Hindu philosophy or Vedic philosophy is the set of philosophical systems that developed in tandem with the first Hindu religious traditions during the iron and classical ages of India. In Indian philosophy, of which Hindu philosophy is a prominent subset, the word used for philosophy is Darshana (Sanskrit: दर्शन; meaning: "viewpoint or perspective"), from the Sanskrit root 'दृश' (drish) meaning 'to see, to experience'.[1]

The schools of thought or Darshanas within Hindu philosophy largely equate to the six orthodox schools: the āstika (Sanskrit: आस्तिक) schools, defined by their acceptance of the Vedas, the oldest collection of Sanskrit texts, as an authoritative source of knowledge.[2][note 1][note 2] Of these six, Samkhya (सांख्य) is the earliest school of dualism; Yoga (योग) combines the metaphysics of Samkhya with meditation and breath techniques; Nyaya (न्याय) is a school of logic emphasising direct realism; Vaisheshika (वैषेशिक) is an offshoot of Nyaya concerned with atomism and naturalism; Mimamsa (मीमांसा) is a school justifying ritual, faith, and religious obligations; and Vedanta (वेदान्त) contains various traditions that mostly embrace nondualism.[5][6][7][8][9]

The Indian philosophical landscape during the ancient and medieval periods also produced philosophical systems that share many concepts with the āstika traditions, yet at the same time reject or oppose several central Vedic concepts, such as Ātman, or interpret them in their own way.[10] These have been called nāstika (heterodox or non-orthodox) philosophies,[6][2] and they include: Buddhism, Jainism, Charvaka, Ajivika, and others.[11] These nāstika schools of thought are thus regarded as Indian but almost never as Hindu. Western scholars have debated the relationship and differences within āstika philosophies and with the nāstika philosophies, starting with the writings of Indologists and Orientalists of the 18th and 19th centuries, based on limited availability of Indian literature and medieval doxographies.[6] The various sibling traditions included in Indian philosophies are diverse and are united by: shared history and concepts, textual resources, ontological and soteriological focus, and cosmology.[12][13] Some ambiguity arises from the word Hindu being an exonym historically used as a geographical and cultural identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent, sometimes regardless of their beliefs.[14][15][16][17]

Hindu philosophy also includes several sub-schools of theistic philosophies that integrate ideas from two or more of the six orthodox philosophies. Examples of such schools include: Pāśupata Śaiva, Śaiva siddhānta, Pratyabhijña, Raseśvara and Vaiṣṇava.[7][8] Some sub-schools share Tantric ideas with those found in some Buddhist traditions,[18] which are nevertheless found in the Puranas and the Āgamas.[19][20][21] Each school of Hindu philosophy has extensive epistemological literature called Pramana,[22][23] as well as theories on metaphysics, axiology, and other topics.[24]

Classifications

In the history of India, the six orthodox schools had emerged before the start of the Common Era, and some schools emerged possibly even before the Buddha.[25] Some scholars have questioned whether the orthodox and heterodox schools classification is sufficient or accurate, given the diversity and evolution of views within each major school of Indian philosophy, with some sub-schools combining heterodox and orthodox views.[26]

Indian philosophy has been categorised into āstika and nāstika schools of thought, though this distinction was not clearly defined until the late medieval period.[27] The orthodox schools of Indian philosophy have been called ṣaḍdarśana ('six systems'). This schema was created between the 12th and 16th centuries by Vedantins.[28] It was then adopted by the early Western Indologists, and pervades modern understandings of Indian philosophy.[29] Satoshi Ogura notes that scholars should keep in mind the tendency of classification of Indic knowledge in Persianate discourses and its legacies in modern writings in both India and the Western world.[30]

Āstika

There are six āstika (orthodox) schools of thought.[note 3] Each is called a darśana, and each darśana accepts the Vedas as authority. Each āstika darśana also accepts the premise that Atman (eternal Self) exists.[2][31] The āstika schools of philosophy are:

  1. Samkhya – A strongly dualist theoretical exposition of consciousness (purusha) and matter (prakriti). Agnostic with respect to God or the gods.[32]
  2. Yoga – A monotheistic school which emerged from Samkhya and emphasises practical use of Samkhya theory: meditation, contemplation and liberation.[citation needed]
  3. Nyaya or logic – The school of epistemology which explores sources of knowledge.[citation needed]
  4. Vaisheshika – An empiricist school of atomism.[citation needed]
  5. Mīmāṃsā – An anti-ascetic and anti-mysticist school of orthopraxy.[citation needed] This tradition is also known as Pūrva-Mīmāṁsā because of its focus on the earlier (pūrva) Vedic texts dealing with ritual actions, and similarly also known as Karma-Mīmāṁsā due to its focus on ritual action (karma).[33]
  6. Vedanta – They focus on the last segment of knowledge in the Vedas, or jñānakāṇḍa ('section of knowledge'). Vedanta is also referred to as Uttara-Mimamsa. Vedānta came to be the dominant current of Hinduism in the post-medieval period.[citation needed] This school considers the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagvad Gita as authoritative texts.[34]

