhist rituals and practices motivated with rebirth into Deva realm.[41][note 6] The Devarealm in Buddhist practice in southeast and east Asia, states Keown, include gods found inHindu traditions such as Indra and Brahma, and concepts in Hindu cosmology such as MountMeru.[47]

Demon, Anti-god or Demi-god realm:[41] the demi-gods (asuras)[42] is the second realm of existence in Buddhism. Asura arenotable for their anger and some supernormal powers. They fight with the Devas (gods), or trouble the Manusya (humans) throughillnesses and natural disasters.[41] They accumulate karma, and are reborn.

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Hungry Ghosts realm of Buddhistsamsara, a 12th-century painting fromKyoto Japan

Human realm:[41] called the manusya realm.[42] Buddhism asserts that one is reborn in this realm with vastly different physicalendowments and moral natures because of a being's past karma. A rebirth in this realm is considered as fortunate because it offersan opportunity to attain nirvana and end the Samsāra cycle.[41][48]

Animal realm:[49] is state of existence of a being as an animal (tiryag).[42] This realm is traditionally thought to be similar to a hellishrealm, because animals are believed in Buddhist texts to be driven by impulse and instinct, they prey on each other and suffer.[50]

Some Buddhist texts assert that plants belong to this realm, with primitive consciousness.[49]

Hungry ghost realm:[41] hungry ghosts and other restless spirits (preta)[42] are rebirthscaused by karma of excessive craving and attachments. They do not have a body, areinvisible and constitute only "subtle matter" of a being. Buddhist texts describe them asbeings who are extremely thirsty and hungry, very small mouths but very large stomachs.[50]

Buddhist traditions in Asia attempt to care for them on ritual days every year, by leaving foodand drinks in open, to feed any hungry ghosts nearby.[41] When their bad karma demerit runsout, these beings are reborn into another realm. According to McClelland, this realm is themildest of the three evil realms.[51] According to Yangsi Rinpoche, in contrast, the suffering of the beings born in the realm of thehungry ghosts is far more intense than those born in the animal realm.[52]

Hell realm:[49] beings in hell (naraka)[42] enter this realm for evil karma such as theft, lying, adultery and others. The texts vary in theirdetails, but typically describe numerous hellish regions each with different forms of intense suffering, such as eight extremely hothellish realms, eight extremely cold, being partially eaten alive, beating and other forms of torture in proportion to the evil karmaaccumulated.[41] These beings are reborn in another realm after their evil karma has run its course, they die, and they get anotherchance.[50] This realm is not similar to afterlife hell in Christianity, states Damien Keown, because in Buddhism there is no realm offinal damnation and existence in this realm is also a temporary state.[50]

Cause and end [ edit ]

Samsara is perpetuated by one's karma, which is caused by craving and ignorance (avidya).[18][19][note 5]

Karma [ edit ]

Main article: Karma in Buddhism

Samsara is perpetuated by karma.[note 7] Karma or 'action' results from an intentional physical or mental act, which causes a futureconsequence.[note 8] Gethin explains:

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Thus acts of body and speech are driven by an underlying intention or will (cetanā), and they are unwholesome orwholesome because they are motivated by unwholesome or wholesome intentions. Acts of body and speech are, then, theend products of particular kinds of mentality. At the same time karma can exist as a simple 'act of will', a forceful mentalintention or volition that does not lead to an act of body or speech.[57]

In the Buddhist view, therefore, the type of birth one has in this life is determined by actions or karma from the previous lives; and thecircumstances of the future rebirth are determined by the actions in the current and previous lives.[note 9]

Craving and ignorance [ edit ]

Inconsistencies in the oldest texts show that the Buddhist teachings on craving and ignorance, and the means to attain liberation,evolved, either during the lifetime of the Buddha, or thereafter.[note 10] According to Frauwallner, the Buddhist texts show a shift in theexplanation of the root cause of samsara.[58] Originally craving was considered to be the root cause of samsara,[note 11] which could bestilled by the practice of dhyana, leading to a calm of mind which according to Vetter is the liberation which is being sought.[62][63]

