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80-518: Heruka (Sanskrit; Tibetan: Wylie : khrag 'thung ) is the name of a category of wrathful deities , enlightened beings in Vajrayana Buddhism that adopt a fierce countenance to benefit sentient beings. In East Asia, these are called Wisdom Kings . Herukas represent the embodiment of indivisible bliss and emptiness. They appear as Iṣṭha-devatā (Tibetan: Wylie : yi dam ) or meditational deities for tantric sādhanā , usually placed in

160-468: A mandala and often appearing in Yab-Yum . Heruka represents wrathful imagery with indivisible emptiness ( śūnyatā ), bliss, peace, wisdom, compassion ( bodhicitta ), and love. Herukas represent unified consciousness, with emptiness being a reflection of "non-phenomena" or emptiness which is "all love," or removal of imagery to reach universal love, mercy, and compassion-mind. Interpretation of Heruka

240-609: A Sanskrit word for blood ( asrik ), and raktapa , raktapayin , or rakshasa , derived from an alternate root term for blood ( rakta ). Unlike the Chinese and Tibetan ( Tratung , wylie: khrag 'thung ) terms used to translate it, the Sanskrit term heruka does not literally mean blood drinker, although the fact that it was rendered as such into two other languages strongly suggests an according Indian interpretive etymology . The eight Herukas (Wylie: sgrub pa bka’ brgyad ) of

320-445: A beautiful face in a soiled mirror, Seeing that reflection I wish myself you, an individual soul, as if I could be finite! A finite soul, an infinite Goddess – these are false concepts, in the minds of those unacquainted with truth, No space, my loving devotee, exists between your self and my self, Know this and you are free. This is the secret wisdom. The concept of moksha , according to Daniel Ingalls , represented one of

400-440: A better idea of pronunciation. However, these schemes were often applied inconsistently, and usually only when the word would normally be capitalised according to the norms of Latin text (i.e. at the beginning of a sentence). On the grounds that internal capitalisation was overly cumbersome, of limited usefulness in determining pronunciation, and probably superfluous to a reader able to use a Tibetan dictionary, Wylie specified that if

480-522: A concept common in Buddhism, is accompanied by the realization that all experienced phenomena are not self ; while moksha , a concept common in many schools of Hinduism, is acceptance of Self (soul), realization of liberating knowledge, the consciousness of Oneness with Brahman, all existence and understanding the whole universe as the Self. Nirvana starts with the premise that there is no Self, moksha on

560-405: A middle Upanishadic-era script dated to the second half of the first millennium BCE, is among the earliest expositions about saṃsāra and moksha . In Book I, Section III, the legend of boy Naciketa queries Yama , the lord of death to explain what causes saṃsāra and what leads to liberation. Naciketa inquires: what causes sorrow? Yama explains that suffering and saṃsāra results from a life that

640-592: A person to be more truly a person in the full sense; the concept presumes an unused human potential of creativity, compassion and understanding which had been blocked and shut out. Moksha is more than liberation from a life-rebirth cycle of suffering ( samsara ); the Vedantic school separates this into two: jivanmukti (liberation in this life) and videhamukti (liberation after death). Moksha in this life includes psychological liberation from adhyasa (fears besetting one's life) and avidya (ignorance or anything that

720-500: A repeated process of rebirth. This bondage to repeated rebirth and life, each life subject to injury, disease and aging, was seen as a cycle of suffering. By release from this cycle, the suffering involved in this cycle also ended. This release was called moksha , nirvana , kaivalya , mukti and other terms in various Indian religious traditions but as per Hindu scripture veda one can attain mokhsha by giving up shadripu ( kama, lobha, krodha, moha, mada and matsarya). A desire for

800-521: A standard transliteration scheme in Tibetan studies, especially in the United States. Any Tibetan language romanization scheme faces the dilemma of whether it should seek to accurately reproduce the sounds of spoken Tibetan or the spelling of written Tibetan. These differ widely, as Tibetan orthography became fixed in the 11th century, while pronunciation continued to evolve , comparable to