Nāstika

Schools that do not accept the authority of the Vedas are nāstika philosophies, of which four nāstika (heterodox) schools are prominent:[11]

  1. Charvaka, a materialism school that accepted the existence of free will.[35][36]
  2. Ājīvika, a materialism school that denied the existence of free will.[37][38]
  3. Buddhism, a philosophy that denies existence of ātman (Self)[39] and is based on the teachings and enlightenment of Gautama Buddha.
  4. Jainism, a philosophy that accepts the existence of the ātman (Self), and is based on the teachings and enlightenment of twenty-four teachers known as tirthankaras, with Rishabha as the first and Mahavira as the twenty-fourth.[40]

Other schools

Besides the major orthodox and non-orthodox schools, there have existed syncretic sub-schools that have combined ideas and introduced new ones of their own. The medieval scholar Madhavacharya, identified by some as Vidyaranya, in his book 'Sarva-Darsana-Sangraha', includes 16 philosophical systems current as of 14th century. Along with some of the major orthodox and non-orthodox schools and sub-schools, it includes the following sub-schools:

The above sub-schools introduced their own ideas while adopting concepts from orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy such as realism of the Nyāya, naturalism of Vaiśeṣika, monism and knowledge of Self (Atman) as essential to liberation of Advaita, self-discipline of Yoga, asceticism and elements of theistic ideas.[7] Some sub-schools share Tantric ideas with those found in some Buddhist traditions.[18]

Characteristics

School Sankhya Yoga Nyāya Vaiśeṣika Mīmāṃsā Advaita Vedanta[N 1] Vishishtadvaita Vedanta[N 1] Dvaita Vedanta[N 1] Shuddhadvaita Achintya Bheda Abheda Akshar-Purushottam Darśana Pashupata Shaiva Siddhanta Kashmir Shaivism Raseśvara Pāṇini Darśana
Classification rationalism,[48][49] dualism dualism, spiritual practice realism,[50] logic, analytic philosophy naturalism,[51] atomism exegesis, philology, ritualism non-dualism, pantheism qualified non-dualism, panentheism dualism, theology pure non-dualism simultaneous non-dualism and dualism qualified non-dualism, panentheism theism, spiritual practice dualism theistic non-dualism, idealism alchemy linguistics, philosophy of language
Philosophers Kapila, Iśvarakṛṣṇa, Vācaspati Miśra, Guṇaratna, and more.. Patañjali, Yajnavalkya, Vyasa[N 2] Aksapada Gautama, Vātsyāyana, Udayana, Jayanta Bhatta more.. Kanada, Praśastapāda, Śridhara's Nyāyakandalī more.. Jaimini, Kumārila Bhaṭṭa, Prabhākara more.. Gaudapada, Adi Shankara, Madhusudana Saraswati, Vidyaranya more.. Yamunacharya, Ramanuja more.. Madhvacharya, Jayatirtha, Vyasatirtha, Raghavendra Swami Vallabhacharya Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Six Goswamis of Vrindavana, Visvanatha Chakravarti, Krishnadasa Kaviraja, Baladeva Vidyabhushana, Rupa Goswami, more.. Bhagwan Swaminarayan, Shastriji Maharaj, Bhadreshdas Swami Haradattacharya, Lakulish Tirumular, Meikandadevar, Appayya Dikshita, Sadyojyoti, Aghorasiva Vasugupta, Abhinavagupta, Jayaratha Govinda Bhagavat, Sarvajña Rāmeśvara Pāṇini, Bhartṛhari, Kātyāyana
Texts Samkhyapravachana Sutra, Samkhyakarika, Sāṁkhya tattvakaumudī more.. Yoga Sutras, Yoga Yajnavalkya, Samkhya pravacana bhasya Nyāya Sūtras, Nyāya Bhāṣya, Nyāya Vārttika more.. Vaiśeṣika Sūtra, Padārtha dharma saṁgraha, Daśapadārtha śāstra more.. Purva Mimamsa Sutras, Mimamsasutra bhāshyam more.. Brahma Sutras, Prasthanatrayi, Avadhuta Gita, Ashtavakra Gita, Pañcadaśī more.. Siddhitrayam, Sri Bhasya, Vedartha Sangraha AnuVyakhana, Brahma Sutra Bahshya, Sarva Shāstrārtha Sangraha, Tattva prakashika, Nyaya Sudha, Nyayamruta, Tarka Tandava, DwaitaDyumani Brahmasutra Anubhashya, Tattvartha Dipa Nibandha, Subodhiniji, Shodasha Grantha Bhagavata Purana, Bhagavad Gita, Sat Sandarbhas, Govinda Bhashya, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Swaminarayan Bhashyam, Swaminarayan-Siddhanta-Sudha Gaṇakārikā, Pañchārtha bhāshyadipikā, Rāśikara bhāshya Sivagamas, Tirumurais, Meikanda Sastras Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta, Tantraloka Rasārṇava, Rasahṛidaya, Raseśvara siddhānta Vākyapadīya, Mahabhashya, Vārttikakāra
Concepts Originated Purusha, Prakṛti, Guṇa, Satkāryavāda Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dhāraṇā, Dhyana, Samadhi Pratyakṣa, Anumāna, Upamāna, Anyathakyati vada, Niḥśreyasa more.. Padārtha, Dravya, Sāmānya, Viśeṣa, Samavāya, Paramāṇu Apauruṣeyātva, Arthāpatti, Anuapalabdhi, Satahprāmāṇya vāda Jivanmukta, Mahāvākyas, Sādhana Chatuṣṭaya, three orders of reality, Vivartavada Hita, Antarvyāpi, Bahuvyāpi more.. Prapacha, Mukti-yogyas, Nitya-samsarins, Tamo-yogyas Pushtimarg, Brahmavada, Brahma Sambandha Sambandha, Abhidheya, Prayojana (Relationship, Process, Ultimate Goal) Akshar Purushottam Upasana Pashupati, eight pentads Charya, Mantramārga, Rodha Śakti Citi, Mala, Upaya, Anuttara, Aham, Svatantrya Pārada, three modes of mercury Sphoṭa, Ashtadhyayi
  1. 1 2 3 Advaita, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita have evolved from an older Vedanta school and all of them accept Upanishads and Brahma Sutras as standard texts.
  2. ↑ Vyasa wrote a commentary on the Yoga Sutras called Samkhyapravacanabhasya.(Radhankrishnan, Indian Philosophy, London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1971 edition, Volume II, p. 344.)