The later Buddhist tradition considers ignorance (avidya) to be the root cause of samsara.[59][18][19] Avidya is misconception andignorance about reality, leading to grasping and clinging, and repeated rebirth.[64][65] According to Paul Williams, "it is the not-knowingness of things as they truly are, or of oneself as one really is."[66] It can be overcome by insight into the true nature of reality. Inthe later Buddhist tradition "liberating insight" came to be regarded as equally liberating as the practice of dhyana.[67][63] According toVetter and Bronkhorst, this happened in response to other religious groups in India, who held that a liberating insight was anindispensable requisite for moksha, liberation from rebirth.[68][69][note 12]

The ideas on what exactly constituted this "liberating insight" evolved over time.[62][71] Initially the term prajna served to denote this"liberating insight." Later on, prajna was replaced in the suttas by the four truths.[72][73] This happened in those texts where "liberatinginsight" was preceded by the four jhanas, and where this practice of the four jhanas then culminates in "liberating insight."[74][note 13] Thefour truths were superseded by pratityasamutpada, and still later, in the Hinayana schools, by the doctrine of the non-existence of asubstantial self or person.[77] And Schmithausen states that still other descriptions of this "liberating insight" exist in the Buddhist canon:

"that the five Skandhas are impermanent, disagreeable, and neither the Self nor belonging to oneself";[note 14] "thecontemplation of the arising and disappearance (udayabbaya) of the five Skandhas";[note 15] "the realisation of the Skandhasas empty (rittaka), vain (tucchaka) and without any pith or substance (asaraka).[note 16][78]

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Liberation [ edit ]

Main articles: Nirvana, Consciousness (Buddhism), and Buddhist Paths to liberation

Samsara ends when one attains moksha, liberation.[79][80][81][82] In early Buddhism, Nirvana, the "blowing out" of desire, is moksha. Inlater Buddhism insight becomes predominant, for example the recognition and acceptance of non-self, also called the anatta doctrine.[83]

One who no longer sees any soul or self, concludes Walpola Rahula, is the one who has been liberated from the samsara sufferingcycles.[9][note 17] The theme that Nirvana is non-Self, states Peter Harvey, is recurring in early Buddhist texts.[85]

Some Buddhist texts suggest that rebirth occurs through the transfer of vinnana (consciousness) from one life to another. When thisconsciousness ceases, then liberation is attained.[86] There is a connection between consciousness, karmic activities, and the cycle ofrebirth, argues William Waldron, and with the destruction of vinnana, there is "destruction and cessation of "karmic activities"(anabhisankhara, S III, 53), which are considered in Buddhism to be "necessary for the continued perpetuation of cyclic existence."[86]

While Buddhism considers the liberation from samsara as the ultimate spiritual goal, in traditional practice, Buddhists seek andaccumulate merit through good deeds, donations to monks and various Buddhist rituals in order to gain better rebirths rather thannirvana.[87]

Psychological interpretation [ edit ]

According to Chogyam Trungpa the realms of samsara can refer to both "psychological states of mind and physical cosmologicalrealms".[note 18]

Gethin argues, rebirth in the different realms is determined by one's karma, which is directly determined by one's psychological states.The Buddhist cosmology may thus be seen as a map of different realms of existence and a description of all possible psychologicalexperiences.[89] The psychological states of a person in current life lead to the nature of next rebirth in Buddhist cosmology.[90]

Paul Williams acknowledges Gethin's suggestion of the "principle of the equivalence of cosmology and psychology," but notes that Gethinis not asserting the Buddhist cosmology is really all about current or potential states of mind or psychology.[91] The realms in Buddhistcosmology are indeed realms of rebirths. Otherwise rebirth would always be into the human realm, or there would be no rebirth at all. Andthat is not traditional Buddhism, states Williams.[91]

David McMahan concludes that the attempts to construe ancient Buddhist cosmology in modern psychological terms is modernisticreconstruction, "detraditionalization and demythologization" of Buddhism, a sociological phenomenon that is seen in all religions.[92]

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Alternate translations [ edit ]

Conditioned existence (Daniel Goleman)

Cycle of clinging and taking birth in one desire after another (Phillip Moffitt)Cycle of existenceCyclic existence (Jeffry Hopkins)