880-507: A way to liberation ( moksha ). In Sāmkhya literature, liberation is commonly referred to as kaivalya . In this school, kaivalya means the realization of purusa , the principle of consciousness, as independent from mind and body, as different from prakrti . Like many schools of Hinduism, in Sāmkhya and Yoga schools, the emphasis is on the attainment of knowledge, vidyā or jñāna , as necessary for salvific liberation, moksha . Yoga's purpose

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960-499: A word was to be capitalised, the first letter should be capital, in conformity with Western capitalisation practices. Thus a particular Tibetan Buddhist sect ( Kagyu ) is capitalised Bka' brgyud and not bKa' brgyud . Wylie's original scheme is not capable of transliterating all Tibetan-script texts. In particular, it has no correspondences for most Tibetan punctuation symbols, and lacks the ability to represent non-Tibetan words written in Tibetan script (Sanskrit and phonetic Chinese are

1040-527: Is Karma Yoga , the way of works. The fourth mārga is Rāja Yoga , the way of contemplation and meditation. These mārgas are part of different schools in Hinduism, and their definition and methods to moksha . For example, the Advaita Vedanta school relies on Jñāna Yoga in its teachings of moksha . The marga s need not lead to all forms of moksha, according to some schools of Hinduism. For example,

1120-689: Is a central concept and the utmost aim of human life; the other three aims are dharma (virtuous, proper, moral life), artha (material prosperity, income security, means of life), and kama (pleasure, sensuality, emotional fulfillment). Together, these four concepts are called Puruṣārtha in Hinduism. In some schools of Indian religions, moksha is considered equivalent to and used interchangeably with other terms such as vimoksha , vimukti , kaivalya , apavarga , mukti , nihsreyasa , and nirvana . However, terms such as moksha and nirvana differ and mean different states between various schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The term nirvana

1200-524: Is a compound word of sara and sva , meaning "essence of self". After the prayer verses, the Upanishad inquires about the secret to freedom and liberation (mukti). Sarasvati's reply in the Upanishad is: It was through me the Creator himself gained liberating knowledge, I am being, consciousness, bliss, eternal freedom: unsullied, unlimited, unending. My perfect consciousness shines your world, like

1280-523: Is a soul or after life moksha . Both Sāmkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought are mokshaśāstras , suggests Knut Jacobsen , they are systems of salvific liberation and release. Sāmkhya is a system of interpretation, primarily a theory about the world. Yoga is both a theory and a practice. Yoga gained wide acceptance in ancient India, its ideas and practices became part of many religious schools in Hinduism, including those that were very different from Sāmkhya. The eight limbs of yoga can be interpreted as

1360-492: Is a term in Hinduism , Buddhism , Jainism , and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, liberation, nirvana , or release. In its soteriological and eschatological senses, it refers to freedom from saṃsāra , the cycle of death and rebirth . In its epistemological and psychological senses, moksha is freedom from ignorance: self-realization, self-actualization and self-knowledge. In Hindu traditions, moksha

1440-459: Is because a guru can help one develop knowledge of maya (the illusionary nature of the world), a critical step on the path to moksha. Shankara cautions that the guru and historic knowledge may be distorted, so traditions and historical assumptions must be questioned by the individual seeking moksha . Those who are on their path to moksha (samnyasin), suggests Klaus Klostermaier , are quintessentially free individuals, without craving for anything in

1520-496: Is considered timeless, eliminating the cycle of birth and death ( samsara ). Advaita Vedanta emphasizes Jnana Yoga as the means of achieving moksha . Bliss, claims this school, is the fruit of knowledge (vidya) and work (karma). The Dvaita (dualism) traditions define moksha as the loving, eternal union with God and considered the highest perfection of existence. Dvaita schools suggest every soul encounters liberation differently. Dualist traditions (e.g. Vaishnava ) see God as

1600-467: Is continuous and everywhere. Moksha , suggests Shankara, is a final perfect, blissful state where there can be no change, where there can be no plurality of states. It has to be a state of thought and consciousness that excludes action. He questioned: "How can action-oriented techniques by which we attain the first three goals of man ( kama , artha and dharma ) be useful to attain the last goal, namely moksha ?" Scholars suggest Shankara's challenge to

