Sankhya

Sāṅkhya

A dualist analysis of reality into pure consciousness and creative nature.

Editorial overviewIdeas associated with Sankhya appear in the Upanishads and Mahabharata; the classical system is known mainly from Ishvarakrishna's Sankhya Karika, generally placed around the 4th–5th century CE. Kapila is its traditional founder.

In simple words

Sankhya says there are two basic things: consciousness, which only watches, and nature, which does everything — including thinking and feeling. We suffer because we confuse the watcher with what it watches; seeing the difference clearly sets us free.

Overview

Sankhya ("enumeration") analyses reality into two independent kinds of principle: purusha, pure consciousness, of which there are many, and prakriti, a single, non-conscious, ever-changing nature. Prakriti is constituted by three gunas — sattva (clarity), rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia) — and evolves into twenty-three further principles (tattvas), including intellect (buddhi), the I-maker (ahankara), mind (manas), the senses and the elements. Suffering arises because purusha fails to discriminate itself from the activity of prakriti, especially from the intellect in which it is reflected. Liberation (kaivalya, "isolation") comes through discriminating knowledge of the difference between the two. Classical Sankhya is generally non-theistic, and its framework deeply influenced Yoga, Vedanta, medicine and the Puranas.

Scholar’s note

Proto-Sankhya passages in the Mahabharata (e.g. the Mokshadharma) show theistic and non-theistic variants. Classical commentaries on the Karika include those of Gaudapada (whether the same as the Advaita Gaudapada is debated) and Vachaspati Mishra; the later Sankhya Sutras and Vijnanabhikshu's commentary give it a more theistic, Vedanta-leaning reading.

Core questions

?What is the relation of consciousness to matter?
?How does the world evolve from a single source?
?Why does suffering arise, and how can it end for good?
?How many basic principles make up reality?

How it sees

Editorial overview

What problem is it trying to solve?: How can the threefold suffering — from oneself, from other beings and from natural or divine forces — be ended permanently, beyond the temporary relief of ordinary or ritual remedies?
What does it consider real?: Two eternal realities: many purushas (pure conscious subjects) and one prakriti (unconscious primordial nature), with its twenty-three evolutes. Effects pre-exist in their cause (satkaryavada).
What is valid knowledge?: Three: perception (pratyaksha), inference (anumana) and reliable testimony (aptavachana).
What is the Self?: The Self is purusha: pure, inactive, unchanging witness-consciousness, distinct from mind, intellect and ego, which belong to prakriti.
What causes bondage?: Non-discrimination (aviveka) between purusha and prakriti, as a result of which the qualities and activities of the intellect are attributed to consciousness.
What is liberation?: Kaivalya: the isolation of purusha from prakriti, in which prakriti ceases to act for that purusha and suffering ends permanently.
What is the path?: Discriminating knowledge (viveka-khyati) of the twenty-five principles, cultivated through study and reflection.

Core concepts

ConceptपुरुषPurusha — pure consciousnessThe conscious witness, distinct from all that changes.Conceptप्रकृतिPrakriti — naturePrimal nature or matter — everything that changes, including the mind.ConceptगुणGunas — the three qualitiesSattva, rajas and tamas — the three strands of all nature.Conceptतत्त्वTattva — principle of reality'Thatness' — a basic category or principle of reality, counted differently by different schools.Conceptबुद्धिBuddhi — intellectThe discerning, deciding faculty — the highest of the inner instruments.Conceptअहङ्कारAhankara — I-maker, egoThe 'I-maker' — the sense of being a separate doer and owner.Conceptमनस्Manas — mindThe mind that receives, coordinates and desires — restless by nature.ConceptविवेकVivekaDiscernment between the real and the unreal, the Self and the not-Self.ConceptदुःखDukkha — suffering, unsatisfactorinessSuffering, stress or unsatisfactoriness — the starting point of the Buddha's teaching and a shared concern of Indian thought.Conceptमोक्षMoksha — liberationFinal freedom from bondage and the cycle of rebirth.

Primary texts

Major thinkers

ThinkerकपिलKapilaLegendary figure; no historical dating is possible.Thinkerईश्वरकृष्णIshvarakrishnaScholars generally place him around the 4th–5th century CE.

Where it disagrees

Stated neutrally. The purpose is understanding, not a verdict.

With Advaita Vedanta · plurality of selves and unconscious cause
Advaita holds there is one Self and that a non-conscious prakriti cannot be the purposeful cause of the world.
With Nyaya · causation
Nyaya-Vaisheshika hold that effects are new creations (asatkaryavada), against Sankhya's view that effects pre-exist in the cause.