샹까라의 체계에서 범아일여의 의미와 양상: 『브라흐마 수뜨라 주석』을 중심으로

Abstract

The teaching of Upaniṣads known as ‘brahma-ātma-ek-atva/aikya’ (梵我一如) is more than accepted as being establi-shed by Śaṅkara in the later. However, it is worth examining whether he presents the generally known meaning of ‘brahma-ātma-ekatva/aikya’ that Brahman i.e., the ultimate reality of the universe and Ātman i.e., the true self of the individual are the same in text such as Brahmasūtra-bhāṣya (BSBh). As a result, the following several points can be confirmed. First, in BSBh, compound words related to ‘brahma-ātma-ekatva/aikya’ are understood to follow ‘the logic of oneness’ rather than ‘the logic of identity’ meaning ‘only A=B exists’ rather than ‘A and B are the same’. Second, in BSBh, since ‘the identity of nature’ that the essence of an individual self is nothing but Brahman/Ātman is known as the core teaching, the ‘the identity of nature’ is not different from ‘the oneness of Ātman’, and the expression ‘the oneness of Ātman’ (ātma-ekatva) is as important as the expressions related to ‘brahma-ātma-ekatva/aikya’, as a result, the general meaning of ‘brahma-ātma-ekatva/aikya’ is not explicitly suggested. Third, after all, ‘brahma-ātma-ekatva/aikya’ in BSBh means ‘the individual self is essentially the same as the only Brahman/Ātman’ in accordance with the logic of oneness. Fourth, this ‘brahma-ātma-ekatva/aikya’ is explicitly presented in two aspects: ‘brahma-ātma-ekatva/aikya’ as ‘the identity of nature’ from the viewpoint of the process of Liberation and ‘brahma-ātma-ekatva/aikya’ as ‘the oneness’ from the viewpoint of the result of Liberation. Fifth, the two explicit aspects of ‘brahma-ātma-ekatva/-aikya’ are assumed implicitly to be another aspect of ‘brah-ma-ātma-ekatva/aikya’ as ‘the identity between Brahman i.e., the macrocosmic reality and Ātman i.e., the microcosmi-c reality’. In conclusion, it can be said that in BSBh these three aspects of ‘brahma-ātma-ekatva/aikya’ are presented subtly mixed.