1680-410: Is difference between these ideas, as explained elsewhere in this article, but they are all soteriological concepts of various Indian religious traditions. The six major orthodox schools of Hinduism have had a historic debate, and disagree over whether moksha can be achieved in this life, or only after this life. Many of the 108 Upanishads discuss amongst other things moksha . These discussions show

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1760-526: Is essential to Buddhist nirvana. Realization of atman (atta) is essential to Hindu moksha . Ancient literature of different schools of Hinduism sometimes use different phrases for moksha . For example, Keval jnana or kaivalya ("state of Absolute"), Apavarga , Nihsreyasa , Paramapada , Brahmabhava , Brahmajnana and Brahmi sthiti . Modern literature additionally uses the Buddhist term nirvana interchangeably with moksha of Hinduism. There

1840-584: Is freedom. Kathaka Upanishad also explains the role of yoga in personal liberation, moksha . The Svetasvatara Upanishad , another middle-era Upanishad written after Kathaka Upanishad , begins with questions such as why is man born? what is the primal cause behind the universe? what causes joy and sorrow in life? It then examines the various theories, that were then existing, about saṃsāra and release from bondage. Svetasvatara claims that bondage results from ignorance, illusion or delusion; deliverance comes from knowledge. The Supreme Being dwells in every being, he

1920-468: Is lived absent-mindedly, with impurity, with neither the use of intelligence nor self-examination, where neither mind nor senses are guided by one's atma (soul, self). Liberation comes from a life lived with inner purity, alert mind, led by buddhi (reason, intelligence), realization of the Supreme Self ( purusha ) who dwells in all beings. Kathaka Upanishad asserts knowledge liberates, knowledge

2000-465: Is more common in Buddhism, while moksha is more prevalent in Hinduism . Moksha is derived from the Sanskrit root word, muc , which means to free, let go, release, liberate. According to Jain scriptures, it is a combination of two Sanskrit words, moh (attachment) and kshay (its destruction) The definition and meaning of moksha varies between various schools of Indian religions. Moksha means freedom, liberation, but from what and how

2080-454: Is not true knowledge). Many schools of Hinduism according to Daniel Ingalls , see moksha as a state of perfection. The concept was seen as a natural goal beyond dharma . Moksha , in the epics and ancient literature of Hinduism, is seen as achievable by the same techniques necessary to practice dharma . Self-discipline is the path to dharma , moksha is self-discipline that is so perfect that it becomes unconscious, second nature. Dharma

2160-464: Is release from such avidya, towards the intuition and eternal union with God. Among the Samkhya, Yoga and Vedanta schools of Hinduism, liberation and freedom reached within one's life is referred to as jivanmukti , and the individual who has experienced this state is called jivanmukta (self-realized person). Dozens of Upanishads, including those from middle Upanishadic period, mention or describe

2240-451: Is seen as a final release from illusion, and through knowledge ( anubhava ) of one's own fundamental nature, which is Satcitananda . Advaita holds there is no being/non-being distinction between Atman , Brahman , and Paramatman . True knowledge is a direct, permanent realization that the Atman and Brahman are one. This realization instantly removes ignorance and leads to moksha , and

2320-457: Is similar to the female ḍākiṇī or buddha Vajrayogini . The Sanskrit term Heruka was translated into both Chinese and Tibetan as "blood drinker," which scholar Ronald Davidson calls "curious," speculating that the nonliteral translation is derived from an association the term has with cremation grounds and ' charnel grounds ' (Sanskrit: śmāśāna ) (which absorb the blood of the dead). Sanskrit terms for blood drinker include asrikpa , reflecting

2400-485: Is the primal cause, he is the eternal law, he is the essence of everything, he is nature, he is not a separate entity. Liberation comes to those who know Supreme Being is present as the Universal Spirit and Principle, just as they know butter is present in milk. Such realization, claims Svetasvatara, come from self-knowledge and self-discipline; and this knowledge and realization is liberation from transmigration,

