Dharma and Moksa

Author(s): J. A. B. Van Buitenen

Source: Philosophy East and West , Apr. - Jul., 1957, Vol. 7, No. 1/2 (Apr. - Jul., 1957),
pp. 33-40
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1396832

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 J. A. B. VAN BUITENEN

Dharma and Moksa

THIS PAPER is meant to provide some historical background
on the question of the distinction between dharma values and moksa values
in Indian thought. The Indian context requires that we view "moral values"
-I shall hereafter avoid the term-first in relation to different eschatologies.
Very roughly, we may distinguish two.
First, the conception of an "after-life" which, though interrupted by inter-
vals of heaven and hell, remains on the same level as the present life, and,
although its varying degrees of "spirituality" (caitanya and related terms) en-
compass the entire range from worm to Brahmi, cannot be regarded as essen-
tially different from human life. This is samisara, "transmigration," usually
involving the doctrine that a certain "soul" continues from life to life in an
embodied existence, the facts of his body and his life being largely dependent
on what acts the individual has performed in former such lives, yet affording
limited scope for gradual self-perfection-but on the same level-by meri-
torious acts.
Second, the assumption of moksa, "release," from the above "bondage"
(bandha) to continued embodied existence. Taken by and large, all Indian
systems acknowledge that a supreme effort of consciousness, a total isolation
of a person's awareness of his "soul," representing a "supreme soul," from all
that is non-soul is the means to achieve this release. Buddhism does not posi-
tively start from a concept of soul, but negatively from that which is non-
soul, preferring to describe the self-recognition of the soul as nirvina, the
extinction of the flame of life-thirst, and the indescribable that remains after
the extinction as being void of all worldly description.
When we inquire into the history of these conceptions, much, of course,
must remain obscure; still, there is sufficient evidence to justify certain con-
clusions.
Examining the oldest texts, we find, instead of transmigration, a hopeful
prospect of heavenly joys in an after-life. Access to this abode is afforded by
the performance of ritual acts, which are not infrequently discouraging in
complexity and expenditure. But it soon becomes clear that the obtaining of
heaven is far from the overriding concern of sacerdotal circles, that, in fact,
their prime concern is to control and maintain the universe as it is. Such con-
trol and maintenance are sought and found in the perfect knowledge and

33

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 34 J. A. B. VAN BUITENEN

impeccable application of rites whic

produce the dharma of the univers
tenance of the proper equilibrium o
forces that control the world are ge
are guided by priests who profess to
edge. There is an undeniable magnif
the elaboration of its achievement w
the same age Aryan supremacy was
and from the foothills of the Himd
But in the most ancient age we alre
looks and practices. From the Rg V
were evidently outside brahministic s
given to self-induced states of "ecst
after other states of well-being wh
through themselves possibly others
services. We recognize remote prec
precursors of a Gautama and a Mah
In later portions of the Br.hmanas
sads, we find a growing preoccupatio
continue to think in ritualistic term
poised cosmos. This ultimate is iden
stants, most generally either Word
divine creator. This creator (the ya
tainly was believed in as a personal de
ing priests ever more closely approxim
A certain hierarchic organization w
triad, and this hierarchy was concei
process originating from the ultim
was a self-creation, a self-manifest
tion which ended with his or its b
significance was being attached to h
creation-represented as a ritual e
about the reversion of the self-creati
'Cf. the Purusa Sfikta, RIg-Veda X. 90; the ritu
victim symbolically represented in, for instance
of the ?unahgepa legend at the rdjassiya. See J
(The Hague: Morton & Co., 1957), and the late A
fire).
2Hence the personality of Brahms, the Creator whose four mouths (also representing the dkifa,
"ether") pronounce the four Vedas at the beginning of creation; he is a popular personification of
Brahman in the older function of the ritually creative sacred Word.
sI refer to my papers: "Studies in Samkhya (II): Ahamkara," Journal of the American Oriental
Society, 77, No. 1 (March 15, 1957), 15 ff., and "Studies in Simkhya (III): Sattva," ibid., No. 2
(June 15, 1957), 88 ff.

