- Vedanta and Buddhism
- A Comparative Study
- Selected essays edited by
- Helmuth Von Glasenapp
Professor of Indology
University of Tuebingen, Germany
- Copyright © 1978 Buddhist Publication Society
Preface
The present treatise by Prof. Dr. H.V. Glasenapp has been selected for reprint
particularly in view of the excellent elucidation of the Anatta Doctrine which it
contains. The treatise, in its German original, appeared in 1950 in the Proceeding of the
"Akademie der Wissenschaften and Literatur" (Academy of Sciences and
Literature). The present selection from that original is based on the abridged
translations published in "The Buddhist," Vol.XXI, No. 12 (Colombo 1951).
Partial use has also been made of a different selection and translation which appeared in
"The Middle Way," Vol. XXXI, No. 4 (London 1957).
The author of this treatise is an eminent Indologist of Western Germany, formerly of
the University of Koenigsberg, now occupying the indological chair of the University of
Tuebingen. Among his many scholarly publications are books on Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism
and on comparative religion.
-- Buddhist Publication Society
Vedanta and Buddhism
Vedanta and Buddhism are the highlights of Indian philosophical thought. Since both
have grown in the same spiritual soil, they share many basic ideas: both of them assert
that the universe shows a periodical succession of arising, existing and vanishing, and
that this process is without beginning and end. They believe in the causality which binds
the result of an action to its cause (karma), and in rebirth conditioned by that nexus.
Both are convinced of the transitory, and therefore sorrowful character, of individual
existence in the world; they hope to attain gradually to a redeeming knowledge through
renunciation and meditation and they assume the possibility of a blissful and serene
state, in which all worldly imperfections have vanished for ever. The original form of
these two doctrines shows however strong contrast. The early Vedanta, formulated in most
of the older and middle Upanishads, in some passages of the Mahabharata and the Puranas,
and still alive today (though greatly changed) as the basis of several Hinduistic systems,
teaches an ens realissimum (an entity of highest reality) as the primordial cause
of all existence, from which everything has arisen and with which it again merges, either
temporarily or for ever.
With the monistic metaphysics of the Vedanta contrasts the pluralistic Philosophy of
Flux of the early Buddhism of the Pali texts which up to the present time flourishes in
Ceylon, Burma and Siam. It teaches that in the whole empirical reality there is nowhere
anything that persists; neither material nor mental substances exist independently by
themselves; there is no original entity or primordial Being in whatsoever form it may be
imagined, from which these substances might have developed. On the contrary, the manifold
world of mental and material elements arises solely through the causal co-operation of the
transitory factors of existence (dharma) which depend functionally upon each other, that
is, the material and mental universe arises through the concurrence of forces that,
according to the Buddhists, are not reducible to something else. It is therefore obvious
that deliverance from the Samsara, i.e., the sorrow-laden round of existence, cannot
consist in the re-absorption into an eternal Absolute which is at the root of all
manifoldness, but can only be achieved by a complete extinguishing of all factors which
condition the processes constituting life and world. The Buddhist Nirvana is, therefore,
not the primordial ground, the eternal essence, which is at the basis of everything and
form which the whole world has arisen (the Brahman of the Upanishads) but the reverse of
all that we know, something altogether different which must be characterized as a nothing
in relation to the world, but which is experienced as highest bliss by those who have
attained to it (Anguttara Nikaya, Navaka-nipata 34). Vedantists and Buddhists have been
fully aware of the gulf between their doctrines, a gulf that cannot be bridged over.
According to Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 22, a doctrine that proclaims "The same is the
world and the self. This I shall be after death; imperishable, permanent, eternal!"
(see Brh. UP. 4, 4, 13), was styled by the Buddha a perfectly foolish doctrine. On the
other side, the Katha-Upanishad (2, 1, 14) does not see a way to deliverance in the
Buddhist theory of dharmas (impersonal processes): He who supposes a profusion of
particulars gets lost like rain water on a mountain slope; the truly wise man, however,
must realize that his Atman is at one with the Universal Atman, and that the former, if
purified from dross, is being absorbed by the latter, "just as clear water poured
into clear water becomes one with it, indistinguishably."