2480-517: Is then seen as a means to remove the avidyā – that is, ignorance or misleading/incorrect knowledge about one self and the universe. It seeks to end ordinary reflexive awareness ( cittavrtti nirodhah ) with deeper, purer and holistic awareness ( asamprājñāta samādhi ). Yoga, during the pursuit of moksha , encourages practice ( abhyāsa ) with detachment ( vairāgya ), which over time leads to deep concentration ( samādhi ). Detachment means withdrawal from outer world and calming of mind, while practice means

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2560-406: Is thus a means to moksha . The Samkhya school of Hinduism, for example, suggests that one of the paths to moksha is to magnify one's sattvam . To magnify one's sattvam , one must develop oneself where one's sattvam becomes one's instinctive nature. Many schools of Hinduism thus understood dharma and moksha as two points of a single journey of life, a journey for which the viaticum

2640-411: Is unworldly understanding, a state of bliss. "How can the worldly thought-process lead to unworldly understanding?", asked Nagarjuna. Karl Potter explains the answer to this challenge as one of context and framework, the emergence of broader general principles of understanding from thought processes that are limited in one framework. Adi Shankara in the 8th century AD, like Nagarjuna earlier, examined

2720-405: Is where the schools differ. Moksha is also a concept that means liberation from rebirth or saṃsāra . This liberation can be attained while one is on earth ( jivanmukti ), or eschatologically ( karmamukti , videhamukti ). Some Indian traditions have emphasized liberation on concrete, ethical action within the world. This liberation is an epistemological transformation that permits one to see

2800-520: The bhakti schools of Hinduism, is devoted to the worship of God, sings his name, anoints his image or idol, and has many sub-schools. Vaishnavas (followers of Vaishnavism) suggest that dharma and moksha cannot be two different or sequential goals or states of life. Instead, they suggest God should be kept in mind constantly to simultaneously achieve dharma and moksha , so constantly that one comes to feel one cannot live without God's loving presence. This school emphasized love and adoration of God as

2880-681: The Ekasarana dharma denies the sayujya form of mukti, where the complete absorption in God deprives jiva of the sweetness and bliss associated with bhakti . Madhavadeva begins the Namghoxa by declaring his admiration for devotees who do not prefer mukti . The three main sub-schools in Vedanta school of Hinduism – Advaita Vedanta , Vishistadvaita and Dvaita – each have their own views about moksha . The Vedantic school of Hinduism suggests

2960-457: The English orthography and French orthography , which reflect late medieval pronunciation. Previous transcription schemes sought to split the difference with the result that they achieved neither goal perfectly. Wylie transliteration was designed to precisely transcribe Tibetan script as written , which led to its acceptance in academic and historical studies. It is not intended to represent

3040-566: The 8th century AD, until the arrival of a Mimamsa scholar named Kumarila . Instead of moksha , the Mimamsa school of Hinduism considered the concept of heaven as sufficient to answer the question: what lay beyond this world after death. Other schools of Hinduism, over time, accepted the moksha concept and refined it over time. It is unclear when the core ideas of samsara and moksha developed in ancient India. Patrick Olivelle suggests these ideas likely originated with new religious movements in

3120-542: The Nirvana of Buddhism is same as the Brahman in Hinduism, a view other scholars and he disagree with. Buddhism rejects the idea of Brahman , and the metaphysical ideas about soul (atman) are also rejected by Buddhism, while those ideas are essential to moksha in Hinduism. In Buddhism, nirvana is 'blowing out' or 'extinction'. In Hinduism, moksha is 'identity or oneness with Brahman'. Realization of anatta (anatman)

3200-564: The Nyingma mahayoga tradition (and their corresponding sadhanas ) are said to have been received by Padmakara from the Eight Vidyadharas ( Tib. Rigdzin ), or Eight Great Acharyas : Manjushrimitra , Nagarjuna , Vajrahumkara, Vimalamitra , Prabhahasti, Dhanasamskrita, Shintamgarbha and Guhyachandra. They were proficient in the practices of, respectively: 1) Yamantaka (Tib. Jampal Shinje , ’jam dpal sku )