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 DHARMA AND MOKSA 35

protoyogic circles, there wa

a reversion, which amounts
embodied, condition.
At one stage of this comp
transmigration, which first
death was said to be conquer
of the great cosmic connect
creation process.' It is of im
introduced into these specu
transcension had already bee
did not come into being as
tion was absorbed into a syst
basically altered. We may f
sions of karman: transmigr
ritualistics. If performed pro
efficacy in producing its r
sees fit; results are automatic
if the fruit fails to be realize
The casuistry involved is kn
to be mentioned then must
distinguished, called apfrva
about its fruit. This potenc
if adverse circumstances---e
immediate realization. It is
this latent power of man's
of his transmigrating "sou
fruit, is less a product of m
and rewarded for what one
doctrine of the inherent ef
always first to understand
disciplines as the karmayog
Dharma is the observance o
Dharmas, as the forces that
SBrhadiranyaka Upanisad 1.2.
*We
saka, find it inthe
is naturally Pfirvamimimsi
performing discussions onThus
agent's soul). the immortality
the Mimimsakaof the soulto(which,
is able accounttofor
thethe
Mnimrri-
jiidnakidnda portions (portions containing esoteric knowledge) of the Veda (Aranyaka and Upanisad),
which, to him, are subordinated to the karmakdnda portions in so far as they provide the evidence for
the eternality of the dtman, which the ritual requires.
SIt is particularly those ritual acts which presuppose in the performer a desire for a certain fruit
(type: svargakdmo jyotistomena yajeta, "one desirous of heaven should sacrifice with the Jyotistoma")
that binds the performer to the enjoyment of the automatically forthcoming fruit, and only second-
arily other acts.

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 36 J. A. B. VAN BUITENEN

potencies set loose for constructive pu

(dhammas) as Daseinsmachte of a com
in mind these functions of a term that
loosely by "virtue."
Dharma retains much of this total se
specific acts of all manner of beings w
is the cosmically or "religiously" dete
to maintain the normal order in the world. Therefore it can be rendered
"norm," a meaning particularly known from Buddhism. Yet, we should not
think of dharma as both the act and its result, as something static, but as a
balance which is constantly being struck. It retains the connotation of power-
ful activity operating in the universe and even constituting this universe.
These activities called dharma are imposed as a kind of natural law on all
existent beings in the universe; and a being's initiating of such activity is not

a moral act contingent on his disposition, but an innate characteristic,7 that

which makes a being what it is, assigning the part it is to play in concert.
It is the dharma of the sun to shine, of the pole to be fixed, of the rivers to
flow, of the cow to yield milk, of the brahmin to officiate, of the ksatriya to
rule, of the vailya to farm.
It is as difficult to define dharma in terms of Western thought as it is to
define "culture" in Sanskrit, and for the same reason: both are all-comprising
terms including institutions, a way of thinking and living, accomplishments
characteristic of people. Even modern usages of the term show the all-
inclusive scope of the concept of dharma: one speaks of Hindu Dharma,
Christ Dharma, where the term denotes far more than a certain creed.
These remarks may warn against a natural overestimation of the signif-
icance of the trivarga (dharma, artha, and kama) as classifying different
sets of practices. In principle, all three are dharma. It is not less important
for man to seek artha, achievement in his occupation in the largest sense of
the word, or to gratify those desires that maintain the population of the
earth, than to follow the precepts of religion and observe the canons of law.
One cannot choose the rule of dharma if that implies that one can also refuse
to do so, even less than in our society we can choose to live on a level where
law is not applied and yet form part of the society.
In other words, dharma is all that activity that a man, if he is to live
fittingly, is required to contribute to the fixed order of things, to the norm of
the universe, which is good and should not be altered. Adharma is the exact
opposite: acts contrary to the established order in the widest sense of the
'Hence dharrma could assume the meaning of "essential property; property," among the logicians.