Vedanta and Buddhism have lived side by side for such a long time that obviously they
must have influenced each other. The strong predilection of the Indian mind for a doctrine
of universal unity (monism) has led the representatives of Mahayana to conceive Samsara
and Nirvana as two aspects of the same and single true reality; for Nagarjuna the
empirical world is a mere appearance, as all dharmas, manifest in it, are perishable and
conditioned by other dharmas, without having any independent existence of their own. Only
the indefinable "Voidness" (sunyata) to be grasped in meditation, and
realized in Nirvana, has true reality.
This so-called Middle Doctrine of Nagarjuna remains true to the Buddhist principle that
there can be nowhere a substance, in so far as Nagarjuna sees the last unity as a kind of
abyss, characterized only negatively, which has no genetic relation to the world. Asanga
and Vasubandhu, however, in their doctrine of Consciousness Only, have abandoned the
Buddhist principle of denying a positive reality which is at the root all phenomena, and
in doing so, they have made a further approach to Vedanta. To that mahayanistic school of
Yogacaras, the highest reality is a pure and undifferentiated spiritual element that
represents the non- relative substratum of all phenomena. To be sure, they thereby do not
assert, as the (older) Vedanta does, that the ens realissimum (the highest essence)
is identical with the universe, the relation between the two is rather being defined as
"being neither different nor not different." It is only in the later Buddhist
systems of the Far East that the undivided, absolute consciousness is taken to be the
basis of the manifold world of phenomena. But in contrast to the older Vedanta, it is
never maintained that the world is an unfoldment from the unchangeable, eternal, blissful
Absolute; suffering and passions, manifest in the world of plurality, are rather traced
back to worldly delusion.
On the other hand, the doctrines of later Buddhist philosophy had a far-reaching
influence on Vedanta. It is well known that Gaudapada, and other representatives of later
Vedanta, taught an illusionistic acosmism, for which true Reality is only "the
eternally pure, eternally awakened, eternally redeemed" universal spirit whilst all
manifoldness is only delusion; the Brahma has therefore not developed into the world, as
asserted by the older Vedanta, but it forms only the world's unchangeable background,
comparable to the white screen on which appear the changing images of an unreal shadow
play.
In my opinion, there was in later times, especially since the Christian era, much
mutual influence of Vedanta and Buddhism, but originally the systems are diametrically
opposed to each other. The Atman doctrine of the Vedanta and the Dharma theory of Buddhism
exclude each other. The Vedanta tries to establish an Atman as the basis of everything,
whilst Buddhism maintains that everything in the empirical world is only a stream of
passing Dharmas (impersonal and evanescent processes) which therefore has to be
characterized as Anatta, i.e., being without a persisting self, without independent
existence.
Again and again scholars have tried to prove a closer connection between the early
Buddhism of the Pali texts, and the Vedanta of the Upanishads; they have even tried to
interpret Buddhism as a further development of the Atman doctrine. There are, e.g., two
books which show that tendency: The Vedantic Buddhism of the Buddha, by J.G.
Jennings (Oxford University Press, 1947), and in German language, The Soul Problem of
Early Buddhism, by Herbert Guenther (Konstanz 1949).
The essential difference between the conception of deliverance in Vedanta and in Pali
Buddhism lies in the following ideas: Vedanta sees deliverance as the manifestation of a
state which, though obscured, has been existing from time immemorial; for the Buddhist,
however, Nirvana is a reality which differs entirely from all dharmas as manifested in
Samsara, and which only becomes effective, if they are abolished. To sum up: the Vedantin
wishes to penetrate to the last reality which dwells within him as an immortal essence, or
seed, out of which everything has arisen. The follower of Pali Buddhism, however, hopes by
complete abandoning of all corporeality, all sensations, all perceptions, all volitions,
and acts of consciousness, to realize a state of bliss which is entirely different from
all that exists in the Samsara.
After these introductory remarks we shall now discuss systematically the relation of
original Buddhism and Vedanta.