Uncontrollably recurring rebirth (Alexander Berzin)Wheel of suffering (Mingyur Rinpoche)

See also [ edit ]

Bhavacakra

Buddhist cosmologyIndex of Buddhism-related articles

Nirvana (Buddhism)Rebirth (Buddhism)Secular Buddhism

Six realmsWheel of Life

Notes [ edit ]

1. ^ Earlier Buddhist texts refer to five realms rather than six realms;when described as five realms, the god realm and demi-god realmconstitute a single realm.[6]

2. ^ a b Ending samsara:Kevin Trainor: "Buddhist doctrine holds that until they realizenirvana, beings are bound to undergo rebirth and redeath due totheir having acted out of ignorance and desire, therebyproducing the seeds of karma".[21]

Conze: "Nirvana is the raison d’être of Buddhism, and itsultimate justification."[22]

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3. ^ Samsara is the continual repetitive cycle of rebirth within the sixrealms of existence:

Damien Keown: "Although Buddhist doctrine holds that neitherthe beginning of the process of cyclic rebirth nor its end canever be known with certainty, it is clear that the number of timesa person may be reborn is almost infinite. This process ofrepeated rebirth is known as samsāra or 'endless wandering', aterm suggesting continuous movement like the flow of a river. Allliving creatures are part of this cyclic movement and willcontinue to be reborn until they attain nirvana."[15]

Ajahn Sucitto: "This continued movement is [...] what is meantby samsāra, the wandering on. According to the Buddha, thisprocess doesn't even stop with death—it's like the habittransfers almost genetically to a new consciousness andbody."[14]

4. ^ Samsara is characterized by dukkha:Chogyam Trungpa: "Samsara arises out of ignorance and ischaracterized by suffering."[16]

Rupert Gethin: "This precisely is the nature of samsāra:wandering from life to life with no particular direction orpurpose."[13]

5. ^ a b Ignorance and craving:John Bowker: "In Buddhism, samsāra is the cycle of continuingappearances through the domains of existence (gati), but withno Self (anātman, [ātman means the enduring, immortal self])being reborn: there is only the continuity of consequence,governed by karma."[web 1]

Chogyam Trungpa states: "Cyclic existence [is] the continualrepetitive cycle of birth, death, and bardo that arises fromordinary beings' grasping and fixating on a self and experiences.(...) Samsara arises out of ignorance and is characterized bysuffering."[16] Note that Chogyam Trungpa's description includesa reference to the bardo, or intermediate state, that isemphasized in the Tibetan tradition.

Huston Smith and Philip Novak state: "The Buddha taught thatbeings, confused as they are by ignorant desires and fears, arecaught in a vicious cycle called samsara, freedom from which—nirvana—was the highest human end."[20]

6. ^ Other scholars[45][46] note that better rebirth, not nirvana, hasbeen the primary focus of a vast majority of lay Buddhists. This theyattempt through merit accumulation and good karma.

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7. ^ The driving force behind rebirth in the six realms of samsara iskarma:

Peter Harvey: "The movement of beings between rebirths is nota haphazard process but is ordered and governed by the law ofkarma, the principle that beings are reborn according to thenature and quality of their past actions; they are 'heir' to theiractions (M.III.123)."[53]

Damien Keown: "In the cosmology [of the realms of existence],karma functions as the elevator that takes people from one floorof the building to another. Good deeds result in an upwardmovement and bad deeds in a downward one. Karma is not asystem of rewards and punishments meted out by God but akind of natural law akin to the law of gravity. Individuals are thusthe sole authors of their good and bad fortune."[54]

Sogyal Rinpoche states: "The kind of birth we will have in thenext life is determined, then, by the nature of our actions in thisone. And it is important never to forget that the effect of ouractions depends entirely upon the intention or motivation behindthem, and not upon their scale."[55]

Rupert Gethin: "What determines in which realm a being isborn? The short answer is karma (Pali kamma): a being’sintentional ‘actions’ of body, speech, and mind—whatever isdone, said, or even just thought with definite intention or volition.In general, though with some qualification, rebirth in the lowerrealms is considered to be the result of relatively unwholesome(akuśala/akusala), or bad (pāpa) karma, while rebirth in thehigher realms the result of relatively wholesome (kuśala/kusala),or good (punya/puñña) karma."[13]