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DHARMA AND MOKSA 37

word. The acts performed by

their latent potential to a ne
cumstances for man to live in.
Moksa, "release," is release
dharma, that is, in the pictu
therefore, in opposition to d
than that of adharma to dha
while adharma threatens it;
is the abandonment of the es
in favor of a self-realization
Occasionally, especially in th
extent in favor of the establ
abandoning it openly, but th
mental to Indian thought is
transitory, can never be an u
ness in the creation than in
originated, who is eternal, co
formation, unalterable, and t
versal agreement that to seek
pose than to perpetuate one'
be, if you can do better.
As said above, more or less d
ulation of the ideal of moksa
a great deal of interaction a
originating milieu of a certai
as to the methods pursued to
For our present purposes we
the upanisadic, the yogic, an
The upanisadic moksa was de
later parts of some Brdhman
effortsof the priest to exhaus
reproductive event. In the co
gods and powers, propitiated f
ually to give way to an ever
petuating reproduction of c
gods as much as officiants an
they were, this "whole," man
the "whole entity," of which
were the manifestations. Th
increasingly important, to th

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 38 J. A. B. VAN BUITENEN

to perform rites without this k

enacted in his rite, and even in h
beyond; and in so far as man him
reflected on different levels, adh
mams--man could by virtue of hi
through the rite and return to t
was the principal means, the rite
The origins of yoga are largely
inducement of trance states is at
it. Though there is a superstructur
physical manipulations, breath con
ness center by pin-pointed concent
and, in heretical and perhaps more
hypnotization into a trance sleep
ness ceases, sufficiently testify to
cine-man.' Sdriakhya cosmogony w
yogin was thought to repeat in t
posedly hierarchically ordered fu
process of the ultimate in himself
dissolution to the original state of
The theistic bhakti discipline is
mysticism in the West. Inspired b
soul by a process of ever more a
of yearning which transports him
God. Frequently, since the deity
him, though the soul itself may lo
contemplation, the idea of a hea
We have left out of considerati
Yoga, is probably best known out
gitZ. Though far from being so i
as is often erroneously supposed,
hybridic construction attempting
compatibles.
Dharma, as we saw, is the norm of action for the world as it is: its realm
is satmsara. It involves the observance of a great number of precepts, all
aimed at upholding the given order of things, from procreation and occupa-
tional success to law, religious worship, and pilgrimage, and thus the per-
s"With reference to, or as applied to, the (three) worlds, the constituent elements, the ritual, the
performer's person."
'Cf. Mircea Eliade, Schamanismus und Archaische Ekstasetechnik (Zurich: Rascher Verlag, 1957).

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DHARMA AND MOKSA 39

formances of acts, ritual acts,

contrary, starts with a delibera
to its demands, a total severanc
laws and customs regulating it, w
contribute to its stability. A b
What possible relation can ther
This question has occupied the
the discussions center around th
Sitra: "Subsequently, therefore,
brahma-jijiasa). Can this mean
edge is conditioned by someth
disputed. The original Vedanta
the combination of both know
sults, and the results bind the
explicit rejector, is obliged to
relation between any part of sam
is synonymous with release. "T
any activity," he states,10 and in
the necessity of saminyasa, the
Other thinkers continued the j
out important modifications. R
hering to a more traditional vi
thus, that acts if performed not
ing to the established order, bu
are indeed an indispensable pro
release. We note that, hardly les
too, the acts have lost their own
but the intention. Rimdnuja wa
on which, however, he imposed
The Bhagavadgit' is interestin
conflict between the jianayogi
category distinguished above, w
and the brahministic upholders
sarinyasins and the mainstays
supreme goal of human aspira
sacredduty it was to maintain t
they were qualified to perform
and step out to work for thei
10Brhaddranyaka Upanisad I.iv.7.
"lEspecially in the gadya (prose) portion.

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40 J. A. B. VAN BUITENEN

world? The world obviously mu

the capacity and effort of the as
the ordinary person. The compro
ing: continue to perform the ne
changing one's intention, namely
the performance of good deeds,
realized. But that means also tha
matic, and if thought through co
could reform the entire doctrine
solution which the authors are q
it to jfianayoga, sometimes subo
as part of bhaktiyoga does it bec

2 If it is possible to "wish away" the karm

that the act is deprived of its finality, and i
have to be discovered for the agent, e.g., as
nuja, keenly realizing that the Gitd's doctri
envisages ritual acts, explains, in his Gitdbhd
recurring,"; naimittika, "occasional"; and kn
be given up. This follows naturally from the
kAimo jyotistomena yajeta) the performer's
he desires the phala (e.g., heaven) he cannot
have no phala.

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