Samskara (Indian philosophy)

In Indian philosophy and Indian religions, samskaras or sanskaras (Sanskrit: संस्कार) are mental
impressions, recollections, or psychological imprints. In Hindu philosophies, samskaras are a basis for the
development of karma theory.[1][2] In Buddhism the Sanskrit term Samskara is used to describe
'formations'. In Pali it is referred to as Saṅkhāra.

According to various schools of Indian philosophy, every action, intent or preparation by an individual
leaves a samskara (impression, impact, imprint) in the deeper structure of the person's mind.[2] These
impressions then await volitional fruition in that individual's future, in the form of hidden expectations,
circumstances or a subconscious sense of self-worth. These Samskaras manifest as tendencies, karmic
impulses, subliminal impressions, habitual potencies or innate dispositions.[2][3] In ancient Indian texts, the
theory of Samskara explains how and why human beings remember things, and the effect that memories
have on people's suffering, happiness and contentment.[2][4]

Contents
Etymology and meaning
Context
Hinduism
Samkhya-Yoga
Vedanta
Nyaya and Vaiśeṣika
Buddhism
Jainism
See also
References
External links

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".[1] The first context is at the etymological foundation of Sanskara term for
rites of passage, while it is the second context, as a form of disposition, impression or behavioral
inclination, that is at the etymological root of Sanskara word as a psychological concept in Indian
philosophies.[2]

The concept of Samskara 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".[5][6]
Context
Samskara, or Sankhara, is a significant concept across major schools of Hindu philosophy as well as
Buddhism and Jainism.[7] 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.[7] In 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.[7][8]

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.[9] 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.[7] Training and
study, in these schools, is a form of exposition, introspective realization and in many cases practice or
repetition to make the "impression, imprint" part of one's nature, where the practice reinforces the
dispositions (samskara) and dispositions reinforce the practice, in a circular feedback.[4] Scholars state that
David Hume's "impressions" theory is similar to Samskara theory of Hinduism.[7][10][11] 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.[4] Samskara are the impressions and
dispositions that develop and accumulate deep inside a person, according to these schools, from perception,
inference, choices, preparation, practice, interaction with others, thoughts, intent, willful actions and such
karma. These manifest, Hindu philosophies state, as habits, behavior, tendencies, psychological
predispositions and dispositions.[4][7]

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.[4] Ian
Whicher explains that, in the philosophical theories of Hinduism, every karma (action, intent) leaves a
samskara (impression, impact, imprint) in the deeper structure of human mind.[2] This impression then
awaits volitional fruition, in the form of hidden expectations, circumstances or unconscious sense of self-
worth. It manifests as tendency, karmic impulse, subliminal impression, habitual potency or innate
dispositions.[2][3][12]

Samkhya-Yoga

In Samkhya and Yoga schools, Sankhara, also spelled as Samskara, are impressions or residues that affect
an individual's Gunas (behavior attributes).[7] These impressions constitute part of the mechanistic
foundation behind ancient Indian scholars' explanation on how karma theory works in practice. Samskara
are explained as dispositions, character or behavioral traits either as default from birth or Samskara are
behavioral traits perfected over time through Yoga, through conscious shaping of inner self, one's desire,
sense of moral responsibility and through practice.[2][7]

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.[2] These tendencies, subtle traces and innate characteristics, states the Yoga
school, continue to affect the person's present actions, assumptions, attitudes (bhava), mind (buddhi), moral
response and interactions with everyone, everything and self.[2][13] 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.[2][4]

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.[7]
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), Shankara, 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.[14]

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.[15] It is a key concept in Nyaya philosophy, and it applies the
idea to both living and non-living world. For example, the vega (velocity) of vayu (wind) is its samskara, in
Nyaya literature.[15] 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.[16] This action, explain Nyaya texts, must have a
cause, but the newborn has neither been provided that knowledge nor has the value of the mother's breast
been explained by another, nor has the newborn formed any Samskara in the new life. The newborn has
that knowledge, that instinct, from some impression, some trace within "from a prior experience".[17] That
is an example of Samskara, assert the Nyaya and Vaiśeṣika scholars.[16][17]