3280-606: The Purusha from what one is not), but from Vedic studies, observance of the Svadharma (personal duties), sticking to Asramas (stages of life). The six major orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy offer the following views on moksha , each for their own reasons: the Nyaya, Vaisesika and Mimamsa schools of Hinduism consider moksha as possible only after death. Samkhya and Yoga schools consider moksha as possible in this life. In

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3360-454: The Vedanta school, the Advaita sub-school concludes moksha is possible in this life, while Dvaita, Visistadvaita, Shuddhadvait sub-schools of Vedanta tradition believes that moksha is a continuous event, one assisted by loving devotion to God, that extends from this life to post-mortem. Beyond these six orthodox schools, some heterodox schools of Hindu tradition, such as Carvaka, deny there

3440-427: The ancient scholars observed that people vary in the quality of virtuous or sinful life they lead, and began questioning how differences in each person's puṇya (merit, good deeds) or pāp (demerit, sin) as human beings affected their afterlife. This question led to the conception of an afterlife where the person stayed in heaven or hell, in proportion to their merit or demerit, then returned to earth and were reborn,

3520-416: The application of effort over time. Such steps are claimed by Yoga school as leading to samādhi, a state of deep awareness, release and bliss called kaivalya . Yoga, or mārga (meaning "way" or "path"), in Hinduism is widely classified into four spiritual approaches. The first mārga is Jñāna Yoga , the way of knowledge. The second mārga is Bhakti Yoga , the way of loving devotion to God. The third mārga

3600-558: The concept of moksha appears in three forms: Vedic, yogic and bhakti. In the Vedic period, moksha was ritualistic. Mokṣa was claimed to result from properly completed rituals such as those before Agni – the fire deity. The significance of these rituals was to reproduce and recite the cosmic-creation event described in the Vedas; the description of knowledge on different levels – adhilokam , adhibhutam , adhiyajnam , adhyatmam – helped

3680-609: The concept of moksha parallels those of Plotinus against the Gnostics , with one important difference: Plotinus accused the Gnostics of exchanging an anthropocentric set of virtues with a theocentric set in pursuit of salvation ; Shankara challenged that the concept of moksha implied an exchange of anthropocentric set of virtues ( dharma ) with a blissful state that has no need for values. Shankara goes on to suggest that anthropocentric virtues suffice. Vaishnavism , one of

3760-559: The cycle continuing indefinitely. The rebirth idea ultimately flowered into the ideas of saṃsāra , or transmigration – where one's balance sheet of karma determined one's rebirth. Along with this idea of saṃsāra , the ancient scholars developed the concept of moksha , as a state that released a person from the saṃsāra cycle. Moksha release in eschatological sense in these ancient literature of Hinduism, suggests van Buitenen , comes from self-knowledge and consciousness of oneness of supreme soul. Scholars provide various explanations of

3840-420: The difference between the world one lives in and moksha , a state of freedom and release one hopes for. Unlike Nagarjuna, Shankara considers the characteristics between the two. The world one lives in requires action as well as thought; our world, he suggests, is impossible without vyavahara (action and plurality). The world is interconnected, one object works on another, input is transformed into output, change

3920-463: The differences between the schools of Hinduism, a lack of consensus, with a few attempting to conflate the contrasting perspectives between various schools. For example, freedom and deliverance from birth-rebirth, argues Maitrayana Upanishad, comes neither from the Vedanta school's doctrine (the knowledge of one's own Self as the Supreme Soul) nor from the Samkhya school's doctrine (distinction of

4000-457: The final goal of the Upanishad. Starting with the middle Upanishad era, moksha – or equivalent terms such as mukti and kaivalya – is a major theme in many Upanishads . For example, Sarasvati Rahasya Upanishad, one of several Upanishads of the bhakti school of Hinduism, starts out with prayers to Goddess Sarasvati. She is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, learning and creative arts; her name

4080-549: The first millennium BCE. The concepts of mukti and moksha , suggests J. A. B. van Buitenen , seem traceable to yogis in Hinduism, with long hair, who chose to live on the fringes of society, given to self-induced states of intoxication and ecstasy, possibly accepted as medicine-men and "sadhus" by ancient Indian society. Moksha to these early concept-developers, was the abandonment of the established order, not in favor of anarchy, but in favor of self-realization, to achieve release from this world. In its historical development,

