Timeline Upanishads Kupperman Early Vedas 1500-750 BCE Upanishads 1000-400 BCE 1000 BCE 500 BCE 0 500 CE 1000 CE 1 2 Religion and Philosophy Themes When is religion philosophy? It's not when the religion is correct, nor when it appeals to faith, devotion, or revelation Religion is philosophy when there are arguments for one's stance toward the world What is meant to persuade are arguments Arguments are open to counter-arguments Life and Death: Karmic Bondage What is the true nature of the Self? Atman is Brahman What is the true nature of reality? Reality is illusory How is one liberated? Knowledge and yoga The philosophical approach to life is to provide rational argumentation as the justification for how to live one's life 3 4
Life and Death Karma What comes after death? Where does this life lead? Hindu thought about life and death is conceived in relation to reincarnation Reincarnation: the view that after death, one enters a new life One will remember little to nothing of the past life upon entering the next life The quality of the next life depends on one's karma Law of Karma: The quality of the next life depends on the quantity and quality of virtues exhibited in this life Karma means "to make" and refers to the making of the soul Karma is a force arising from each action and determines future existence Different Hindu traditions find karma in different substances: psychological, metaphysical (spiritual), moral, or physical (body mass and energy) Karma is like a seed which, given the right conditions, will grow and produce according to its own nature We reap what we sow, whether immediately or in the future 5 6 Liberation from Samsara Atman is Brahman One can escape bondage to samsara Samsara: the reincarnation cycle of death, life, and re-birth Moksha: pursuit of liberation from samsara Moksha is achieved by pursuing the path of joy and not the path of pleasure What is the "path of joy" and what is the "path of pleasure"? How do these two paths differ? To answer these questions we must first understand the metaphysics of the Upanishads Atman is Brahman The quest to understand and make true this identity is central to the Upanishads Atman: the inner self that is unborn and undying Brahman: unchanging ultimate reality that is the ground of all existence Ancient Indian Vedic thought was polytheistic (2000-1500 BCE) Polytheism is the view that there are many gods Upanishads conceive of the many gods as various dimensions of one divine reality, Brahman 7 8
Introduction to Philosophy Introduction to Philosophy Questions to Ponder Personal Identity Do you persist through time? Imagine yourself in high school. Now, imagine yourself 20 years from now looking at your picture in your high school yearbook. What makes you think you are the same person now as then? What thing(s) determine that you are that person in the yearbook and not some other person? How can you be sure that you even existed back in high school? Can you, based on your answers above, survive biological death? 9 10 Introduction to Philosophy Introduction to Philosophy Distinction Persistence Through Time Numerical vs. Qualitative Identity Numerical identity: what is required for some past, present or future entity to be you Why is there only one you instead of several (past you, present you, and future you)? The attempt to explain what makes you the same person through time concerns numerical identity What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for you to remain the same thing through time? Qualitative identity: two things are qualitatively identical when they have all the same properties The desks in this room are qualitatively identical Are you the same person now as when you were a fetus? Will you be the same person in some future vegetative state as you are now? Are the desks in this room numerically identical? What makes you the person you are now? No person remains qualitatively identical over time, although they may remain numerically identical Will this person survive death? 11 12
Who Are You? What Makes You Who You Are? Atman and Identity of a Person Who are you? Who is the self that makes you the same person now as you were 20 years ago? Just as the many gods have different personalities, so too humans have different personalities How do you come to know this self? How do you come to know and identify this self that persists? We learn of the self through Experience (Hume/Parfit) Posit an entity as necessary for experience but separate from experience (Kant/Reid/Chisholm) Core self that is unchanging (atman) But, if the different gods are really different aspects of a divine reality so too distinct human persons are really different aspects of the same divine reality One's personality is a superficial reality True reality is found in atman as Brahman Evidence for the truth of this claim is found in the right kind of experience 13 14 Atman Argument (Kupperman) Nothing is Separate from the Self Argument Brihadaranyaka Upanishad II.4.11 1. Each of us has a persistent "me." 2. This "me" (as it intuitively seems) must be unchanging. 3. But personality, thought patterns, and so on, do change. 4. Therefore the persistent "me" cannot include such elements. (p. 11) 5. If the persistent "me" lacks individuating characteristics, then one's "persistent me" is the same as anyone else's "persistent me." 6. We are all the same "persistent me." 1. There is no water without the sea. 2. There is no touch without the skin. 3. There is no smell without the nose. 4. There is no form without the eye. 5. There is no thought without the mind. 6. There is no wisdom without the heart. 7. The Self is like the sea, skin, nose, eye, mind, heart, etc. 8. Therefore, there is nothing without the Self. 15 16