In Nyaya school of Hinduism, the existence of Samskara cannot be directly perceived, only inferred.[15]
Further, not all Samskara are psychological.[4] Some simply manifest as memories, premises or beliefs
shaped "from a prior experience".[16][18]

Buddhism
Saṃskāra or Saṅkhāra in Buddhism refers to mental "dispositions".[19] 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.[20] Buddhism emphasizes the need to purify dispositions (Saṅkhāra) rather than
eliminate them.[21]

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.[22] These residues bind (bandha), forming
karma sarira,[23] which can be stopped (saṃvara) and released (nirjara).[22] The operating mechanism,
consistent with the dualism premise of Jainism, is not Saṃskāra as latent mental trace,[24] rather karma
bandha to the soul.[22] The rituals and rites of passage, called Samskara in Jainism, are part of the saṃvara
and nirjara initiation process, in order to free the soul from the crust of karmic residues.[25][26]

See also
Saṅkhāra (Buddhist concept)
Saṃskāra (Hindu rites of passage)
Samskara (ayurvedic) (Ayurvedic medicinal process)
Meher Baba on Sanskaras
Engram (neuropsychology)
Engram (Scientology)

References
1. saMskAra (http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/tamil/recherche) Monier-
Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, Germany
2. Ian Whicher (1999), The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana: A Reconsideration of Classical
Yoga, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0791438152, pages 99-102
3. Jeaneane Fowler (2002), Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of
Hinduism, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 978-1898723943, page 105
4. Stephen Philips (2014), Epistemology in Classical India: The Knowledge Sources of the
Nyaya School, Routledge, ISBN 978-1138008816, pages 7-46, 134, 163-170
5. vAsanA (http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=vAsanA&direction=SE&script=HK&link=
yes&beginning=0) Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionary, Germany
6. Stephen Philips (2014), Epistemology in Classical India: The Knowledge Sources of the
Nyaya School, Routledge, ISBN 978-1138008816, page 134
7. Stephen Philips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy,
Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0231144858, Chapter 3: Karma
8. 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. David Dilworth and Hugh Silverman (1978), A Cross-Cultural Approach to the De-
Ontological Self Paradigm, The Monist, Volume 61, Issue 1, pages 82-95,
doi:10.5840/monist197861110 (https://doi.org/10.5840%2Fmonist197861110)
11. Clare Carlisle (2005), Creatures of habit: The problem and the practice of liberation,
Continental Philosophy Review, Vol. 38, Issue 1-2, pages 19-39
12. Larson and Potter (2011), The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Vol 12, Yoga: India's
philosophy of meditation, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120833494, page 83
13. Gerald Larson (2011), Classical Sāṃkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning,
Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120805033, page 244
14. 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
15. PB Shukla (2000), Metaphysics: Indian Philosophy (Editor: Roy Perrett), Routledge,
ISBN 978-0815336082, page 16
16. Stephen H. Phillips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy,
Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0231144858, Chapter 4
17. John Derrett (1977), Essays in Classical and Modern Hindu Law, BRILL Academic,
ISBN 978-9004048089, pages 106-107
18. Edward Craig, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415073103,
page 690
19. David Kalupahana, "A History of Buddhist Philosophy." University of Hawaii Press, 1992,
page 71.
20. 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
21. David Kalupahana, Mulamadhyamakakarika of Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of the Middle
Way. Motilal Banarsidass, 2005, page 48.
22. Anne Vallely (2014), The Oxford Handbook of Atheism (Editors: Stephen Bullivant, Michael
Ruse), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199644650, pages 358-364
23. S Dasgupta (2004), A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass,
ISBN 978-8120804128, pages 73-74
24. Raj Pruthi (2004), Jainism and Indian Civilization, Vol. 4, ISBN 978-8171417964, page 205
25. Pravin K. Shah, Jain Rituals (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~pluralsm/affiliates/jainism/worksho
p/Pathashal%20Workshop98.PDF), Jain Study Center of North Carolina, Harvard University
Archives, pages 62-75
26. 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

External links
Mimi.hu - definitions of samskara (http://en.mimi.hu/yoga/samskara.html)

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