Tamas (philosophy)

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In Hinduism and Buddhism, Tamas, or tamo-guna, is the lowest of the three gunas. It is a force which promotes one or more of the following: (1) darkness, (2) death, (3) destruction, (4) ignorance, (5) sloth, (6) resistance. Note that sloth is related to death by analogy, and likewise, ignorance is related to darkness. Tamas is viewed as being more negative than either rajas or sattva.Tamas has also been translated as "indifference", this the most negative guna because its rejection of Karmaic Law, and the central principle of dharmaic religions' that one's Karma must be worked out and not ignored.[citation needed]

The three gunas - Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas are described and detailed in Samkhya - one of the Six Indian Schools of Philosophy. Each of the three gunas has its own distinctive characteristics and it is believed that everything is made up of these three. Tamas is lowest, heaviest, slowest, and most dull (for example, a stone or a lump of earth). It is devoid of the energy of the Rajas and the brightness of Sattva.

Tamas cannot be counteracted by tamas. It might be easier to counteract it by means of rajas (action), and it might be more difficult to jump directly from tamas to sattva.

The result of a life led by tamas is demerit: demotion to a lower life-form.

Persons who are "couch potatoes" may be characterized as tamasic.

Overeating (i.e. gluttony) is tamasic.

[edit] Quotes

  • "You should know, O Arjuna, tamas as the cause of delusion enslaving all embodied beings born of nescience; by negligence, listlessness and somnolescence." (BG 14:8)
  • "O Arjuna, nescience, inertness, neglectfulness and also illusion; when these arise tamas predominates." (BG 14:13)
  • "Succumbing to death in rajas one takes birth among those beings attached to fruitive activities; similarly, dying in tamas, one takes birth from the womb of an animal" (BG 14:15)

[edit] See also