(1) First of all we have to clarify to what extent a knowledge of Upanishadic texts may
be assumed for the canonical Pali scriptures. The five old prose Upanishads are, on
reasons of contents and language, generally held to be pre-Buddhistic. The younger
Upanishads, in any case those beginning from Maitrayana, were certainly written at
a time when Buddhism already existed.
The number of passages in the Pali Canon dealing with Upanishadic doctrines, is very
small. It is true that early Buddhism shares many doctrines with the Upanishads (Karma,
rebirth, liberation through insight), but these tenets were so widely held in
philosophical circles of those times that we can no longer regard the Upanishads are the
direct source from which the Buddha has drawn. The special metaphysical concern of the
Upanishads, the identity of the individual and the universal Atman, has been mentioned and
rejected only in a few passages in the early Buddhist texts, for instance in the saying of
the Buddha quoted earlier. Nothing shows better the great distance that separates the
Vedanta and the teachings of the Buddha, than the fact that the two principal concepts of
Upanishadic wisdom, Atman and Brahman, do not appear anywhere in the Buddhist texts, with
the clear and distinct meaning of a "primordial ground of the world, core of
existence, ens realissimum (true substance)," or similarly. As this holds
likewise true for the early Jaina literature, one must assume that early Vedanta was of no
great importance in Magadha, at the time of the Buddha and the Mahavira; otherwise the
opposition against if would have left more distinct traces in the texts of these two
doctrines.
(2) It is of decisive importance for examining the relation between Vedanta and
Buddhism, clearly to establish the meaning of the words atta and anatta in
Buddhist literature.
The meaning of the word attan (nominative: atta, Sanskrit: atman,
nominative: atma) divides into two groups: (1) in daily usage, attan
("self") serves for denoting one's own person, and has the function of a
reflexive pronoun. This usage is, for instance, illustrated in the 12th Chapter of the
Dhammapada. As a philosophical term attan denotes the individual soul as assumed by
the Jainas and other schools, but rejected by the Buddhists. This individual soul was held
to be an eternal unchangeable spiritual monad, perfect and blissful by nature, although
its qualities may be temporarily obscured through its connection with matter. Starting
from this view held by the heretics, the Buddhists further understand by the term
"self" (atman) any eternal, unchangeable individual entity, in other
words, that which Western metaphysics calls a "substance": "something
existing through and in itself, and not through something else; nor existing attached to,
or inherent in, something else." In the philosophical usage of the Buddhists, attan
is, therefore, any entity of which the heretics wrongly assume that it exists
independently of everything else, and that it has existence on its own strength.
The word anattan (nominative: anatta) is a noun (Sanskrit: anatma)
and means "not-self" in the sense of an entity that is not independent. The word
anatman is found in its meaning of "what is not the Soul (or Spirit),"
also in brahmanical Sanskrit sources (Bhagavadgita, 6,6; Shankara to Brahma
Sutra I, 1, 1, Bibl, Indica, p 16; Vedantasara Section 158). Its frequent use in
Buddhism is accounted for by the Buddhist' characteristic preference for negative nouns.
Phrases like rupam anatta are therefore to be translated "corporeality is a
not-self," or "corporeality is not an independent entity."
As an adjective, the word anattan (as occasionally attan too; see
Dhammapada 379; Geiger, Pali Lit., Section 92) changes from the consonantal to the a-declension;
anatta (see Sanskrit anatmaka, anatmya), e.g., Samyutta 22, 55, 7 PTS III p.
56), anattam rupam ... anatte sankare ... na pajanati ("he does not know that
corporeality is without self, ... that the mental formations are without self"). The
word anatta is therefore, to be translated here by "not having the nature of a
self, non-independent, without a (persisting) self, without an (eternal) substance,"
etc. The passage anattam rupam anatta rupan ti yathabhutam na pajanati has to be
rendered: "With regard to corporeality having not the nature of a self, he does not
know according to truth, 'Corporeality is a not-self (not an independent entity).'"
