Vaiśeṣika

Vaisheshika (IAST: Vaiśeṣika; ; ) is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy from ancient India. In its early stages, Vaiśeṣika was an independent philosophy with its own metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and soteriology. Over time, the Vaiśeṣika system became similar in its philosophical procedures, ethical conclusions and soteriology to the Nyāya school of Hinduism, but retained its difference in epistemology and metaphysics.

The epistemology of the Vaiśeṣika school of Hinduism, like Buddhism, accepted only two reliable means to knowledge: direct observation and inference.DPS Bhawuk (2011), Spirituality and Indian Psychology (Editor: Anthony J.Marsella), Springer, , page 172* Eliot Deutsch (2000), in Philosophy of Religion : Indian Philosophy Vol 4 (Editor: Roy Perrett), Routledge, , pages 245-248;
* John A. Grimes, A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English, State University of New York Press, , page 238 The Vaiśeṣika school and Buddhism both consider their respective scriptures as indisputable and valid means to knowledge, the difference being that the scriptures held to be a valid and reliable source by Vaiśeṣikas were the Vedas.

The Vaiśeṣika school is known for its insights in naturalism,Kak, S. 'Matter and Mind: The Vaisheshika Sutra of Kanada' (2016), Mount Meru Publishing, Mississauga, Ontario, . a form of atomism in natural philosophy.Analytical philosophy in early modern India
J Ganeri, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy It postulated that all objects in the physical universe are reducible to '' paramāṇu'' (atoms), and one's experiences are derived from the interplay of substance (a function of atoms, their number and their spatial arrangements), quality, activity, commonness, particularity and inherence.Oliver Leaman, ''Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy.'' Routledge, , 1999, page 269. Everything was composed of atoms, qualities emerged from aggregates of atoms, but the aggregation and nature of these atoms was predetermined by cosmic forces. The Ājīvika and Trairāśika schools of Jainism also included a theory of atoms; however, their theories were similar to each other but different from and less developed than that of the Vaisheshika school.

According to the Vaiśeṣika school, knowledge and liberation were achievable by a complete understanding of the world of experience.

Vaiśeṣika darshana was founded by Kaṇāda Kashyapa around the 6th to 2nd century BC.

Overview

The name Vaiśeṣika derives from ''viśeṣa'', the category that represents the individuality of innumerable existing objects.

Although the Vaiśeṣika system developed independently from the Nyāya philosophy of Hinduism, the two became similar and are often studied together. However, in its classical form, the Vaiśeṣika school differed from Nyāya in a significant way: where Nyāya accepted four sources of valid knowledge, the Vaiśeṣika accepted only two.

The epistemology of Vaiśeṣika school of Hinduism accepted only two reliable means to knowledge – perception and inference.

Vaisheshika espouses a form of atomism, that the reality is composed of five substances (examples are earth, water, air, fire, and space). Each of these five are of two types, explains Ganeri: ''paramāṇu'' and composite. A paramāṇu is that which is indestructible, indivisible, and has a special kind of dimension, called "small" (aṇu). A composite is that which is divisible into paramāṇu. Whatever human beings perceive is composite, and even the smallest perceptible thing, namely, a fleck of dust, has parts, which are therefore invisible. The Vaiśeṣikas visualized the smallest composite thing as a "triad" (tryaṇuka) with three parts, each part with a "dyad" (dyaṇuka). Vaiśeṣikas believed that a dyad has two parts, each of which is an atom. Size, form, truths and everything that human beings experience as a whole is a function of parmanus, their number and their spatial arrangements.

''Parama'' means "most distant, remotest, extreme, last" and ''aṇu'' means "atom, very small particle", hence ''paramāṇu'' is essentially "the most distant or last small (i.e. smallest) particle".

Vaiśeṣika postulated that what one experiences is derived from ''dravya'' (substance: a function of atoms, their number and their spatial arrangements), ''guna'' (quality), ''karma'' (activity), ''samanya'' (commonness), ''vishesha'' (particularity) and ''samavaya'' (inherence, inseparable connectedness of everything).

The followers of this philosophy are mostly Shaivas. Acharya Haribhadra Suri, in his work ''Ṣaḍdarśanasamuccaya'' describes the followers of Vaiśeṣika as worshippers of Pashupati or Shiva.

Development

Foundational Text

The earliest systematic exposition of the Vaisheshika is found in the of (or ). Kanada is also referred to as Uluka by Ci-tsan, a Chinese Buddhist commentator. This treatise is divided into ten books.

Commentaries

The two commentaries on the , and are no more extant. ’s (c. 4th century) is the next important work of this school. Though commonly known as of , this treatise is basically an independent work on the subject. The next Vaisheshika treatise, Candra’s (648) based on ’s treatise is available only in Chinese translation. The earliest commentary available on ’s treatise is ’s (8th century). The other three commentaries are ’s (991), Udayana’s (10th century) and ’s (11th century). ’s which also belongs to the same period, presents the and the principles as a part of one whole. ’s Upaskara on is also an important work.

Metaphysics

The Categories or ''Padārtha''

According to the Vaisheshika school, all things that exist, that can be cognized and named are s (literal meaning: the meaning of a word), the objects of experience. All objects of experience can be classified into six categories, ''dravya'' (substance), (quality), ''karma'' (activity), (generality), (particularity) and (inherence). Later s ( and Udayana and ) added one more category '' abhava'' (non-existence). The first three categories are defined as ''artha'' (which can perceived) and they have real objective existence. The last three categories are defined as (product of intellectual discrimination) and they are logical categories.

# ''Dravya'' (substance): There are nine substances. They are, (earth), ''ap'' (water), ''tejas'' (fire), (air), (ether), (time), ''dik'' (space), (self or soul) and ''manas'' (mind). The first five are called s, the substances having some specific qualities so that they could be perceived by one or the other external senses.
# ''Guṇa