Overview

Epistemology

Epistemology is called pramana.[52] It has been a key, much debated field of study in Hinduism since ancient times. Pramāṇa is a Hindu theory of knowledge and discusses the valid means by which human beings can gain accurate knowledge.[52] The focus of pramāṇa is how correct knowledge can be acquired, how one knows, how one does not, and to what extent knowledge pertinent about someone or something can be acquired.[22]

Ancient and medieval Hindu texts identify six pramāṇas as correct means of accurate knowledge and truths:

  1. Pratyakṣa – Direct perception
  2. Anumāṇa – Inference or indirect perception
  3. Upamāṇa – Comparison and analogy
  4. Arthāpatti – Postulation, derivation from circumstances
  5. Anupalabdi – Non-perception, absence of proof
  6. Shabda – Word, testimony of past or present reliable experts[53]

Each of these are further categorised in terms of conditionality, completeness, confidence and possibility of error, by the different schools. The schools vary on how many of these six are valid paths of knowledge.[23] For example, the Cārvāka nāstika philosophy holds that only one (perception) is an epistemically reliable means of knowledge,[54] the Samkhya school holds that three are (perception, inference and testimony),[54] while the Mīmāṃsā and Advaita schools hold that all six are epistemically useful and reliable means to knowledge.[54][55]

Sāmkhya

Sāmkhya (Sanskrit: सांख्य) is the oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems in Hinduism,[56] with origins in the 1st millennium BCE.[32] It is a rationalist school of Indian philosophy,[48] and had a strong influence on other schools of Indian philosophies.[57] Sāmkhya is an enumerationist philosophy whose epistemology accepted three of six pramāṇas as the only reliable means of gaining knowledge. These were pratyakṣa (perception), anumāṇa (inference) and sabda (Āptavacana, word/testimony of reliable sources).[58][54]

Samkhya school espouses dualism between witness-consciousness and 'nature' (mind, perception, matter).[59] It regards the universe as consisting of two realities: Puruṣa (witness-consciousness) and prakriti ('nature'). Jiva (a living being) is that state in which puruṣa is bonded to prakriti in some form.[60] This fusion, state the Samkhya scholars, led to the emergence of buddhi (awareness, intellect) and ahankara (individualised ego consciousness, "I-maker"). The universe is described by this school as one created by Purusa-Prakriti entities infused with various permutations and combinations of variously enumerated elements, senses, feelings, activity and mind.[60]

Samkhya philosophy includes a theory of gunas (qualities, innate tendencies, psyche).[61] Guna, it states, are of three types: Sattva being good, compassionate, illuminating, positive, and constructive; Rajas guna is one of activity, chaotic, passion, impulsive, potentially good or bad; and Tamas being the quality of darkness, ignorance, destructive, lethargic, negative. Everything, all life forms and human beings, state Samkhya scholars, have these three gunas, but in different proportions.[62] The interplay of these gunas defines the character of someone or something, of nature and determines the progress of life.[63][64] Samkhya theorises a pluralism of Selfs (Jeevatmas) who possess consciousness.[65] Samkhya has historically been theistic or non-theistic, and there has been debate about its specific view on God.[66][67][68][69]

The Samkhya karika, one of the key texts of this school of Hindu philosophy, opens by stating its goal to be "three[70] kinds of human suffering" and means to prevent them.[71] The text then presents a distillation of its theories on epistemology, metaphysics, axiology and soteriology. For example, it states,

— Samkhya karika, [71][72]

The soteriology in Samkhya aims at the realisation of Puruṣa as distinct from Prakriti; this knowledge of the Self is held to end transmigration and lead to absolute freedom (kaivalya).[73]