Indian
philosophy
Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional classification divides āstika (orthodox) and nāstika (heterodox) schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria:
whether it believes the Vedas as a valid source of
knowledge; whether the school believes in the premises of Brahman and Atman; and whether the school believes in
afterlife and Devas.
There are six major
schools of orthodox (astika) Indian philosophy—Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta, and five major
heterodox (nastika) schools—Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajñana, and Charvaka. However, there are other methods of classification; Vidyaranya for instance identifies sixteen schools of Indian philosophy by
including those that belong to the Śaiva and Raseśvara traditions.
The main schools of
Indian philosophy were formalised chiefly between 1000 BCE to the early
centuries of the Common Era. Competition and
integration between the various schools was intense during their formative
years, especially between 800 BCE and 200 CE. Some schools like Jainism, Buddhism, Yoga, Śaiva and Vedanta survived,
but others, like Ajñana, Charvaka and Ājīvika did not.
Ancient and medieval era
texts of Indian philosophies include extensive discussions on ontology (metaphysics, Brahman-Atman, Sunyata-Anatta), reliable means of knowledge (epistemology, Pramanas), value system (axiology) and other topics.
Common themesIndian philosophies share many
concepts such as dharma, karma, samsara, reincarnation, dukkha, renunciation, meditation, with almost all of them focussing on the ultimate
goal of liberation of the individual through diverse range of spiritual
practices (moksha, nirvana). They differ in their assumptions about the
nature of existence as well as the specifics of the path to the ultimate liberation,
resulting in numerous schools that disagreed with each other. Their ancient
doctrines span the diverse range of philosophies found in other ancient
cultures.
Orthodox schools
Hindu philosophy has a diversity of traditions and numerous saints and scholars,
such as Adi Shankara of Advaita Vedanta school.
Many Hindu intellectual traditions were classified during the medieval period of
Brahmanic-Sanskritic scholasticism into a standard list of six orthodox (Astika) schools (darshanas), the "Six
Philosophies" (ṣaḍ-darśana), all of which accept the testimony of the Vedas.
These "Six
Philosophies" (ṣaḍ-darśana) are:
·
Sāṃkhya, a
philosophical tradition which regards the universe as consisting of two
independent realities: puruṣa ('consciousness') and prakṛti ('matter') and which attempts to develop a metaphysics based on
this duality. It has included atheistic authors as well as some theistic
thinkers.
·
Yoga, a school similar to Sāṃkhya (or
perhaps even a branch of it) which accepts a personal god and focuses on yogic
practice.
·
Nyāya, a philosophy
which focuses on logic and epistemology. It accepts six kinds of pramanas (epistemic warrants): (1)
perception, (2) inference, (3) comparison and analogy, (4) postulation,
derivation from circumstances, (5) non-perception, negative/cognitive proof and
(6) word, testimony of past or present reliable experts. Nyāya defends
a form of direct realism and a
theory of substances (dravya).
·
Vaiśeṣika, closely related to the Nyāya school,
this tradition focused on the metaphysics of substance, and on defending a
theory of atoms. Unlike Nyāya, they only accept two pramanas:
perception and inference.
·
Pūrva-Mīmāṃsā, a
school which focuses on exegesis of the Vedas, philology and the interpretation of Vedic ritual.
·
Vedānta (also
called Uttara Mīmāṃsā), focuses on interpreting the philosophy of
the Upanishads, particularly
the metaphysical ideas relating to Atman and Brahman. Vedānta
imes these groups are
often coupled into three groups for both historical and conceptual
reasons: Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, Sāṃkhya-Yoga,
and Mīmāṃsā-Vedānta.
Each tradition included
different currents and sub-schools, for example, Vedānta was divided among the
sub-schools of Advaita (non-dualism), Visishtadvaita (qualified
non-dualism), Dvaita (dualism), Dvaitadvaita (dualistic
non-dualism), Suddhadvaita,
and Achintya BhedaAbheda (inconceivable oneness and difference).
These are often coupled
into three groups for both historical and conceptual reasons: Nyaya-Vaishesika,
Samkhya-Yoga, and Mimamsa-Vedanta.
Besides these schools
MādhavaVidyāraṇya also includes the following of the aforementioned theistic
philosophies based on the Agamas and Tantras:
·
Pasupata, school of
Shaivism by Nakulisa
·
Saiva, the theistic Sankhya school
·
Pratyabhijña, the recognitive school
·
Raseśvara, the mercurial school
·
Pāṇini Darśana, the grammarian school (which clarifies the
theory of Sphoṭa)
The systems mentioned here are not the only orthodox systems, they are the chief ones, and there are other orthodox schools. These systems, accept the authority of Vedas and are regarded as orthodox (astika) schools of Hindu philosophy; besides these, schools that do not accept the authority of the Vedas are heterodox (nastika) systems such as Buddhism, Jainism, Ajivika and Charvaka. This orthodox-heterodox terminology is a construct of Western languages, and lacks scholarly roots in Sanskrit. According to Andrew Nicholson, there have been various heresiological translations of Āstika and Nāstika in 20th century literature on Indian philosophies, but quite many are unsophisticated and flawed.
