Samkhya
The Samkhya ( Sanskrit , n., सांख्य, Sāṃkhya ; also Sāṅkhya) is considered one of the oldest philosophical systems of Indian origin. Because of its great influence on later developments within Indian philosophy, it counts, together with Vedanta , which owes some of its theories to Samkhya, to the most trend-setting currents of Vedic- oriented thought. The Sanskrit term "samkhya" literally means "number", "enumeration" or "that which describes something in great detail" and refers to the elements that determine reality in the Samkhya, which are subjected to a comprehensive analysis there. Just knowing about these elements should lead to liberation from the cycle of rebirths , which underlines the primarily soteriological role that this tradition gives to knowledge.
Samkhya deals with the enumeration and description of existence, in western philosophy this aspect of ontology would be translated as the science of being .
Origin and development
Tradition names Kapila , author of the lost Samkhya Sutra , as the founder of the system. Whether this is a historical or a purely legendary person is controversial in research. The most important text source is the oldest surviving work in the tradition, the Samkhya-Karika of Ishvarakrishna , a collection of 72 teaching stanzas that was written between 350 and 450 AD. The teaching in its present form is known from this text. The core time of Samkhya is the classical epoch (around 400 BC to around 700 AD). The Mahabharata , the great Indian epic (300 BC - 500 AD) was clearly influenced by the Samkhya. The Samkhya had a close connection with yoga early on . The Samkhya provided the theory, the yoga formed the practice.
Due to this additional aspect, the two systems are also combined in pairs under the word combination "Samkhya-Yoga". Towards the middle of the first millennium, the system of Samkhya was completely absorbed in yoga and is therefore one of the extinct traditions of Indian philosophy today, even if many of its basic ideas were kept alive by incorporation into the teaching buildings of numerous subsequent currents. The theory of the Hindu medical system, Ayurveda , essentially refers to the philosophical system of Samkhya. Feuerstein (2009) contradicts this view insofar as both traditions have their own clearly defined theories and practical methods.
Theism versus atheism
Using a long list of circumstantial evidence, Helmuth von Glasenapp shows that the named author of the Samkhya Sutra , the Rishi Kapila , can be described as a theist or panentheist . Many later Indian writers, such as Madhva , Vallabha, and others, claim that Kapila taught a samkhya corresponding to the Upanishads . In the Mahabharata, too, Kapila and his students appear as representatives of panentheism and fighters for the cause of God. In the Puranas , Kapila is associated with the teaching of the All-Mind. All older texts only allow the conclusion that Samkhya was a teaching that accepted a universal spirit as the source of multiplicity and differed from the older Upanishads in enumerating the world elements. This fact explains why Vedanta and Samkhya do not appear as opposites in the Upanishads, in the Bhagavad-Gita and in the Puranas. In the Samkhya-Karika of Ishvarakrishna the author does not attack the doctrine of the existence of a world lord Ishvara , rather the problem of God is not dealt with at all. Only the commentators on the Karika cite reasons against the existence of an Ishvara, so that from 500 AD on, the classical Samkhya represented a decidedly anti-theistic stance. Nevertheless, Vijnanabhikshu (16th century), whose commentary Sāṃkhyapravacanabhāṣya is regarded as a very important work, tried to combine Samkhya with theistic yoga and Vedanta to form a theistic "indistinguishable nondualism" ( avibhagādvaita ).
philosophy
At the center of the philosophy of Samkhya is the representation of the "25 realities" ( tattvas ) and the associated doctrine of evolution and involution . It represents one of the six orthodox Shaddarshanas (Sanskrit दर्शन darśana) (classical Indian systems of philosophy) in Indian philosophy. Sankhya philosophy deals with cosmic and spiritual liberation teaching. Because the Tattvas (basic rules, 25 realities) are enumerated in Sankhya, Sankhya is also used as a number or enumeration. It exemplifies the view that just an understanding of the causally successive stages of world formation articulated in Samkhya is sufficient to achieve complete salvation from the cycle of rebirth, which here too - as with most philosophical and religious traditions of Indian origin - is in the foreground . That redemption in Samkhya goes hand in hand with the cessation of three kinds of suffering ( duhkha ):
- adhyatmika (suffering from physical or mental illness),
- adhibhautika (external suffering from environmental influences or violence from others), and
- adhidaivika (suffering from the forces of nature, environmental disasters or supernatural phenomena).
