Samkhya

This article is about a school of philosophy. For the statistics journal, see Sankhya (journal). For the chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, see Samkhya Yoga (Bhagavad Gita).

"Samkhya is not one of the systems of Indian philosophy. Samkhya is the philosophy of India!"

Gopinath Kaviraj[1]

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Samkhya or Sankhya (/ˈsɑːŋkjə/; Sanskrit: सांख्य, romanized: sāṃkhya) is a dualistic orthodox school of Hindu philosophy.[2][3][4] It views reality as composed of two independent principles, Puruṣa ('consciousness' or spirit) and Prakṛti (nature or matter, including the human mind and emotions).[5]

Puruṣa is the witness-consciousness. It is absolute, independent, free, beyond perception, above any experience by mind or senses, and impossible to describe in words.[6][7][8]

Prakriti is matter or nature. It is inactive, unconscious, and is a balance of the three guṇas (qualities or innate tendencies),[9][10] namely sattva, rajas, and tamas. When Prakṛti comes into contact with Purusha this balance is disturbed, and Prakriti becomes manifest, evolving twenty-three tattvas,[11] namely intellect (buddhi, mahat), ego (ahamkara), mind (manas); the five sensory capacities known as ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose; the five action capacities known as hasta, pada, bak, anus, and upastha; and the five "subtle elements" or "modes of sensory content" (tanmatras), from which the five "gross elements" or "forms of perceptual objects" (earth, water, fire, air and space) emerge,[9][12] in turn giving rise to the manifestation of sensory experience and cognition.[13][14]

Jiva ('a living being') is the state in which Puruṣa is bonded to Prakriti.[15] Human experience is an interplay of the two, Puruṣa being conscious of the various combinations of cognitive activities.[15] The end of the bondage of Puruṣa to Prakriti is called Moksha (Liberation) or Kaivalya (Isolation).[16]

Samkhya's epistemology accepts three of six pramanas ('proofs') as the only reliable means of gaining knowledge, as does yoga. These are pratyakṣa ('perception'), anumāṇa ('inference') and śabda (āptavacana, meaning, 'word/testimony of reliable sources').[17][18][19] Sometimes described as one of the rationalist schools of Indian philosophy, it relies exclusively on reason.[20][21]

While Samkhya-like speculations can be found in the Rig Veda and some of the older Upanishads, some western scholars have proposed that Samkhya may have non-Vedic origins,[22][note 1] developing in ascetic milieus. Proto-Samkhya ideas developed c. 8th/7th BC and onwards, as evidenced in the middle Upanishads, the Buddhacharita, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Mokshadharma-section of the Mahabharata.[23] It was related to the early ascetic traditions and meditation, spiritual practices, and religious cosmology,[24] and methods of reasoning that result in liberating knowledge (vidya, jnana, viveka) that end the cycle of duḥkha (suffering) and rebirth[25] allowing for "a great variety of philosophical formulations".[24] Pre-Karika systematic Samkhya existed around the beginning of the first millennium CE.[26] The defining method of Samkhya was established with the Samkhyakarika (4th c. CE).

Samkhya might have been theistic or nontheistic, but with its classical systematization in the early first millennium CE, the existence of a deity became irrelevant.[27][28][29][30] Samkhya is strongly related to the Yoga school of Hinduism, for which it forms the theoretical foundation, and it has influenced other schools of Indian philosophy.[31]

  1. ^ Larson 2014, p. xi.
  2. ^ Knut A. Jacobsen, Theory and Practice of Yoga, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120832329, pages 100–101.
  3. ^ "Samkhya", American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition (2011), Quote: "Samkhya is a system of Hindu philosophy based on a dualism involving the ultimate principles of soul and matter."
  4. ^ "Samkhya", Webster's College Dictionary (2010), Random House, ISBN 978-0375407413, Quote: "Samkhya is a system of Hindu philosophy stressing the reality and duality of spirit and matter."
  5. ^ Lusthaus 2018.
  6. ^ Sharma 1997, pp. 155–7.
  7. ^ Chapple 2008, p. 21.
  8. ^ Osto 2018, p. 203.
  9. ^ a b Osto 2018, p. 204–205.
  10. ^ Gerald James Larson (2011), Classical Sāṃkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120805033, pages 154–206.
  11. ^ Osto 2018, p. 204.
  12. ^ Haney 2002, p. 42.
  13. ^ Osto 2018, p. 205.
  14. ^ Larson 1998, p. 11.
  15. ^ a b "Samkhya". Encyclopedia Britannica. 5 May 2015 [1998-07-20]. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  16. ^ Gerald James Larson (2011), Classical Sāṃkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120805033, pages 36–47.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lpage9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference eliottjag was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ John A. Grimes, A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791430675, page 238.
  20. ^ Mikel Burley (2012), Classical Samkhya and Yoga – An Indian Metaphysics of Experience, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415648875, pages 43–46.
  21. ^ David Kalupahana (1995), Ethics in Early Buddhism, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0824817022, page 8, Quote: The rational argument is identified with the method of Samkhya, a rationalist school, upholding the view that "nothing comes out of nothing" or that "being cannot be non-being."
  22. ^ Zimmer 1951, p. 217, 314.
  23. ^ Larson 2014, p. 4.
  24. ^ a b Larson 2014, p. 5.
  25. ^ Larson 2014, p. 4–5.
  26. ^ Larson 2014, p. 9–11.
  27. ^ Michaels 2004, p. 264.
  28. ^ Sen Gupta 1986, p. 6.
  29. ^ Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 89.
  30. ^ Andrew J. Nicholson (2013), Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0231149877, chapter 4, page 77.
  31. ^ Roy Perrett, Indian Ethics: Classical Traditions and Contemporary Challenges, Volume 1 (Editor: P Bilimoria et al.), Ashgate, ISBN 978-0754633013, pages 149–158.


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