was an Indian teacher and philosopher who lived around the 6th century BCE, contemporaneous with Mahavira and

the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

. He was an atomist who believed in

atomism Atomism (from Greek , ''atomon'', i.e. "uncuttable, indivisible") is a natural philosophy proposing that the physical universe is composed of fundamental indivisible components known as atoms. References to the concept of atomism and its atoms ...

which believed that everything is made of seven eternal elements – earth, water, fire, air, happiness, pain and soul.

Early life

According to the

Pali Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During t ...

, Kacayana was his family name and he is said to have belonged to a

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...

caste. He was sometimes called Pakkudha Katiyana, or Kadhudha Katiyana.

Teachings

According to Pakudha, there are seven eternal "elements": Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Joy, Sorrow and Life. Pakudha further asserted that these elements do not ''interact'' with one another. The Samannaphala Sutta ( DN 2) represents Pakudha's views as follows: :"'... ere are these seven substances — unmade, irreducible, uncreated, without a creator, barren, stable as a mountain-peak, standing firm like a pillar — that do not alter, do not change, do not interfere with one another, are incapable of causing one another pleasure, pain, or both pleasure and pain. Which seven? The earth-substance, the liquid-substance, the fire-substance, the wind-substance, pleasure, pain, and the soul as the seventh. These are the seven substances — unmade, irreducible, uncreated, without a creator, barren, stable as a mountain-peak, standing firm like a pillar — that do not alter, do not change, do not interfere with one another, and are incapable of causing one another pleasure, pain, or both pleasure and pain. :"'And among them there is no killer nor one who causes killing, no hearer nor one who causes hearing, no cognizer nor one who causes cognition. When one cuts off nother person'shead, there is no one taking anyone's life. It is simply between the seven substances that the sword passes.'" In the Brahmajala Sutta ( DN 1), theories such as Pakudha's are labeled as "Atomic theory" (

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

/ Skt.: ') and "eternalism" ('). According to Buddhaghosa, he suffered from many obsessional

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

s with regard to the use of water:a voided the use of cold water, using always hot; when this was not available, he did not wash. If he crossed a stream he would consider this as a sin, and would make expiation by constructing a mound of earth. He did not speak of God, soul and the other world which has led some scholars considered him also as a materialist.

Followers

According to Buddhist sources, Pakudha's followers did not hold him in high esteem, in contrast to the devotion felt for the Buddha by his followers. Pakudha did not welcome questions, and displayed annoyance and resentment when cross examined. Elsewhere however, he is spoken of as having been highly honoured by the people, a teacher of large and well reputed schools, with numerous followers. But he did not lay claim to perfect enlightenment .

Empedocles Empedocles (; grc-gre, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς; , 444–443 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for originating the cosmogonic theory of the ...

is known as Pakudha Kaccayana of Greece.

Notes

Sources

* Bhaskar,

Bhagchandra Jain Bhagchandra (Bhaskar) Jain (born on 11 September 1936) is an Indian scholar, renowned for his knowledge of Jainism and Buddhism, and of classical Indian languages including Pali and Sanskrit. His career has spanned more than five decades. He is the ...

(1972). ''Jainism in Buddhist Literature''. Alok Prakashan: Nagpur. Available on-line at http://jainfriends.tripod.com/books/jiblcontents.html. * Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) and Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.) (2001). ''The Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya''. Boston: Wisdom Publications. . * Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). ''The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary''. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/. * Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). ''Samaññaphala Sutta: The Fruits of the Contemplative Life'' ( DN 2). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.02.0.than.html. * Walshe, Maurice O'Connell (trans.) (1995). ''The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya''. Somerville: Wisdom Publications. . {{authority control Spiritual teachers Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown 5th-century BC Indian philosophers 5th-century BC Hindus 4th-century BC Indian philosophers 4th-century BC Hindus

Early life

Teachings

Followers

See also

Notes

Sources