The noun attan and the adjective anatta can both be rendered by
"without a self, without an independent essence, without a persisting core,"
since the Buddhists themselves do not make any difference in the use of these two
grammatical forms. This becomes particularly evident in the case of the word anatta,
which may be either a singular or a plural noun. In the well-known phrase sabbe
sankhara anicca .... sabbe dhamma anatta (Dhp. 279), "all conditioned factors of
existence are transitory .... all factors existent whatever (Nirvana included) are without
a self," it is undoubtedly a plural noun, for the Sanskrit version has sarve
dharma anatmanah.
The fact that the Anatta doctrine only purports to state that a dharma is
"void of a self," is evident from the passage in the Samyutta Nikaya (35,
85; PTS IV, p.54) where it is said rupa sunna attena va attaniyenava, "forms
are void of a self (an independent essence) and of anything pertaining to a self (or
'self-like')."
Where Guenther has translated anattan or anatta as "not the
self," one should use "a self" instead of "the
self," because in the Pali Canon the word atman does not occur in the sense of
"universal soul."
(3) It is not necessary to assume that the existence of indestructible monads is a
necessary condition for a belief in life after death. The view that an eternal, immortal,
persisting soul substance is the conditio sine qua non of rebirth can be refuted by
the mere fact that not only in the older Upanishads, but also in Pythagoras and
Empedocles, rebirth is taught without the assumption of an imperishable soul substance.
(4) Guenther can substantiate his view only through arbitrary translations which
contradict the whole of Buddhist tradition. This is particularly evident in those passages
where Guenther asserts that "the Buddha meant the same by Nirvana and atman" and
that "Nirvana is the true nature of man." For in Udana 8,2, Nirvana is
expressly described as anattam, which is rightly rendered by Dhammapala's
commentary (p. 21) as atta-virahita (without a self), and in Vinaya V, p.
86, Nirvana is said to be, just as the conditioned factors of existence (sankhata),
"without a self" (p. 151). Neither can the equation atman=nirvana be proved by
the well-known phrase attadipa viharatha, dhammadipa, for, whether dipa here
means "lamp" or "island of deliverance," this passage can, after all,
only refer to the monks taking refuge in themselves and in the doctrine (dhamma),and
attan and dhamma cannot possibly be interpreted as Nirvana. In the same way,
too, it is quite preposterous to translate Dhammapada 160, atta hi attano natho
as "Nirvana is for a man the leader" (p. 155); for the chapter is concerned only
with the idea that we should strive hard and purify ourselves. Otherwise Guenther would
have to translate in the following verse 161, attana va katam papam attajam
attasambhavam: "By Nirvana evil is done, it arises out of Nirvana, it has its
origin in Nirvana." It is obvious that this kind of interpretation must lead to
manifestly absurd consequences.
(5) As far as I can see there is not a single passage in the Pali Canon where the word
atta is used in the sense of the Upanishadic Atman.[1] This is
not surprising, since the word atman, current in all Indian philosophical systems,
has the meaning of "universal soul, ens realissimum, the Absolute,"
exclusively in the pan-en-theistic and theopantistic Vedanta, but, in that sense, it is
alien to all other brahmanical and non-Buddhist doctrines. Why, then, should it have a
Vedantic meaning in Buddhism? As far as I know, no one has ever conceived the idea of
giving to the term atman a Vedantic interpretation, in the case of Nyaya,
Vaisesika, classical Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, or Jainism.
(6) The fact that in the Pali Canon all worldly phenomena are said to be anatta
has induced some scholars of the West to look for an Atman in Buddhism. For instance, the
following "great syllogism" was formulated by George Grimm: "What I
perceive to arise and to cease, and to cause suffering to me, on account of that
impermanence, cannot be my ego. Now I perceive that everything cognizable in me and around
me, arises and ceases, and causes me suffering on account of its impermanence. Therefore
nothing cognizable is my ego." From that Grimm concludes that there must be an
eternal ego-substance that is free from all suffering, and above all cognizability. This
is a rash conclusion. By teaching that there is nowhere in the world a persisting Atman,
the Buddha has not asserted that there must be a transcendental Atman (i.e., a self beyond
the world). This kind of logic resembles that of a certain Christian sect which worships
its masters as "Christs on earth," and tries to prove the simultaneous existence
of several Christs from Mark 13,22, where it is said: "False Christs and false
prophets shall arise"; for, if there are false Christs, there must also be genuine
Christs!
