Saṃsāra (Buddhism): Difference between revisions

{{short description|Cycle of repeated birth, mundane existence and dying again}}

{{other uses|Samsara (disambiguation)}}

| fontsize=30%

| title=saṃsāra

| pi= saṃsāra ([[Devanagari|Dev]]: संसार)

| sa= saṃsāra, sangsara ([[Devanagari|Dev]]: संसार)

| en= cycle of existence, endless rebirth, wheel of dharma, beginningless time

| bo=འཁོར་བ་

| ko-Latn=

| Lao= ວັດຕະສົງສານ

| mn={{MongolUnicode|ᠣᠷᠴᠢᠯᠠᠩ}}, орчлон

(orchilang, orchlon)

| my=သံသရာ

| my-Latn=θàɰ̃ðajà

| te=[[:te:సంసారం]]

| th=[[:th:วัฏสงสาร|วัฏสงสาร]]

| zh-Latn=shēngsǐ, lúnhuí, liúzhuǎn

| si=[[:si:සංසාරය|සංසාරය]] (sansāra)

 

 

==Characteristics==

* Ajahn Sucitto: "This continued movement is [...] what is meant by samsāra, the wandering on. According to the Buddha, this process doesn't even stop with death—it's like the habit transfers almost genetically to a new consciousness and body."{{sfn|Ajahn Sucitto|2010|pp=37-38}}}} Samsara is characterized by ''[[dukkha]]'' ("unsatisfactory," "painful").{{refn|group=note|Samsara is characterized by ''dukkha'':

* Chogyam Trungpa: "Samsara arises out of ignorance and is characterized by suffering."{{sfn|Chogyam Trungpa|2009|p=137}}

* 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 the continuity of consequence, governed by karma."<ref group=web name=nalanda1>John Bowker. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 24 November 2012 [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Sasra.html "Saṃsāra."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023171439/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Sasra.html |date=2010-10-23 }};<br>{{cite book|author=John Bowker|title=God: A Very Short Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Te9wBAAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-870895-7|pages=84–86|access-date=2016-09-25|archive-date=2017-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122185207/https://books.google.com/books?id=Te9wBAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

* Kevin Trainor: "Buddhist doctrine holds that until they realize nirvana, beings are bound to undergo rebirth and redeath due to their having acted out of ignorance and desire, thereby producing the seeds of karma".{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=62–63}}

* Conze: "Nirvana is the ''raison d’être'' of Buddhism, and its ultimate justification."{{sfn|Conze|2013|p=71}}}} the "blowing out" of the desires and the gaining of true insight into [[anicca|impermanence]] and [[anatta|non-self]] reality.{{sfn|Buswell|Gimello|1992|p=7–8, 83–84}}{{sfn|Choong|1999|p=28–29, Quote: "Seeing (''passati'') the nature of things as impermanent leads to the removal of the view of self, and so to the realisation of nirvana."}}{{sfn|Rahula|2014|p=51-58}} Samsara and the notion of cyclic existence dates back to 800 BCE.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism|last=Keown|first=Damien|publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated|year=2003|isbn=9780198605607|pages=248|quote=The word samsara does not appear in the *Vedas, but the notion of cyclic birth and death is an ancient one and dates to around 800 BCE.}}</ref>

The six realms are typically divided into three higher realms (good, fortunate) and three lower realms (evil, unfortunate).{{sfn|McClelland|2010|pp=40, 107}}<ref>{{cite book |author1=Bryan J. Cuevas |author2=Jacqueline Ilyse Stone |title=The Buddhist Dead: Practices, Discourses, Representations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o1dkea_IgJUC |year=2007 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-3031-1 |pages=118–119 |access-date=2016-09-25 |archive-date=2017-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323185924/https://books.google.com/books?id=o1dkea_IgJUC |url-status=live }}</ref> The three higher realms are the realms of the gods, humans and demi-gods; the three lower realms are the realms of the animals, hungry ghosts and hell beings.{{sfn|Dalai Lama|1992|pp=5-8}}{{sfn|Patrul Rinpoche|1998|pp=61-99}} The six realms are organized into thirty one levels in east Asian literature.{{Sfn|Keown|2013|pp=35-40}} Buddhist texts describe these realms as follows:{{sfn|Dalai Lama|1992|pp=5-8}}{{sfn|Patrul Rinpoche|1998|pp=61-99}}

 

 

* '''Human realm:'''{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=62}} called the ''[[Human beings in Buddhism|manuṣya]]'' realm.{{sfn|McClelland|2010|p=136}} Buddhism asserts that one is reborn in this realm with vastly different physical endowments and moral natures because of a being's past karma.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} A rebirth in this realm is considered as fortunate because it offers an opportunity to attain nirvana and end the Saṃsāra cycle.{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=62}}{{Sfn|Keown|2013|pp=36-37}}

*'''Demi-god realm (Asura):'''{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=62}} the demi-gods ([[Asura (Buddhism)|asura]]s){{sfn|McClelland|2010|p=136}} is the third realm of existence in Buddhism. ''Asura'' are notable for their anger and some supernatural powers. They fight with the ''Devas'' (gods), or trouble the ''Manusya'' (humans) through illnesses and natural disasters.{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=62}} They accumulate karma, and are reborn. Demi-god is sometimes ranked as one of the evil realms as there are stories of them fighting against the Gods.