Paul Williams: "short of attaining enlightenment, in each rebirthone is born and dies, to be reborn elsewhere in accordance withthe completely impersonal causal nature of one's own karma;this endless cycle of birth, rebirth, and redeath is Samsāra."[17]

8. ^ Aṅguttara Nikāya III.415: "It is "intention" that I call karma; havingformed the intention, one performs acts (karma) by body, speechand mind.[56]

9. ^ Padmasambhava: "If you want to know your past life, look intoyour present condition; if you want to know your future life, look atyour present actions."[55]

10. ^ See: * Erich Frauwallner (1953), Geschichte der indischen Philosophie,Band Der Buddha und der Jina (pp. 147-272) * Andre Bareau (1963), Recherches sur la biographie du Buddhadans les Sutrapitaka et les Vinayapitaka anciens, Ecole Francaised'Extreme-Orient * Schmithausen, On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism * K.R. Norman, Four Noble Truths * Tilman Vetter, The Ideas and Meditative Practices of EarlyBuddhism, by Tilmann Vetter * Richard F. Gombrich (2006). How Buddhism Began: TheConditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings . Routledge.ISBN 978-1-134-19639-5., chapter four * Bronkhorst, Johannes (1993), The Two Traditions Of Meditation InAncient India, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, chapter 7 * Anderson, Carol (1999), Pain and Its Ending: The Four NobleTruths in the Theravada Buddhist Canon, Routledge

11. ^ Frauwallner (1953), as referenced by Vetter (1988),[59] Flores(2009),[60] and Williams, Tribe and Wynne (2012).[61]

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References [ edit ]

12. ^ Tillmann Vetter: "Very likely the cause was the growing influenceof a non-Buddhist spiritual environment·which claimed that one canbe released only by some truth or higher knowledge. In addition, thealternative (and perhaps sometimes competing) method ofdiscriminating insight (fully established after the introduction of thefour noble truths) seemed to conform so well to this claim."[70] According to Bronkhorst, this happened under influence of the"mainstream of meditation," that is, Vedic-Brahmanical orientedgroups, which believed that the cessation of action could not beliberating, since action can never be fully stopped. Their solutionwas to postulate a fundamental difference between the inner soul orself and the body. The inner self is unchangeable, and unaffectedby actions. By insight into this difference, one was liberated. Toequal this emphasis on insight, Buddhists presented insight intotheir most essential teaching as equally liberating. What exactlywas regarded as the central insight "varied along with what wasconsidered most central to the teaching of the Buddha."[69]

13. ^ In the Nikayas the four truths are given as the "liberating insight"which constituted the awakening, or "enlightenment" of the Buddha.When he understood these truths, he was "enlightened," andliberated, as reflected in Majjhima Nikaya 26:42: "his taints aredestroyed by his seeing with wisdom."[75] Typically, the four truthsrefer here to the eightfold path as the means to gain liberation,while the attainment of insight in the four truths is portrayed asliberating in itself.[76]

14. ^ Majjhima Nikaya 2615. ^ Anguttara Nikaya II.45 (PTS)

16. ^ Samyutta Nikaya III.140-142 (PTS)17. ^ Phra Thepyanmongkol: "The designation that is Nibbana

[Nirvana] is anatta (non-self)", states Buddha, in ParivaraVinayapitaka.[84]

18. ^ Chogyam Trungpa states: "In the Buddhist system of the sixrealms, the three higher realms are the god realm, the jealous-godrealm, and the human realm; the three lower realms are the animalrealm, the hungry ghost realmm, and the hell realm. These realmscan refer to psychological states or to aspects of Buddhistcosmology."[88]

1. ^ Trainor 2004, p. 58, Quote: "Buddhism shares with Hinduism thedoctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings pass through an unceasingcycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberationfrom the cycle. However, Buddhism differs from Hinduism inrejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a

changeless soul which constitutes his or her ultimate identity, andwhich transmigrates from one incarnation to the next..

2. ^ a b Wilson 2010.3. ^ Juergensmeyer & Roof 2011, p. 271-272.

