Saṅsāra or Saṃsāra (Sanskrit: संसार), (in Tibetan called "khorwa")[1], literally meaning "continuous flow", is the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth or reincarnation within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Sikhism, and other Indian religions. In modern parlance, samsara refers to a place, set of objects and possessions, but originally, the word referred to a process of continuous pursuit or flow of life. In accordance with the literal meaning, the word should either refer to a continuous stream of consciousness, or the continuous but random drift of passions, desires, emotions, and experiences.
In most Indian religions, life is not considered to begin with birth and end in death, but as a continuous existence in the present lifetime of the organism and extending beyond. The nature of the actions (karma) committed during the course of each lifetime, (good or ill) determines the future destiny of each being. Samsara is closely linked with the idea of rebirth (or reincarnation), but mainly refers to the condition of life, and the experience of life.
In Buddhism, at the moment of death the consciousness (consciousness of the different senses, such as eye consciousness, ear consciousness etc.), acts as the seed for the spawning of the new consciousness in a new biological structure, conducive to the volitional (Saṅkhāras) impulses at the moment of death (which are themselves affected by previous volitional impulses). In other Indian religions, the volitional impulses accrued from the present life are transmitted to a consciousness structure popularly known as the soul, which, after an intermediate period (in Tibetan called the bardo), forms the basis for a new biological structure that will result in rebirth and a new life. This cyclical process ends in the attainment of moksha. If one lives in extremely evil ways, one may be reborn as an animal or other unfortunate being.[2]
In a modern vernacular context, particularly in the Himalayas, samsara is also a word used to describe the how life is full of attachments and comings-and-goings, a subtle state of suffering. For example, when saying goodbye to a loved one, one might utter, "ah... samsara."
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Samsara means "to flow on", to perpetually wander, to pass through states of existence.
The historical origins of a concept of a cycle of repeated reincarnation are obscure but the idea appears frequently in religious and philosophical texts in both India and ancient Greece during the middle of the first millennium BCE.[3] Orphism, Platonism, Jainism and Buddhism all discuss the transmigration of beings from one life to another. . Reincarnation was adopted from this religious culture by Brahmin orthodoxy, and Brahmins first wrote down scriptures containing these ideas in the early Upanishads.[4][5][6][7][8][9]
The Sanskrit word "Samsara" is the root for the Malay word "sengsara", which means suffering.
The concept of sansara is closely associated with the belief that one continues to be born and reborn in various realms in the form of a human, animal, or other being (depending on karma).[2] In particular, Jainism[10] maintains that, if one performs extremely evil karma, one can be reborn also as a plant or even as a rock, and similar tendencies can be found in Purāṇas, in the Bhagavadgītā, in the Manusmṛti[11] and in similar texts. Nonetheless, most philosophic traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism[12] maintain that plants and even more obviously rocks cannot be included in saṃsāra since they lack the possibility of experience (bhoga) and, hence, of karma.
In Hinduism, it is avidya, or ignorance, of one's true self that leads to ego-consciousness of the body and the phenomenal world. This grounds one in kāma (desire) and the perpetual chain of karma and reincarnation. Through egoism and desire one creates the causes for future becoming. The state of illusion that gives rise to this is known as Maya.
Through ascetic practice one finally attains sanctity and liberation (moksha or mukti).
Broadly speaking, the holy life (brahmacarya) which leads to liberation is a path of self-purification by which the effects of sins are released.
The Hindu Yoga traditions hold various beliefs. Moksha may be achieved by love of Ishwar/God (see bhakti movement, see Mirabai), by psycho-physical meditation (Raja Yoga), by discrimination of what is real and unreal through intense contemplation (Jnana Yoga), and through Karma Yoga, the path of selfless action that subverts the ego and enforces understanding of the unity of all.
The Rig Vedic, Yajur Vedic and Atharva Vedic Upanishads like Aiteraya Upanishad, Taittiriya Upanishad, Swetaswatara Upanishad, Mundaka Upanishad etc. contains the most ancient ideas on Reincarnation of soul.[13][14][15] As confirmed by latest research in the field of archeology and Astronomy, Vedas were older than 2600 BC which takes it far earlier than all other religious texts.[16] Hence, based on this, the earliest known texts to have spoken about karma, sansara and Moksha or Mukti, are the Vedas and other Dharmic Texts. (Dharmic Texts stands for the Vedas, Ithihasas and Puranas). The Vedas describe Karma as the result of enjoying the sensory pleasures of this material universe.[17]
In Jainism, Saṅsāra is the worldly life characterized by continuous rebirths and reincarnations in various realms of existence. Saṃsāra is described as mundane existence, full of suffering and misery and hence is considered undesirable and worth renunciation. The Saṃsāra is without any beginning and the soul finds itself in bondage with its karma since the beginningless time. Moksha is the only liberation from saṃsāra.
The concept of Saṃsara as a cycle of rebirth and suffering within the six realms is taught in Buddhism. To understand the concept of Saṃsara it is important to know about the six realms, rebirth, karma, and nirvana, which is known as the state beyond the suffering of Samsara.
In Sikhism, it is thought that due to the commendable past actions and deeds (known as karma or kirat) that people obtain the chance of human birth, which is regarded in Sikhism as the highest possible opportunity on Earth and therefore should not be wasted. Only by continued good actions and the "Grace of the Almighty" can one obtain liberation from the continuous cycle of births and deaths of various bodily forms that the soul has been undergoing since the creation of the universe. The end of the cycle of transmigration of the soul is known as mukti. For Sikhs, the state of mukti can be achieved whilst still alive, known as "Jivan Mukat", literally "liberated whilst alive".
In Surat Shabda Yoga, attaining self-realization results in jivan moksha/mukti, liberation/release from sansara, the cycle of karma and reincarnation while in the physical body.
Surat Shabda Yoga cosmology presents the constitution of the initiate (the microcosm) as an exact replica of the macrocosm. Consequently, the microcosm consists of a number of bodies, each one suited to interact with its corresponding plane or region in the macrocosm. These bodies developed over the yugas through involution (emanating from higher planes to lower planes) and evolution (returning from lower planes to higher planes), including by karma and reincarnation in various states of consciousness.
Samsara appears in the manga series Naruto, in which there's a Eye Technique after Byakugan and Sharingan called the Rinnegan. In English, it literally means the Samsara Eye, and allows the user to perform any Jutsu wanted because its power taps directly into the wheel of life. It is also frequently referenced in the Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga video game series, of which the plot revolves around one point; to reach a paradise called Nirvana.