Metaphysics and ontology
The Samkhya basically represents a dualism in the context of its metaphysics . World events are traced back to two fundamental principles:
- passive, conscious mind ( Purusha ) and
- active, unconscious "primordial matter" or "nature" ( Prakriti ).
Purusha is the self that is inherent in all sentient beings. It gives people, animals, plants and gods sensitivity and consciousness . Prakriti is the creative force behind all psychophysical and material realities of being, which also include physicality, thought processes and perception. Since man, whose true and original identity is solely Purusha, mistakenly considers the aspects belonging to the sphere of Prakriti to be part of himself, he becomes entangled in suffering because of this confusion. It is therefore of crucial importance in the teaching of Samkhya for those striving for salvation to learn to strictly distinguish between the two substances and their characteristics.
In the Samkhya three gunas (properties) are assigned to the primordial matter Prakriti :
- Sattva (the being, purity, clarity),
- Rajas (movement, energy, passion) and
- Tamas (indolence, darkness, heaviness).
The relationship between Prakriti and these three inherent forces is illustrated in various analogies and compared with the relationship between lamp, flame and wick or with a thread consisting of three threads. When the gunas are in equilibrium, the prakriti remains in its unmanifested state ( avyakta ) as a pure, undifferentiated potentiality. At this stage it is called "Mulaprakriti" (root of primordial matter) because the whole world is hidden in it, like a tree in a seed. However, due to the mere proximity of the Prakriti to a Purusha, this balance is disturbed, and a universal unfolding process occurs in which the latent, hidden creative power of the Prakriti brings about the entire phenomena of the world:
From the primordial matter ( mulaprakriti ) arises the cosmic intelligence or higher reason ( mahat or buddhi ), and from this the self-consciousness ( Ahamkara ). The self-consciousness is in turn the origin of the mind ( manas ), from which the ten sense organs ( indriyani ) arise. These sense organs comprise the five faculties of knowledge ( buddhindriyani ) and the five faculties of action ( karmendriyani ). The five subtle elements sound, touch, shape, taste, smell ( tanmatras ) and the five gross elements space, air, fire, water, earth ( mahabhutani ) emerge from the sense organs . Together with Purusha these are the "25 Tattvas".
This manifestation ( vyakta ) takes place without the active influence of Purusha, who is in his essence always an uninvolved spectator or "witness" (sakshin). Inactive, through its mere presence, it triggers evolution, and the role of the "causa materialis" is assigned to Prakriti, which is therefore also called "Pradhana" (the first [cause]). Based on this view is also put forward by the Samkhya causality model can satkaryavada (Sanskrit, for instance: "the science of being the action") explain to the cause already the effect is immanent: the effect of bringing out loud that view nothing really new out, but the emergence is merely the return of the same substance, which is constantly being modified and transformed ( parinama ). Cause and effect are identical. The Samkhya justify this by stating that if the cause were different from the effect, there would be no common connection between the two, and therefore everything could arise quite arbitrarily (e.g. milk from a stone). If the cause were not already immanent to the effect, the effect would have to have come out of nowhere, since it did not exist before its manifestation , and this is not possible, according to the Samkhya, since there is nothing that can arise out of nowhere. Just as cheese is a different form of milk, but both have the same texture, the effect is just a different form of the cause.
Although the Purusha in the Samkhya is described as "beyond space , time and causality ", as "eternally pure and free", in this philosophy it does not represent a unique, undivided, all-pervading ground like the Brahman of the Upanishads , but an infinite one Number of individual Purushas. This has to do with both soteriology and the Samkhya conception of reality. In contrast to monistic systems, especially the Advaita Vedanta , here the processes of arising and passing away, as well as the separation between the individual things, are not viewed as something relative , which is held to be real based on ignorance and delusion. The strict dichotomy between subject and object - between the knowing and the known, the perceiving and the perceived - should not be recognized in the last step as illusory as in Advaita, but rather, conversely, constitutes true reality. Subject and object only need to be properly distinguished from one another.