Self is Foundational Argument Chandogya Upanishad VIII Self is Foundational 1. Assume the Self is identified with the body. 2. If the Self were the body, then when the body suffers or dies the Self suffers or dies. 3. Thus, the Self is not free from suffering. In such knowledge I see no value. 4. Assume the Self is identified with one s dreaming self. 5. If the Self were the dreaming self, then it is still possible for one s dreaming self to suffer and die. 6. Thus, the Self is not free from suffering. In such knowledge I see no value. 7. Assume the Self is a state of dreamless sleep. 8. If the Self were dreamless sleep, then one would not be aware of oneself or anything else. 9. Thus, the Self is similar to non-existence. In this knowledge I see no value. 10. The Self is not awake experience (1-3), not dreaming experience (4-6), and not dreamless existence. 11. Therefore, the Self is what makes all these states possible. The Self is not bound or attached to physical shape or consciousness. The Self is the metaphysical basis or foundation for physical awareness and mental awareness, without Itself being attached to these Compare to chariot allegory in Katha I.3.3-16 The body, intellect/mind, senses, and desires are what is ruled by the Self Self (Atman) is not reducible to the physical or mental, it is not nothingness, it is the metaphysical source of thought and experience, it is a unified state of awareness with no duality 17 18 What is there, ultimately? Brahman The argument about persons concludes that all things with consciousness are ultimately the same Brahman: unchanging ultimate reality that is the ground of all existence The Upanishads think that the inner nature of all things are the same The ultimate reality of all things is the same This "field of inner realities" is Brahman Brahman is the answer to the question of what there is, ultimately. It is that stuff which underlies all things: Being At its most abstract, it is featureless yet refers to all things It is without features or characteristics: nirguna Another way of thinking about Brahman is that it encompasses all aspects of things but is not limited or defined by these features 19 20
Atman is Brahman Implications What the Self is is what ultimate reality is The is of Atman is Brahman is the is of numerical identity Is of equating: 1 + 1 = 2 Is of possession: The phone is mine. Is of relations/associations: I am my mother s son. Is of origin: I am my mother s son. Is of location: Janesville is in Wisconsin. Is of predication: My phone is black. Is of numerical identity: Atman is Brahman In the last option, atman and Brahman are the same thing, not separate entities 21 When correctly understood, different gods of a single religion or multiple religions are different aspects of one divine reality (Brahman) Each person is part of a single, divine reality Each person is god (Brahman) The entire universe is one thing Pantheism: the view that everything is god and god is everything Ultimate reality never changes Brahman is always Brahman Change occurs in one's understanding that atman is Brahman 22 Problems The Enlightenment Road Atman is the self surrounded by layers of personality These layers of personality are not you nor part of the real you Samsara is a cycle of suffering Nonetheless, these layers exist and the goal is to see beneath them to atman as Brahman Are the individual layers of personality also Brahman? If so, then why is atman necessary? If not, then not all is Brahman. Suffering is pervasive and due to one s ignorance of the true Self One can escape samsara if one realizes the true Self. Meditation is the practice which enables liberation. Meditation is an all-consuming process. 23 24
Search for Atman State of Enlightenment Thinking or believing that atman is Brahman is not enough to achieve liberation (moksha) The experience of atman is nondual There is no experiential distinction between knower and known To achieve liberation, one must free oneself from the law of karma To free oneself from the law of karma requires one to live a life where one's thinking is constantly focused on and consumed by the idea that atman is Brahman Karma also motivates moral action and aspirations Yoga/meditation is the technique by which the mind becomes focused on atman is Brahman There is no sense in which one psychically says, "there is atman" Upon reflection, one might recognize atman. But, one would not recognize atman at the moment of experiencing it. It is a full-time job to experience atman Consumed by the view that atman is Brahman would result in the disappearance of all boundaries. All things would be seen as fundamentally the same. In the state of enlightenment, the enlightenment itself would be meaningless. All would be atman is Brahman. 25 26 The Pleasure Trap Global (Objectless) Joy Pleasures are a trap because they are temporary, transitory, fleeting experiences Joy stands in contrast to pleasure Pleasurable experiences are connected to things that come into and go out of existence Joy is not connected to objects, it is not transitory, it will not end, and it will not lead to suffering Gaining pleasurable experiences leads one to want more pleasurable experiences lest one become bored, which in turn creates frustrations when not achieved Joy is a state of experience... 1. from inside the person and is not dependent on external objects or circumstances Pursuing or being affected by pleasures means that one is not focused on the ultimate, unchanging reality (Brahman) Caring for or pursuing pleasure means that all one's pleasant experiences will end and bring suffering 2. arising from an uncluttered and open psychic life 3. arising from a well-functioning psychic life in tune with oneself. 27 28
Superficial Reality Ultimate Reality You are not your personality. You are atman, which is Brahman. Individual personality is an illusion. But, the illusion can be experienced and is more vivid at the beginning of the search for atman than at the end. Ultimate Reality is understood when one understands and experiences the criteria of atman is Brahman Using this criteria, one understands that all things are one and unchanging. You are not changing. Atman is Brahman never changes. Searching for atman means that one will become more "Brahman-ish" while at the same time always having been Brahman. Superficial Reality is understood from the perspective of one trapped by pleasures and experiences not engrossed by atman is Brahman. Truths can exist in both realms of reality. Both statements are true given certain criteria (analogy of physical objects that are both dense and empty space). Once one achieves moksha, one sees existence as without boundaries; one sees Being in all things 29 30