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4160-399: The first step towards mokṣa begins with mumuksutva , that is desire of liberation. This takes the form of questions about self, what is true, why do things or events make us happy or cause suffering, and so on. This longing for liberating knowledge is assisted by, claims Adi Shankara of Advaita Vedanta, a guru (teacher), study of historical knowledge and viveka (critical thinking). This

4240-495: The forms that arise here and attain moksha (liberation)." Wylie transliteration Wylie transliteration is a method for transliterating Tibetan script using only the letters available on a typical English-language typewriter . The system is named for the American scholar Turrell V. Wylie , who created the system and published it in a 1959 Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies article. It has subsequently become

4320-706: The full Unicode Tibetan character set) on a Latin keyboard. Since the Wylie system is not intuitive for use by linguists unfamiliar with Tibetan, a new transliteration system based on the International Phonetic Alphabet has been proposed to replace Wylie in articles on Tibetan historical phonology . (Some of the following links require installation of Tibetan fonts to display properly) Moksha Traditional Moksha ( / ˈ m oʊ k ʃ ə / ; Sanskrit : मोक्ष , mokṣa ), also called vimoksha , vimukti , and mukti ,

4400-732: The individual transcend to moksa. Knowledge was the means, the ritual its application. By the middle to late Upanishadic period, the emphasis shifted to knowledge, and ritual activities were considered irrelevant to the attainment of moksha . Yogic moksha replaced Vedic rituals with personal development and meditation, with hierarchical creation of the ultimate knowledge in self as the path to moksha . Yogic moksha principles were accepted in many other schools of Hinduism, albeit with differences. For example, Adi Shankara in his book on moksha suggests: अर्थस्य निश्चयो दृष्टो विचारेण हितोक्तितः | न स्नानेन न दानेन प्राणायमशतेन वा || १३ || By reflection, reasoning and instructions of teachers,

4480-408: The letter a is used to represent the default vowel "a" (e.g. ཨ་ = a). Many previous systems of Tibetan transliteration included internal capitalisation schemes—essentially, capitalising the root letter rather than the first letter of a word, when the first letter is a prefix consonant. Tibetan dictionaries are organized by root letter, and prefixes are often silent, so knowing the root letter gives

4560-541: The many expansions in Hindu Vedic ideas of life and the afterlife. In the Vedas, there were three stages of life: studentship, householdship and retirement. During the Upanishadic era, Hinduism expanded this to include a fourth stage of life: complete abandonment . In Vedic literature, there are three modes of experience: waking, dream and deep sleep. The Upanishadic era expanded these modes to include turiyam –

4640-420: The meaning of moksha in epistemological and psychological senses. For example, Deutsche sees moksha as transcendental consciousness, the perfect state of being, of self-realization, of freedom and of "realizing the whole universe as the Self". Moksha in Hinduism, suggests Klaus Klostermaier , implies a setting-free of hitherto fettered faculties, a removing of obstacles to an unrestricted life, permitting

4720-513: The means and the end, transcending moksha ; the fruit of bhakti is bhakti itself. In the history of Indian religious traditions, additional ideas and paths to moksha beyond these three, appeared over time. The words moksha , nirvana ( nibbana ) and kaivalya are sometimes used synonymously, because they all refer to the state that liberates a person from all causes of sorrow and suffering. However, in modern era literature, these concepts have different premises in different religions. Nirvana,

4800-570: The means of achieving moksha . The Vishistadvaita tradition, led by Ramanuja , defines avidya and moksha differently from the Advaita tradition. To Ramanuja, avidya is a focus on the self, and vidya is a focus on a loving god. The Vishistadvaita school argues that other schools of Hinduism create a false sense of agency in individuals, which makes the individual think oneself as potential or self-realized god. Such ideas, claims Ramanuja, decay to materialism, hedonism and self worship. Individuals forget Ishvara (God). Mukti, to Vishistadvaita school,