·
Charvaka is a materialistic and atheistic school of thought and, is noteworthy as evidence of
a materialistic movement within Hinduism.
Heterodox (Śramaṇicschools
Several Śramaṇic movements have existed before
the 6th century BCE, and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions
of Indian philosophy. The Śramaṇa movement gave rise to diverse
range of heterodox beliefs, ranging from accepting or denying the concept of
soul, atomism, antinomian ethics, materialism,
atheism, agnosticism, fatalism to free will, idealization of extreme asceticism
to that of family life, strict ahimsa (non-violence) and
vegetarianism to permissibility of violence and meat-eating. Notable
philosophies that arose from Śramaṇic movement were Jainism, early Buddhism, Charvaka, Ajñana and Ājīvika
Ajñana philosophy
Ajñana was one of the
nāstika or "heterodox" schools of ancient Indian philosophy, and the
ancient school of radical Indian skepticism. It was a Śramaṇa movement and a
major rival of early Buddhism and Jainism. They have been recorded in Buddhist
and Jain texts. They held that it was impossible to obtain knowledge of
metaphysical nature or ascertain the truth value of philosophical propositions;
and even if knowledge was possible, it was useless and disadvantageous for
final salvation. They were sophists who specialised in refutation without
propagating any positive doctrine of their own.
Jain philosophy
Rishabhanatha, believed to
have lived over a million years ago, is considered the founder of Jain
philosophy.
Jain philosophy is the oldest
Indian philosophy that separates body (matter) from the soul (consciousness)
completely. Jainism was revived
and re-established after Mahavira, the last and the 24th Tirthankara, synthesised and revived the philosophies and promulgations of the ancient
Śramaṇic traditions laid down by the first Jain tirthankara Rishabhanatha millions of years
ago. According to Dundas, outside of the Jain tradition, historians date
the Mahavira as about contemporaneous with the Buddha in the
5th-century BC, and accordingly the historical Parshvanatha, based on the c. 250-year gap,
is placed in 8th or 7th century BC.
Jainism is a Śramaṇic
religion and rejected the authority of the Vedas. However, like all Indian religions, it shares the core
concepts such as karma, ethical living, rebirth, samsara and moksha. Jainism
places strong emphasis on asceticism, ahimsa (non-violence)
and anekantavada (relativity
of viewpoints) as a means of spiritual liberation, ideas that influenced other
Indian traditions. Jainism strongly upholds the individualistic nature of
soul and personal responsibility for one's decisions; and that self-reliance
and individual efforts alone are responsible for one's liberation. According to
the Jain philosophy, the world (Saṃsāra)
is full of hiṃsā (violence). Therefore, one should direct all
his efforts in attainment of Ratnatraya, that are Samyak Darshan, Samyak
Gnana, and Samyak Chàritra which are the key requisites to attain liberation.
Buddhist philosophy
The Buddhist philosophy is based on the teachings of the Buddha.
Buddhist philosophy is a
system of thought which started with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, or "awakened
one". Buddhism is founded on elements of the Śramaṇa movement, which flowered in the
first half of the 1st millennium BCE, but its foundations contain novel ideas
not found or accepted by other Sramana movements. Buddhism and Hinduism
mutually influenced each other and shared many concepts, states Paul Williams,
however it is now difficult to identify and describe these
influences. Buddhism rejected the Vedic concepts of Brahman (ultimate
reality) and Atman (soul, self) at the foundation
of Hindu philosophies.
Buddhism shares many
philosophical views with other Indian systems, such as belief in karma – a
cause-and-effect relationship, samsara – ideas about cyclic afterlife
and rebirth, dharma – ideas about ethics, duties
and values, impermanence of all material
things and of body, and possibility of spiritual liberation (nirvana or moksha). A major
departure from Hindu and Jain philosophy is the Buddhist rejection of an
eternal soul (atman) in favour of anatta (non-Self). After
the death of the Buddha, several competing philosophical systems termed Abhidharma began to emerge as ways
to systematize Buddhist philosophy. The Mahayana movement also arose (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and included new
ideas and scriptures.
