The Mokṣopāya or Mokṣopāyaśāstra, also known as the Yogavāsiṣṭha, is a Sanskrit philosophical text on salvation for non-ascetics (), written in Kashmir in the 10th century. The main part of the text forms a dialogue between Vasiṣṭha and Rāma, interchanged with numerous short stories and anecdotes to illustrate the content. This text was later (11th to the 14th century) expanded, showing influences from the Saivite Trika school, resulting in the Yogavāsiṣṭha, which became an orthodox text in Advaita Vedanta.
Text
Dating and development
According to Slaje, the
Mokṣopāya was written on the Pradyumna hill in Śrīnagar,
Kashmir, in the 10th century. The
Mokṣopāya was later (11th to the 14th century) modified, showing influences from the Saivite Trika school, resulting in the
Yogavāsiṣṭha, which became an orthodox text in
Advaita Vedanta.
Composition
It has the form of a public sermon and claims human authorship and contains about 30,000 śloka's (making it longer than the
Rāmāyaṇa). The main part of the text forms a dialogue between Vasiṣṭha and Rāma, interchanged with numerous short stories and anecdotes to illustrate the content.
Contents
The
Mokṣopāya expounds a
monism ('advaita') that is different from
Advaita Vedanta. It makes use of other Darśanas in an
syncretism way. The text teaches that the recognition that
Cognition objects are
Existence, leads to ultimate detachment, which causes an attitude of "dispassion and non-involvement with worldly things and matters", though still fulfilling one's daily duties and activities. It is only by one's own effort (
pauruṣa) that one can be liberated from the bonds of existence. For one who knows the reality, "fate" (
daiva) does not mean anything, something like "fate" does not exist and has, accordingly, no consequences at all.
Moksha is available for everyone, no matter their sex, caste or education, as long as one uses reason and maintains an active life in this world. To reach this liberation, one has to go through three stages: rational thinking and discernment ( vicāra), true understanding ( Jnana) and detachment ( Vairagya). Vicāra specifically involves knowledge that the world is non-existent. Jñāna is the true understanding of the atman as the ultimate reality, due to which one loses ahamkara. The last stage of vairagya is dispassionate and without a cause.
Mokṣopāya Project
The Mokṣopāya Project supervised by professor Walter Slaje at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in
Germany is currently working on a critical edition of the
Mokṣopāya. The project is embedded in the Centre for Research in the Historiography and Intellectual Culture of Kashmir (under the Patronage of the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz). A commentary by
Bhaskarakantha (
"Mokṣopāya-ṭīkā"; late 17th century) and more than thirty manuscripts in Nāgarī, Śāradā,
Grantha script, and
Telugu script scripts are being used.
The goal of the project is a critical edition of the complete Sanskrit text, accompanied by a German translation, a philological commentary and a dictionary of its Sanskrit vocabulary.
Translations
See also
-
Buddhism and Hinduism in Kashmir
-
Yogavāsiṣṭha
Sources
Further reading
-
Chapple, Christopher Key; Chakrabarti, Arindam (2015). Engaged Emancipation: Mind, Morals, and Make-Believe in the Moksopaya (Yogavasistha). State University of New York Press, Albany. .
-
Hanneder, Jürgen (2005). The Mokṣopāya, Yogavāsiṣṭha and related texts. (Geisteskultur Indiens 7). Aachen, Shaker. .
-
Hanneder, Jürgen (2006). Studies on the Mokṣopāya. (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 58). Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz. .
-
Hanneder, Jürgen (2012). Mokṣopāya - Weg zur Erlösung. P. Kirchheim Verlag, München. .
-
Slaje, Walter (1994). Vom Mokṣopāya-Śāstra zum Yogavāsiṣṭha-Mahārāmāyaṇa. Philologische Untersuchungen zur Entwicklungs- und Überlieferunsgeschichte eines indischen Lehrwerks mit Anspruch auf Heilsrelevanz. Wien, Verl. d. Österreich. Akad. d. Wiss. .
-
Slaje, Walter (2005). Locating the Mokṣopāya. In: The Mokṣopāya, Yogavāsiṣṭha and Related Texts. Ed. Jürgen Hanneder. (Geisteskultur Indiens. Texte und Studien 7. Indologica). Aachen 2005: 21–35.
-
Slaje, Walter (2020). Vasiṣṭha the Void: Inquiries into the Authorship of the Mokṣopāya. ZIS 37 (2020): 168–204.
External links