4880-658: The most common cases). Accordingly, various scholars have adopted ad hoc and incomplete conventions as needed. The Tibetan and Himalayan Library at the University of Virginia developed a standard, EWTS —the Extended Wylie Transliteration Scheme—that addresses these deficiencies systematically. It uses capital letters and Latin punctuation to represent the missing characters. Several software systems, including Tise , now use this standard to allow one to type unrestricted Tibetan script (including

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4960-443: The muddled mind and cognitive apparatus. For example, Patanjali 's Yoga Sutra suggests: After the dissolution of avidya (ignorance), comes removal of communion with material world, this is the path to Kaivalyam. Nirvana and moksha , in all traditions, represent resting in one's true essence, named Purusha or Atman, or pointed at as Nirvana, but described in a very different way. Some scholars, states Jayatilleke, assert that

5040-434: The object of love, for example, a personified monotheistic conception of Shiva , Vishnu or Adishakti . By immersing oneself in the love of God, one's karmas slough off, one's illusions decay, and truth is lived. Both the worshiped and worshiper gradually lose their illusory sense of separation and only One beyond all names remains. This is salvation to dualist schools of Hinduism. Dvaita Vedanta emphasizes Bhakti Yoga as

5120-470: The other hand, starts with the premise that everything is the Self; there is no consciousness in the state of nirvana, but everything is One unified consciousness in the state of moksha . Kaivalya, a concept akin to moksha , rather than nirvana, is found in some schools of Hinduism such as the Yoga school. Kaivalya is the realization of aloofness with liberating knowledge of one's self and disentanglement from

5200-600: The path of moksha include (1) vivekah (discrimination, critical reasoning) between everlasting principles and fleeting world; (2) viragah (indifference, lack of craving) for material rewards; (3) samah (calmness of mind), and (4) damah (self restraint, temperance ). The Brahmasutrabhasya adds to the above four requirements, the following: uparati (lack of bias, dispassion), titiksa (endurance, patience), sraddha (faith) and samadhana (intentness, commitment). The Advaita tradition considers moksha achievable by removing avidya (ignorance) by knowledge. Moksha

5280-513: The path to moksha , as: Beyond caste, creed, family or lineage, That which is without name and form, beyond merit and demerit, That which is beyond space, time and sense-objects, You are that, God himself; Meditate this within yourself. ||Verse 254|| Moksha is a concept associated with saṃsāra (birth-rebirth cycle). Samsara originated with religious movements in the first millennium BCE. These movements such as Buddhism, Jainism and new schools within Hinduism, saw human life as bondage to

5360-476: The path to "moksha" (salvation and release), rather than works and knowledge. Their focus became divine virtues, rather than anthropocentric virtues. Daniel Ingalls regards Vaishnavas' position on moksha as similar to the Christian position on salvation, and Vaishnavism as the school whose views on dharma , karma and moksha dominated the initial impressions and colonial-era literature on Hinduism, through

5440-411: The pronunciation of Tibetan words. The Wylie scheme transliterates the Tibetan characters as follows: In Tibetan script, consonant clusters within a syllable may be represented through the use of prefixed or suffixed letters or by letters superscripted or subscripted to the root letter (forming a "stack"). The Wylie system does not normally distinguish these as in practice no ambiguity is possible under

5520-579: The release from pain and suffering seems to lie at the root of striving for moksha, and it is commonly believed that moksha is an otherwordly reality, only achievable at the end of life, not during. However there is also a notion that moksha can be achieved during life in the form of a state of liberation, known as jivan-mukti , although this is still reliant on personal and spiritual endeavours attributed to attaining moksha. Eschatological ideas evolved in Hinduism. In earliest Vedic literature, heaven and hell sufficed soteriological curiosities. Over time,

5600-431: The rules of Tibetan spelling. The exception is the sequence gy- , which may be written either with a prefix g or a subfix y . In the Wylie system, these are distinguished by inserting a period between a prefix g and initial y . E.g. གྱང "wall" is gyang , while གཡང་ "chasm" is g.yang . The four vowel marks (here applied to the base letter ཨ ) are transliterated: When a syllable has no explicit vowel marking,