The main traditions of
Buddhist philosophy in India (from 300 BCE to 1000 CE) were:
A Japanese depiction of Nagarjuna, one of the greatest Buddhist philosophers and founder
of Madhyamaka
·
The Mahāsāṃghika ("Great
Community") tradition (which included numerous sub-schools, all are now
extinct)
·
The schools of the Sthavira ("Elders")
tradition:
o
Vaibhāṣika ("Commentators") also known as the
Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāśika, was an Abhidharma tradition that composed the "Great
Commentary" (Mahāvibhāṣa). They
were known for their defense of the doctrine of "sarvāstitva"
(all exists), which is a form of eternalism
regarding the philosophy of time. They also supported direct
realism and a theory of substances (svabhāva).
o
Sautrāntika ("Those who uphold the sutras"), a
tradition which did not see the Abhidharma as authoritative, and instead
focused on the Buddhist sutras. They disagreed with the Vaibhāṣika on several
key points, including their eternalistic theory of time.
o
Pudgalavāda ("Personalists"), which were known for
their controversial theory of the "person" (pudgala), now
extinct.
o
Vibhajyavāda ("The Analysts"), a widespread tradition
which reached Kashmir, South India and Sri Lanka. A part of this school has
survived into the modern era as the Theravada tradition. Their orthodox positions can be found in
the Kathavatthu. They
rejected the views of the Pudgalavāda and of the Vaibhāṣika among others.
·
The schools of the Mahāyāna ("Great Vehicle")
tradition (which continue to influence Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism)
o
Madhyamaka ("Middle way" or "Centrism")
founded by Nagarjuna. Also known
as Śūnyavāda (the emptiness doctrine) and Niḥsvabhāvavāda (the
no svabhāva doctrine), this tradition
focuses on the idea that all phenomena are empty of any essence or substance (svabhāva).
o
Yogācāra ("Yoga
praxis"), an idealistic school which held that only consciousness exists,
and thus was also known as Vijñānavāda (the doctrine of
consciousness).
o
Some scholars see the Tathāgatagarbha (or
"Buddha womb/source") texts as constituting a third
"school" of Indian Mahāyāna.
o
Vajrayāna (also known
as Mantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, and Tantric Buddhism) is often placed
in a separate category due to its unique tantric elements.
·
The Dignāga-Dharmakīrti tradition is
an influential school of thought which focused on epistemology, or pramāṇa ('means of knowledge').
Many of these
philosophies were brought to other regions, like Central Asia and China. After
the disappearance of Buddhism from India, some of these philosophical
traditions continued to develop in the Tibetan Buddhist, East Asian Buddhist and Theravada Buddhist traditions.
Monastic life has been a part of all Indian philosophy
traditions. Mendicant caves of extinct Ājīvikas in Bihar.
Ājīvika philosophy
The philosophy of
Ājīvika was founded by MakkhaliGosala, it was a Śramaṇa movement and a major rival
of early Buddhism and Jainism. Ājīvikas
were organised renunciates who formed discrete monastic communities prone to an
ascetic and simple lifestyle.
Original scriptures of
the Ājīvika school of philosophy may once have existed, but these are currently
unavailable and probably lost. Their theories are extracted from mentions of
Ajivikas in the secondary sources of ancient Indian literature, particularly
those of Jainism and Buddhism which polemically criticized the Ajivikas. The
Ājīvika school is known for its Niyati doctrine of absolute
determinism (fate), the premise that there is no free will, that everything
that has happened, is happening and will happen is entirely preordained and a
function of cosmic principles. Ājīvika considered the karma doctrine as
a fallacy. Ājīvikas were atheists and rejected the authority of
the Vedas, but they believed that in every
living being is an ātman –
a central premise of Hinduism and Jainism.
Charvaka philosophy
Charvaka (Sanskrit: चार्वाक), also known as Lokāyata,
is an ancient school of Indian materialism. Charvaka
holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embraces philosophical skepticism and rejects ritualism and supernaturalism. It was a popular
belief system in ancient India.
The etymology of Charvaka (Sanskrit: चार्वाक) is uncertain. Bhattacharya quotes the grammarian Hemacandra, to the
effect that the word cārvāka is derived
from the root carv, ‘to chew’: “A Cārvāka chews the self
(carvatyātmānaṃcārvākaḥ). Hemacandra refers to his own grammatical work,
Uṇādisūtra 37, which runs as follows: mavāka-śyāmāka-vārtāka-jyontāka-gūvāka-bhadrākādayaḥ.
Each of these words ends with the āka suffix and is formed irregularly.” This
may also allude to the philosophy's hedonistic precepts of "eat, drink,
and be merry".