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4. ^ McClelland 2010, p. 172, 240.5. ^ Williams, Tribe & Wynne 2012, p. 18–19, chapter 1.

6. ^ a b Buswell 2004, p. 711-712.7. ^ a b Buswell & Gimello 1992, p. 7–8, 83–84.8. ^ a b Choong 1999, p. 28–29, Quote: "Seeing (passati) the nature of

things as impermanent leads to the removal of the view of self, andso to the realisation of nirvana.".

9. ^ a b c Rahula 2014, p. 51-58.

10. ^ Laumakis 2008, p. 97.11. ^ http://suttacentral.net/en/sn15.3 - SN 15.3 Assu-sutta12. ^ Bowker 1997.13. ^ a b c Gethin 1998, p. 119.

14. ^ a b Ajahn Sucitto 2010, pp. 37-38.15. ^ a b Keown 2000, Kindle locations 702-706.16. ^ a b Chogyam Trungpa 2009, p. 137.17. ^ a b Williams 2002, pp. 74-75.

18. ^ a b c Keown 2004, pp. 81, 281.19. ^ a b c Fowler 1999, p. 39–42.20. ^ Smith & Novak 2009, Kindle Location 2574.21. ^ Trainor 2004, p. 62–63.

22. ^ Conze 2013, p. 71.23. ^ Trainor 2004, p. 58, Quote: "Buddhism shares with Hinduism the

doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings pass through an unceasingcycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberationfrom the cycle. However, Buddhism differs from Hinduism inrejecting the assertion that every human being possesses achangeless soul which constitutes his or her ultimate identity, andwhich transmigrates from one incarnation to the next..

24. ^ Naomi Appleton (2014). Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Buddhistand Jain Multi-Life Stories . Cambridge University Press. pp. 76–89. ISBN 978-1-139-91640-0.

25. ^ Anatta Buddhism , Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)

26. ^ [a] Christmas Humphreys (2012). Exploring Buddhism .Routledge. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-1-136-22877-3. [b] Brian Morris (2006). Religion and Anthropology: A CriticalIntroduction . Cambridge University Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-521-85241-8., Quote: "(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is anextreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of anunchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. Accordingto Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhasor heaps - the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses andconsciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these fiveskandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering." [c] Richard Gombrich (2006). Theravada Buddhism . Routledge.p. 47. ISBN 978-1-134-90352-8., Quote: "(...) Buddha's teachingthat beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-souldoctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."

27. ^ David J. Kalupahana (1975). Causality: The Central Philosophy ofBuddhism . University Press of Hawaii. pp. 115–119. ISBN 978-0-8248-0298-1.

28. ^ David J. Kalupahana (1975). Causality: The Central Philosophy ofBuddhism . University Press of Hawaii. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-8248-0298-1.

29. ^ William H. Swatos; Peter Kivisto (1998). Encyclopedia of Religionand Society . Rowman Altamira. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-7619-8956-1.

30. ^ Bruce Mathews (1986). Ronald Wesley Neufeldt, ed. Karma andRebirth: Post Classical Developments . State University of NewYork Press. pp. 123–126. ISBN 978-0-87395-990-2.

31. ^ James McDermott (1980). Wendy Doniger, ed. Karma andRebirth in Classical Indian Traditions . University of CaliforniaPress. pp. 168–170. ISBN 978-0-520-03923-0.

32. ^ Robert Buswell & Donald Lopez 2013, pp. 49-50, 708-709.33. ^ Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Vol. 1, p. 377

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34. ^ The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. A Translation of theSamyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Translator. Wisdom Publications.Sutta 44.9

35. ^ Patrul Rinpoche; Dalai Lama (1998). The Words of My PerfectTeacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction toTibetan Buddhism . Rowman Altamira. pp. 61–99. ISBN 978-0-7619-9027-7.

36. ^ McClelland 2010, pp. 40, 107.37. ^ Bryan J. Cuevas; Jacqueline Ilyse Stone (2007). The Buddhist

Dead: Practices, Discourses, Representations . University ofHawaii Press. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-0-8248-3031-1.