5680-399: The stage beyond deep sleep. The Vedas suggest three goals of man: kama , artha and dharma . To these, the Upanishadic era added moksha . The acceptance of the concept of moksha in some schools of Hindu philosophy was slow. These refused to recognize moksha for centuries, considering it irrelevant. The Mimamsa school, for example, denied the goal and relevance of moksha well into

5760-430: The state of liberation, jivanmukti . Some contrast jivanmukti with videhamukti ( moksha from samsara after death). Jivanmukti is a state that transforms the nature, attributes and behaviors of an individual, claim these ancient texts of Hindu philosophy. For example, according to Naradaparivrajaka Upanishad, the liberated individual shows attributes such as: When a Jivanmukta dies he achieves Paramukti and becomes

5840-536: The truth and reality behind the fog of ignorance. Moksha has been defined not merely as absence of suffering and release from bondage to saṃsāra. Various schools of Hinduism also explain the concept as presence of the state of paripurna-brahmanubhava (the experience of oneness with Brahman , the One Supreme Self), a state of knowledge, peace and bliss. For example, Vivekachudamani – an ancient book on moksha , explains one of many meditative steps on

5920-433: The truth is known, Not by ablutions, not by making donations, nor by performing hundreds of breath control exercises. || Verse 13 || Bhakti moksha created the third historical path, where neither rituals nor meditative self-development were the way, rather it was inspired by constant love and contemplation of God, which over time results in a perfect union with God. Some Bhakti schools evolved their ideas where God became

6000-520: The works of Thibaut, Max Müller and others. The concept of moksha appears much later in ancient Indian literature than the concept of dharma . The proto-concept that first appears in the ancient Sanskrit verses and early Upanishads is mucyate , which means "freed" or "released". In the middle and later Upanishads, such as the Svetasvatara and Maitri , the word moksha appears and begins becoming an important concept. The Katha Upanishad ,

6080-413: The worldly life, thus are neither dominated by, nor dominating anyone else. Vivekachudamani , which literally means "Crown Jewel of Discriminatory Reasoning", is a book devoted to moksa in Vedanta philosophy. It explains what behaviors and pursuits lead to moksha , as well what actions and assumptions hinder moksha . The four essential conditions, according to Vivekachudamani, before one can commence on

6160-529: The wrathful Maitreya , the deity of wrathful mantras. Padmasambhava is quoted in the Bardo Thodol (Antarabhavatantra - "Tibetan Book of the Dead"): "The crucial point is indeed that those who have meditated on the formal description of these Herukakaya ('bodies of Heruka'), and also made offerings and praise to them, or, at the very least, have simply seen their painted and sculpted images, may recognise

6240-493: The wrathful Manjushri , the deity of body; 2) Hayagriva (Tib. Pema Sung , padma gsung ) the wrathful Avalokiteśvara , the deity of speech; 3) Vishuddha / Sri Samyak (Tib. Yangdak Thuk , Wylie: yang dag thugs ) the wrathful Vajrapani deity of mind; 4) Mahottara (Tib. Chem Chok , Wylie: che mchog ) the wrathful Samantabhadra , the deity of enlightened qualities; 5) Vajrakilaya / Vajrakumara (Tib. Dorje Phurba , phur ba ‘phrin las ),

6320-413: The wrathful Vajrasattva , the deity of purification; 6) Matarah (Tib. Mamo Botong , mo rbod gtong ) the wrathful Akasagarbha , the deity of calling and dispatching; 7) Lokastotrapuja-natha (Tib. Jigten Chotod , ’jig rten mchod bstod ) the wrathful Ksitigarbha , the deity of worldly offering and praise; 8) Vajramantrabhiru (Tib. Mopa Dragnak , mod pa drag sngags )

6400-435: Was discipline and self-training. Over time, these ideas about moksha were challenged. Dharma and moksha , suggested Nagarjuna in the 2nd century, cannot be goals on the same journey. He pointed to the differences between the world we live in, and the freedom implied in the concept of moksha . They are so different that dharma and moksha could not be intellectually related. Dharma requires worldly thought, moksha

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