The denial of an imperishable Atman is common ground for all systems of Hinayana as
well as Mahayana, and there is, therefore, no reason for the assumption that Buddhist
tradition, unanimous on that point, has deviated from the original doctrine of the Buddha.
If the Buddha, contrary to the Buddhist tradition, had actually proclaimed a
transcendental Atman, a reminiscence of it would have been preserved somehow by one of the
older sects. It is remarkable that even the Pudgalavadins, who assume a kind of individual
soul, never appeal to texts in which an Atman in this sense is proclaimed. He who
advocates such a revolutionary conception of the Buddha's teachings, has also the duty to
show evidence how such a complete transformation started and grew, suddenly or gradually.
But non of those who advocate the Atta-theory has taken to comply with that demand which
is indispensable to a historian.
(7) In addition to the aforementioned reasons, there are other grounds too, which speak
against the supposition that the Buddha has identified Atman and Nirvana. It remains quite
incomprehensible why the Buddha should have used this expression which is quite unsuitable
for Nirvana and would have aroused only wrong associations in his listeners. Though it is
true that Nirvana shares with the Vedantic conception of Atman the qualification of
eternal peace into which the liberated ones enter forever, on the other hand, the Atman is
in brahmanical opinion, something mental and conscious, a description which does not hold
true for Nirvana. Furthermore, Nirvana is not, like the Atman, the primordial ground or
the divine principle of the world (Aitareya Up. 1,1), nor is it that which preserves order
in the world (Brhadar. Up. 3,8,9); it is also not the substance from which everything
evolves, nor the core of all material elements.
(8) Since the scholarly researches made by Otto Rosenberg (published in Russian 1918,
in German trs. 1924), Th. Stcherbatsky (1932), and the great work of translation done by
Louis de la Vallee Poussin Abhidharmakosa (1923-31) there cannot be any doubt about
the basic principle of Buddhist philosophy. In the light of these researches, all attempts
to give to the Atman a place in the Buddhist doctrine, appear to be quite antiquated. We
know now that all Hinayana and Mahayana schools are based on the anatma-dharma
theory. This theory explains the world through the causal co-operation of a multitude of
transitory factors (dharma), arising in mutual functional dependence. This theory
maintains that the entire process of liberation consists in the tranquilization of these
incessantly arising and disappearing factors. For that process of liberation however, is
required, apart from moral restraint (sila) and meditative concentration (samadhi),
the insight (prajna) that all conditioned factors of existence (samskara)
are transitory, without a permanent independent existence, and therefore subject to grief
and suffering. The Nirvana which the saint experiences already in this life, and which he
enters for ever after death, is certainly a reality (dharma), but as it neither
arises nor vanishes, it is not subject to suffering, and is thereby distinguished from all
conditioned realities. Nirvana being a dharma, is likewise anatta, just as
the transitory, conditioned dharmas of the Samsara which, as caused by volitions (that is,
karma-producing energies (samskara)), are themselves also called samskara.
Like them, Nirvana is no individual entity which could act independently. For it is the
basic idea of the entire system that all dharmas are devoid of Atman, and without cogent
reasons we cannot assume that the Buddha himself has thought something different from that
which since more than two thousand years, his followers have considered to be the
quintessence of their doctrine.
Note
1. Except in a few passages rejecting it, as the one quoted by
the author: "The same is the world and the self"; see also Sutta-nipata,
v 477; and one of the six Ego- beliefs rejected in Majjh. 2: "'Even by the self I
perceive the self': this view occurs to him as being true and correct" (attana va
attanam sanjanamit'titi). Of Bhagavadgita VI 19 Yatra caiv' atmana atmanam
pasyann-atmani tusyati. -- The Editor [Go back]
http://world.std.com/~metta/lib/bps/wheels/wheel002.html