Samskara (Indian philosophy)

Etymology and meaning

The Sanskrit word saṃskāra (संस्कार) has various context-driven meanings that broadly refer to "the putting together, accomplishing well, making perfect, a form of solemn recognition and getting ready" and "mental impression, recollection".

The first use of the term, which relies primarily on its first definition, refers to Hindu rites of passage.

The second definition presents saṃskāra as a form of disposition, impression, or behavioral inclination. In this sense, it is used as a psychological concept in some Indian philosophies, such as Yoga. The concept of saṃskāra is also discussed as Vasana (Sanskrit: वासना vāsanā), particularly in the Vaiśeṣika school of Hinduism. Vasana also means "impression, inclination of anything remaining unconsciously in the mind".

Context

Samskara, or Sankhara, is a significant concept across major schools of Hindu philosophy as well as Buddhism and Jainism.

Das states that the Samskara rites of passage is a subset of actions in a human being's life, where going through the rite within the traditions of Hinduism, affects the individual internally as well as externally in how society perceives the person. This occurs in the form of impressions and imprint within, that is samskara.

Hinduism

The Hindu schools differ in the details, but all posit that samskara are formed in every individual by a number of ways. This includes perceptions (what one sees, hears, touches, tastes, smells), chitta cognition (what one feels and thinks), willful actions, and also intentions before and during the action. The Hindu schools rely on samskara theory as one of the pillars for their epistemology (pramana), wherein they explain how and why man knows anything, remembers anything, expects anything, feels fulfillment, feels frustration, feels freedom and joy, or feels suffering and pain.

Actions, studies, diligent preparation and inner resolutions trigger Samskaras – hidden impressions or dispositions – in the psyche of an individual, and these influence how the individual acts, perceives self and the manner in which the individual responds or accepts the karmic circumstances and the future.

Samkhya-Yoga

In Samkhya and other Indian Yoga schools, Sankhara, also spelled as Samskara, are impressions or residues that affect an individual's Gunas (behavior attributes).

In Yoga school of Hinduism, all actions and intents lead to impressions and memories, whether they are active or hidden, conscious or unconscious. A person may not remember his or her past karma, yet the impressions shape his character, the habits, the circumstances, the essence of that person because of the impressions left by the karma. Vyasa, Patanjali and other ancient Indian scholars refer to these as karmic residues (karmasaya). Personality, states Patanjali, is the sum total combination of all these impressions and subtle traces (samskaras). Individuals tend to do what they did in the past, man forms habit and often returns to those habits, and behaviors tend to repeat because of these samskaras, according to these Yoga scholars.

Vedanta

These are viewed as traces or temperament that evolves through the refinement of an individual inner consciousness and expressed personality, and is a form of "being-preparedness" in Vedantic psychology.

Nyaya and Vaiśeṣika

In Nyaya school of Hinduism, Bhavana (Sanskrit: भावना) is synonymous with Samskara, a property that manifests as impressions or traces on the soul. The concept is intimately related to Nyaya's search and reason-driven explanation of causes behind what happens in living and non-living world, and why. All voluntary actions, state Nyayayikas, have a cause, and these are guided by Samskara. For example, a newborn child voluntarily and instinctively acts to reach for the mother's breast. That is an example of Samskara, assert the Nyaya and Vaiśeṣika scholars.

In Nyaya school of Hinduism, the existence of Samskara cannot be directly perceived, only inferred. Some simply manifest as memories, premises or beliefs shaped "from a prior experience".

Buddhism

Main article: Saṅkhāra

Saṃskāra or Saṅkhāra in Buddhism refers to mental "dispositions". These result from past volitions, and are causes of future volitions. Saṅkhāra also refers to that faculty within a person wherein these dispositions are formed. Buddhism emphasizes the need to purify dispositions (Saṅkhāra) rather than eliminate them.

