Page:Monier Monier-Williams - Indian Wisdom.djvu/99

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LECTURE III.

The Systems of Philosophy.

I must now advert in a general way to the six systems of philosophy which grew out of the Upanishads. They are sometimes called the six Śāstras or bodies of teaching, sometimes the Shaḍ Darśanas or six Demonstrations. They are—

1. The Nyāya, founded by Gotama.

2. The Vaiśeshika, by Kaṇāda.

3. The Sān·khya, by Kapila.

4. The Yoga, by Pataṅjali.

5. The Mīmāṉsā, by Jaimini.

6. The Vedānta, by Bādarāyaṇa or Vyāsa.

They are delivered in Sūtras or aphorisms, which are held to be the basis of all subsequent teaching under each head^[1].

It is as impossible however to settle the date of any of them with certainty as it is to determine the period of the

↑ These Sūtras are often so brief and obscure as to be absolutely unintelligible without a commentary. They are commonly called 'aphorisms,' but really are mere memorial suggestions of the briefest possible kind, skilfully contrived for aiding the recollection of the teachers of each system. Probably the first to comment upon the Sūtras thus delivered was the author of them himself. He was followed by a vast number of other commentators in succeeding generations (generally a triple set), and by writers who often embodied in treatises or compendiums of their own the tenets of the particular school to which they were attached. The most celebrated of all commentators is the great S′an·kara Āćarya, a native of Malabar, who lived probably between 650 and 740 A. D., and wrote almost countless works, including commentaries on the Upanishads, Vedānta-sūtras, and Bhagavad-gītā.

[1] These Sūtras are often so brief and obscure as to be absolutely unintelligible without a commentary. They are commonly called 'aphorisms,' but really are mere memorial suggestions of the briefest possible kind, skilfully contrived for aiding the recollection of the teachers of each system. Probably the first to comment upon the Sūtras thus delivered was the author of them himself. He was followed by a vast number of other commentators in succeeding generations (generally a triple set), and by writers who often embodied in treatises or compendiums of their own the tenets of the particular school to which they were attached. The most celebrated of all commentators is the great S′an·kara Āćarya, a native of Malabar, who lived probably between 650 and 740 A. D., and wrote almost countless works, including commentaries on the Upanishads, Vedānta-sūtras, and Bhagavad-gītā.

[1]