Brihaspati is traditionally
referred to as the founder of Charvaka or Lokāyata philosophy, although some
scholars dispute this. During the Hindu reformation period in the first
millennium BCE, when Buddhism was established by Gautama Buddha and Jainism was re-organized by Parshvanatha, the Charvaka philosophy was
well documented and opposed by both religions. Much of the primary
literature of Charvaka, the Barhaspatya sutras,
were lost either due to waning popularity or other unknown reasons. Its teachings have
been compiled from historic secondary literature such as those found in
the shastras, sutras, and the Indian epic poetry as well as in the dialogues of Gautama Buddha and from Jain literature. However, there is text that may belong to the Charvaka tradition,
written by the skeptic philosopher Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa,
known as the Tattvôpaplava-siṁha, that provides information about this school,
albeit unorthodox.
One of the widely
studied principles of Charvaka philosophy was its rejection of inference as a means to establish valid, universal knowledge, and metaphysical truths. In other words, the Charvaka epistemology states that
whenever one infers a truth from a set of observations or truths, one must
acknowledge doubt; inferred knowledge is conditional.
Comparison of Indian
philosophies
The Indian traditions
subscribed to diverse philosophies, significantly disagreeing with each other
as well as orthodox Hinduism and its six schools of Hindu philosophy. The differences ranged
from a belief that every individual has a soul (self, atman) to asserting that
there is no soul, from axiological merit in a frugal ascetic life to that
of a hedonistic life, from a belief in rebirth to asserting that there is no
rebirth.
|
Comparison of ancient Indian philosophies |
|||||
|
Ājīvika |
Early Buddhism |
Charvaka |
Jainism |
Orthodox schools of Hinduism |
|
|
Denies |
Affirms |
Affirms |
|||
|
Affirms |
Samsara, Rebirth |
Denies |
Affirms |
Some school affirm, some not |
|
|
Ascetic life |
Affirms |
Affirms |
Denies |
Affirms |
Affirms as Sannyasa |
|
Rituals, Bhakti |
Affirms |
Affirms, optional |
Denies |
Affirms, optional |
Theistic school: Affirms, optional |
|
Ahimsa and Vegetarianism |
Affirms |
Affirms, |
Strongest proponent |
Affirms as
highest virtue, |
|
|
Free will |
Denies |
Affirms |
Affirms |
Affirms |
Affirms |
|
Affirms |
Affirms |
Denies |
Affirms |
Affirms |
|
|
Atman (Soul, Self) |
Affirms |
Denies |
Denies |
Affirms |
Affirms |
|
Creator god |
Denies |
Denies |
Denies |
Denies |
Theistic schools: Affirm |
|
Epistemology |
Pratyakṣa, |
Pratyakṣa, |
Pratyakṣa, |
Various, Vaisheshika (two) to Vedanta (six): |
|
|
Epistemic authority |
Denies: Vedas |
Affirms: Buddha |
Denies: Vedas |
Affirms: Jain Agamas |
Affirm: Vedas and Upanishads, |
|
Salvation |
Samsdrasuddhi |
Nirvana |
Siddha, Nirvana |
Moksha, Nirvana, Kaivalya |
|
|
Metaphysics |
Śūnyatā |
Anekāntavāda |
Brahman |
||
Political philosophy
The Arthashastra, attributed to the Mauryan minister Chanakya, is one of the early Indian texts devoted to political philosophy. It is dated to 4th century BCE and discusses ideas of statecraft and
economic policy.
The political philosophy
most closely associated with modern India is the one of ahimsa (non-violence)
and Satyagraha, popularised by Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian struggle for independence. In turn it influenced the later independence and civil rights movements, especially those led by Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar's Progressive Utilization Theory is also a major socio-economic and political philosophy.
Integral humanism was a set of concepts drafted by Upadhyaya as political program and
adopted in 1965 as the official doctrine of the Jan Sangh.
Upadhyaya considered
that it was of utmost importance for India to develop an indigenous economic
model with a human being at center stage. This approach made this concept
different from Socialism and Capitalism. Integral Humanism was adopted as Jan Sangh's political doctrine and its
new openness to other opposition forces made it possible for the Hindu
nationalist movement to have an alliance in the early 1970s with the prominent
Gandhian Sarvodaya movement going on under the leadership of J. P. Narayan. This was considered to be the first major public breakthrough for the
Hindu nationalist movement.
Influence
In appreciation of
complexity of the Indian philosophy, T S Eliot wrote that the
great philosophers of India "make most of the great European philosophers
look like schoolboys". Arthur Schopenhauer used Indian philosophy to improve upon Kantian thought. In
the preface to his book The World As Will
And Representation, Schopenhauer writes
that one who "has also received and assimilated the sacred primitive
Indian wisdom, then he is the best of all prepared to hear what I have to say
to him" The 19th century American philosophical
movement Transcendentalism was also
influenced by Indian thought.
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