38. ^ a b Dalai Lama 1992, pp. 5-8.39. ^ a b Patrul Rinpoche 1998, pp. 61-99.

40. ^ Keown 2013, pp. 35-40.41. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trainor 2004, p. 62.42. ^ a b c d e f McClelland 2010, p. 136.43. ^ Keown 2013, p. 35.

44. ^ Keown 2013, p. 37.45. ^ Merv Fowler (1999). Buddhism: Beliefs and Practices . Sussex

Academic Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-898723-66-0., Quote: "For avast majority of Buddhists in Theravadin countries, however, theorder of monks is seen by lay Buddhists as a means of gaining themost merit in the hope of accumulating good karma for a betterrebirth."

46. ^ Christopher Gowans (2004). Philosophy of the Buddha: AnIntroduction . Routledge. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-134-46973-4.

47. ^ Keown 2013, pp. 37-38.

48. ^ Keown 2013, pp. 36-37.49. ^ a b c Trainor 2004, p. 63.50. ^ a b c d Keown 2013, p. 36.51. ^ McClelland 2010, p. 114, 199.

52. ^ Yangsi Rinpoche (2012). Practicing the Path: A Commentary onthe Lamrim Chenmo . Wisdom Publications. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-86171-747-7.

53. ^ Harvey 1990, p. 39.

54. ^ Keown 2000, Kindle Location 794-797.55. ^ a b Sogyal Rinpoche 2009, p. 97.56. ^ Gethin 1998, p. 120.57. ^ Rupert Gethin (1998). The Foundations of Buddhism . Oxford

University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-19-289223-2.

58. ^ Erich Frauwallner (1953), Geschichte der indischen Philosophie,Band Der Buddha und der Jina (pp. 147-272)

59. ^ a b Vetter 1988, p. xxi.60. ^ Flores 2009, p. 63–65.61. ^ Williams, Tribe & Wynne 2012, p. 33-34.

62. ^ a b Vetter 1988, p. xxi-xxxvii.63. ^ a b Bronkhorst 1993, p. 93-111.64. ^ Edelglass 2009, p. 3-4.65. ^ Laumakis 2008, p. 136.

66. ^ Williams, Tribe & Wynne 2012, p. 46–47.67. ^ Gombrich 1997, p. 99-102.68. ^ Vetter 1988, p. xxxii, xxxiii.69. ^ a b Bronkhorst 1993, p. 54-55, 96, 99.

70. ^ Vetter 1988, p. xxxiii.71. ^ Bronkhorst 1993, p. chapter 7.72. ^ Bronkhorst 1993, p. 99-100, 102-111.73. ^ Anderson 1999.

74. ^ Bronkhorst 1993, p. 108.75. ^ Bhikkhu Nanamoli (translator) 1995, p. 268.76. ^ Bronkhorst 1993.77. ^ Bronkhorst 1993, p. 100-101.

78. ^ Bronkhorst 1993, p. 101.79. ^ Williams, Tribe & Wynne 2012, pp. 30–42.

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Web references [ edit ]

1. ^ John Bowker. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 24 Nov. 2012 "Samsāra." ; John Bowker (2014). God: A Very Short Introduction . Oxford University Press. pp. 84–86. ISBN 978-0-19-870895-7.

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Bowker, John (editor) (1997), The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, OxfordBuswell, Robert E.; Gimello, Robert M. (1992), Paths to Liberation: The Mārga and Its Transformations in Buddhist Thought , University of HawaiiPress, ISBN 978-0-8248-1253-9Buswell, Robert E., ed. (2004), Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Macmillan Reference USA, ISBN 0-02-865718-7Robert Buswell; Donald Lopez (2013), Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, ISBN 9780691157863

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Waldron, William S. (2003), The Buddhist Unconscious: The Alaya-vijñana in the context of Indian Buddhist Thought, RoutledgeWilliams, Paul (2002), Buddhist Thought, Routledge, ISBN 0-415207010

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Williams, Paul; Tribe, Anthony; Wynne, Alexander (2012), Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition , Routledge,ISBN 978-1-136-52088-4Wilson, Jeff (2010), Samsāra and Rebirth, in Buddhism, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0141 , ISBN 9780195393521

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