Purusha and Prakriti are both as real as fundamental entities in Samkhya, as are the multiplicity of objects in the empirical world. In order to be able to maintain this ontological and metaphysical realism, and to make a liberation from the painful cycle of rebirths plausible against this background, a kind of "soul pluralism" is required which is very similar to the Jainist concept of the Jiva . Since every person houses a Purusha and can only be redeemed individually, there must necessarily be many Purushas, otherwise all others would be redeemed at the same time through the redemption of the individual, which would contradict the universal conception of reality of Samkhya. A downgrading of Prakriti to a reality of the second degree, as it is done in Advaita by equating Prakriti with Maya , is therefore out of the question for the representatives of Samkhya.
Furthermore , a monism is rejected with the argument that the presence of Purusha is the reason for the imbalance of the Guna within the Prakriti and that two instances are therefore necessary for a world to arise . An all-pervading being in the form of an "ultimate reality", a "one without a second" (Ishvara, Brahman ) is categorically excluded in the classic anti-theistic Sankhya (this changes in the later, theistic expression of the Samkhya, which is based on the sister system of yoga and includes Ishvara as a creator in its teaching structure). In classical Samkhya, the law of karma is still carried out without the influence of a supreme god . This view also shares this system with Jainism as well as Buddhism , which both emerged around the same time as Samkhya.
Epistemology and soteriology
In Samkhya three means of knowledge (pramanas) are recognized as valid:
- Perception (pratyaksha),
- Conclusion (anumana), and
- tradition through a master or scriptures (apta vakya).
In the Samkhya, knowledge is given an excessively high value. Learning the processes in the cosmic creation process and becoming aware of the fact that Purusha and Prakriti are completely different, do not enter into any real connection, and Purusha has always been completely free and independent, already leads, according to Samkhya, to a reversal of the manifestation process. A knowledge of the role of Purusha as the "true self" of the human being and as a spectator of the creative happenings of Prakriti, untouched by any suffering - only in whose sphere there is suffering - is already Moksha (here called kaivalya - independence - called), that after the physical Death brings the end of all rebirths and all karma ties. The universe then completely dissolves again into the Mulaprakriti and remains there in the state of the restored equilibrium of the Guna.
In connection with the doctrine of redemption of Samkhya there are several parables that are supposed to symbolize the process of liberation. One of them is the parable of the blind and the lame. The blind corresponds to the active Prakriti, and the lame to the inactive Purusha. They team up and help each other to get safely to their respective travel destination together. The blind piggybacks the lame and carries him, while the lame shows the blind the direction. When they reach their destination, they part ways again. Both have completely fulfilled their respective tasks. In another parable, Prakriti is compared to a dancer who feels unobserved until she realizes that she was being watched all the time. Ashamed, she breaks off her dance - just as Prakriti breaks off her creative process after the Purusha has come to the realization that he is a mere uninvolved "spectator" of world events.
Rituals and sacrifices are rejected by the Samkhya. Yoga is seen as a method for the physical realm: the detachment of the sense organs from the sense objects. If the purity ( Sattva ) predominates in humans, which embodies brightness and clarity and thus the ability to cognize, this has a direct influence on the sense organs ( Indriyani ) and is conducive to knowledge.
See also
literature
- Richard Garbe: The Samkhya Philosophy. Leipzig 1917. (zeno.org)
- H. v. Glasenapp: The philosophy of the Indians. (1948) Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-520-19504-6 .
- Hellmuth Kiowsky: Evolution and Redemption. The Indian Samkhya. Frankfurt 2005.
- Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: Indian Philosophy. From the Vedas to Buddhism. Darmstadt 1956.
- Oscar Marcel Hinze: The Light Path of Samkhya. 1996.
Web links
- Ferenc Ruzsa: Sāṅkhya. In: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
- Dan Lusthaus: Sāṃkhya. (English)
References and comments
- ↑ Georg Feuerstein: The Yoga Tradition. History, literature, philosophy & practice. Yoga Verlag, Wiggensbach 2009, ISBN 978-3-935001-06-9 , p. 152 f.
- ↑ Shvetashvatara-Upanishad, VI, 13th century
- ↑ Werner Scholz: Hinduism. A crash course. Dumont, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-8321-9070-5 , p. 68 f.
- ^ Elvira Friedrich: Yoga. The Indian way of salvation. The classic system and its background. (= Diederichs yellow row ). Eugen Diederich, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-424-01378-1 , p. 48 f.
- ↑ Georg Feuerstein: The Yoga Tradition. History, literature, philosophy & practice. Yoga Verlag, Wiggensbach 2009, ISBN 978-3-935001-06-9 , p. 152