* '''Hungry ghost realm:'''{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=62}} hungry ghosts and other restless spirits ([[preta]]){{sfn|McClelland|2010|p=136}} are rebirths caused by karma of excessive craving and attachments. They do not have a body, are invisible and constitute only "subtle matter" of a being. Buddhist texts describe them as beings who are extremely thirsty and hungry, with very small mouths but very large stomachs.{{Sfn|Keown|2013|p=36}} Buddhist traditions in Asia attempt to care for them on ritual-days every year, by leaving food and drinks in the open, to feed any hungry ghosts nearby.{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=62}} When their bad karma demerit runs out, these beings are reborn into another realm. According to McClelland, this realm is the mildest of the three evil realms.{{sfn|McClelland|2010|p=114, 199}} According to Yangsi Rinpoche, in contrast, the suffering of the beings born in the realm of the hungry ghosts is far more intense than those born in the animal realm.<ref>{{cite book|author=Yangsi Rinpoche|title=Practicing the Path: A Commentary on the Lamrim Chenmo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wjM6AwAAQBAJ|year=2012|publisher=Wisdom Publications|isbn=978-0-86171-747-7|page=122|access-date=2017-05-02|archive-date=2020-01-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110023935/https://books.google.com/books?id=wjM6AwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

* '''Hell realm:'''{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=63}} beings in hell ([[Naraka (Buddhism)|naraka]]){{sfn|McClelland|2010|p=136}} enter this realm for evil karma such as theft, lying, adultery and others. The texts vary in their details, but typically describe numerous hellish regions each with different forms of intense suffering, such as eight extremely hot hellish realms, eight extremely cold, being partially eaten alive, beating and other forms of torture in proportion to the evil karma accumulated.{{sfn|Trainor|2004|p=62}} These beings are reborn in another realm after their evil karma has run its course, they die, and they get another chance.{{Sfn|Keown|2013|p=36}} 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.{{Sfn|Keown|2013|p=36}}

 

===Craving and ignorance===

 

The later Buddhist tradition considers [[Avidyā (Buddhism)|ignorance]] (''avidya'') to be the root cause of samsara.{{sfn|Vetter|1988|p=xxi}}{{sfn|Keown|2004|pp=81, 281}}{{sfn|Fowler|1999|p=39–42}} Avidya is misconception and ignorance about reality, leading to grasping and clinging, and repeated rebirth.{{sfn|Edelglass|2009|p=3-4}}{{sfn|Laumakis|2008|p=136}} According to Paul Williams, "it is the not-knowingness of things as they truly are, or of oneself as one really is."{{sfn|Williams|Tribe|Wynne|2012|p=46–47}} 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''.{{sfn|Gombrich|1997|p=99-102}}{{sfn|Bronkhorst|1993|p=93-111}} According to Vetter and Bronkhorst, this happened in response to other religious groups in India, who held that a liberating insight was an indispensable requisite for ''[[moksha]]'', liberation from rebirth.{{sfn|Vetter|1988|p=xxxii, xxxiii}}{{sfn|Bronkhorst|1993|p=54-55, 96, 99}}{{refn|group=note|Tillmann Vetter: "Very likely the cause was the growing influence of a non-Buddhist spiritual environment·which claimed that one can be released only by some truth or higher knowledge. In addition, the alternative (and perhaps sometimes competing) method of discriminating insight (fully established after the introduction of the four noble truths) seemed to conform so well to this claim."{{sfn|Vetter|1988|p=xxxiii}}<br><br>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 can never be fully stopped. Their solution was to postulate a fundamental difference between the inner soul or self and the body. The inner self is unchangeable, and unaffected by actions. By insight into this difference, one was liberated. To equal this emphasis on insight, Buddhists presented insight into their most essential teaching as equally liberating. What exactly was regarded as the central insight "varied along with what was considered most central to the teaching of the Buddha."{{sfn|Bronkhorst|1993|p=54-55, 96, 99}}}}

A value of Buddhism is the idea of [[impermanence]]. All living things, causes, conditions, situations are impermanent.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism|last=Keown|first=Damien|publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated|year=2003|quote=A fundamental tenet of *Buddhism is that all formations (*samskara)—things that come into being dependent on causes and conditions— are impermanent.}}</ref> Impermanence is the idea that all things disappear once they have originated. According to [[Buddhism]], [[Impermanence]] occurs constantly "moment to moment",<ref>{{Cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism|last=Keown|first=Damien|publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated|year=2003|pages=15|quote=Impermanence refers to the arising, passing away, changing, and disappearance of things that have arisen, and according to the *Abhidharma is a process that takes place from moment to moment.}}</ref> and this is why there is no recognition of the self.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism|last=Keown|first=Damien|publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated|year=2003|pages=15|quote=It is because of the impermanence of the five aggregates (*skandha) that Buddhism teaches there can be no eternal self or soul (see ANATMAN).}}</ref> Since everything is considered to be in a state of decay, permanent happiness and self cannot exist in Samsara.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism|last=Keown|first=Damien|publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated|year=2003|pages=15|quote=For the same reason it is thought that there can be no permanent happiness in *samsara, because situations constantly change and in time all things decay (see DUHKHA).}}</ref>

 

 

==Psychological interpretation==