Jainism

Main article: Tattva (Jainism)

The activities of mind, speech and body, according to Jain philosophy, lead to Asrava, that is, the influx and imprint of karmic residues to the jiva (soul) of the living being. These residues bind (bandha), forming karma sarira, which can be stopped (saṃvara) and released (nirjara). rather karma bandha to the soul.

References

References

1. "Samsara".
2. "Exploring the Meaning of Samskara or Sankhara in Buddhist Teaching".
3. 978-1898723943, page 105
4. [http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/tamil/recherche saMskAra] Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, Germany
5. "Rites of Passage – Heart Of Hinduism".
6. [http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=vAsanA&direction=SE&script=HK&link=yes&beginning=0 vAsanA] Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionary, Germany
7. Stephen Philips (2014), Epistemology in Classical India: The Knowledge Sources of the Nyaya School, Routledge, {{ISBN. 978-1138008816, page 134
8. The schools of Indian philosophy differ on the specific mechanisms about how ''samskara'' operates at the subconscious level. For example, Buddhism considers ''samskara'' as "causal continua" while being consistent with its "there is no self, no soul" premise, whereas the Vedic traditions within Hinduism consider ''samskara'' as "relational properties" (an impression, mark, impulse, tendency or a form of psychological potential energy within) that rests inside the "self, soul" of every person. In [[Raja yoga|Yoga]], [[Vedanta]] and [[Nyaya]] schools of Hinduism, ''samskara'' constitute an affective and motivational field that contributes to the value structure within the person. They subconsciously or consciously endorse the basic inner drives that propel a human being in future action, future premises, future thoughts or future judgments.Howard Coward (1983), Psychology and karma, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 33, No. 1, pages 49-60
9. L Das (2005), Culture as the Designer, Design Issues, MIT Press, Vol. 21, No. 4, pages 41-53
10. Clare Carlisle (2005), Creatures of habit: The problem and the practice of liberation, Continental Philosophy Review, Vol. 38, Issue 1-2, pages 19-39
11. 978-0231144858, Chapter 3: Karma
12. All physical, verbal and mental activity, according to the Vedanta school of Hinduism, creates ''Samskara'', or traces inside a person. These ''Samskaras'' together then manifest as inner personality and external circumstances, and depending then on individual's response thereof, these then bear ''phala'' (fruit). In the state where an individual realizes Self and reaches ''jivanmukti'' ([[moksha]]), [[Shankaracharya. Shankara]], [[Maṇḍana Miśra. Mandana]], Sarvajnatman and other Vedanta scholars suggest that the causes of impressions such as ignorance disappear, the individual reaches inner resolution and complete acceptance of self, thus becoming free of samskaras and consequent blissful state of existence.Andrew Fort (1998), Jivanmukti in Transformation: Embodied Liberation in Advaita and Neo-Vedanta, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN. 978-0791439036, pages 10-82
13. 978-0815336082, page 16
14. 978-9004048089, pages 106-107
15. Stephen H. Phillips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy, Columbia University Press, {{ISBN. 978-0231144858, Chapter 4
16. [[David Kalupahana]], "A History of Buddhist Philosophy." University of Hawaii Press, 1992, page 71.
17. See, for instance, Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. {{ISBN. 0-86171-331-1, p. 45
18. David Kalupahana, ''Mulamadhyamakakarika of Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle Way.'' Motilal Banarsidass, 2005, page 48.
19. Anne Vallely (2014), The Oxford Handbook of Atheism (Editors: Stephen Bullivant, Michael Ruse), Oxford University Press, {{ISBN. 978-0199644650, pages 358-364
20. S Dasgupta (2004), A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN. 978-8120804128, pages 73-74
21. The operating mechanism, consistent with the dualism premise of Jainism, is not Saṃskāra as latent mental trace,Raj Pruthi (2004), Jainism and Indian Civilization, Vol. 4, {{ISBN. 978-8171417964, page 205
22. Caroline Humphrey and James Laidlaw (1994), The Archetype Actions of Ritual - A Theory of Ritual Illustrated by the Jain Rite of Worship, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN. 978-0198279471, pages 193-208