A History of Indian Philosophy, Volume 1

CHAPTER V ✓

BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY

1. The State of Philosophy in India before Buddha . . . . . . . 78
2. Buddha: His Life . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3. Early Buddhist Literature . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4. The Doctrine of Causal Connection in Early Buddhism This refers to Pratītyasamutpāda, the chain of causes that lead to rebirth and suffering. . . . . . 84
5. The Aggregates original: "Khandhas"—the five components (form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness) that make up a person. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6. Ignorance and Mental Defilements original: "Avijjā and Āsava"—spiritual blindness and the "taints" or "outflows" of the mind that prevent liberation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
7. Ethics and Concentration original: "Sīla and Samādhi"—moral conduct and the practice of deep meditative focus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
8. Action and Consequence original: "Kamma"—the law of moral cause and effect, more commonly known by the Sanskrit term Karma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
9. The Upanishads and Buddhism . . . . . . . . . . . 109
10. The Schools of "Way of the Elders" Buddhism original: "Theravāda Buddhism"—the oldest surviving branch of Buddhism. . . . . . . . . 112
11. The Great Vehicle original: "Mahāyānism"—a major branch of Buddhism that emphasizes the path of the Bodhisattva for the sake of all beings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
12. The Philosophy of "Suchness" by Ashvaghosa (80 A.D.) original: "Tathatā Philosophy of Aśvaghoṣa"—referring to the ultimate nature of reality as it is. . . . . . . 129
13. The Middle Way or the Doctrine of Emptiness School—Nihilism original: "Mādhyamika or the Śūnyavāda school"—a philosophy teaching that all things are empty of intrinsic existence. . . . . . 138
14. Uncompromising Idealism or the School of "Consciousness-Only" original: "Vijñānavāda Buddhism"—the school that argues reality is a product of our consciousness. . . 145
15. The Doctrine of the "Sutra-Followers" regarding Perception original: "Sautrāntika theory"—a school that relied strictly on the original scriptures (sutras). . . . . . . . . . 151
16. The Doctrine of the "Sutra-Followers" regarding Inference . . . . . . . . . 155
17. The Doctrine of Momentariness The Buddhist theory that all things exist for only a single moment. . . . . . . . . . 158
18. The Doctrine of Momentariness and the Doctrine of Functional Capacity original: "Causal Efficiency (Arthakriyākāritva)"—the idea that something is real only if it can produce an effect. . . . . . . . . . . 163
19. Some Problems of Existence original: "Ontological Problems"—questions regarding the nature of being and reality. on which the Different Indian Systems diverged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
20. Brief Survey of the Evolution of Buddhist Thought . . . . . . 166

CHAPTER VI

THE JAINA PHILOSOPHY

1. The Origin of Jainism . . . . . . . . . . . 169
2. Two Sects of Jainism Referring to the Digambara (sky-clad) and Svetambara (white-clad) traditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
3. The Canonical and other Literature of the Jains . . . . . . 171
4. Some General Characteristics of the Jains . . . . . . . 172
5. Life of Mahavira The 24th Tirthankara or great teacher of Jainism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
6. The Fundamental Ideas of Jaina Being and Reality original: "Jaina Ontology". . . . . . . . 173
7. The Doctrine of Many-Sidedness original: "Relative Pluralism (Anekāntavāda)"—the belief that truth and reality are complex and have many aspects. . . . . . 175
8. The Doctrine of Perspectives original: "Nayas"—the Jaina system of looking at reality from different points of view. . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
9. The Doctrine of Conditional Predication original: "Syādvāda"—the theory that all judgments are true only from a certain point of view (often called the "maybe" doctrine). . . . . . . . . . . . 179
/ 10. Knowledge, its value for us . . . . . . . . . . 181
11. Theory of Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
12. Non-Perceptual Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . 185
13. Knowledge as Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . 186
14. The Living Souls original: "Jīvas"—in Jainism, these are individual conscious entities found in all things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
15. Karma Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
16. Action, Influx, and Shedding original: "Karma, Āsrava and Nirjarā"—Karma is matter that attaches to the soul; Āsrava is its flow into the soul; Nirjarā is the process of removing it. . . . . . . . . . . 192
17. Matter original: "Pudgala"—in Jaina philosophy, this refers to physical substance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
18. Principles of Motion, Rest, and Space original: "Dharma, Adharma, Ākāśa"—here Dharma and Adharma are technical terms for the mediums that allow for movement and stillness. . . . . . . . . . . 197
19. Time and the Smallest Unit of Time original: "Kāla and Samaya". . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
20. Jaina View of the Universe original: "Cosmography". . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
21. Jaina Yoga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
22. Jaina Atheism The Jaina rejection of a creator god. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
23. Liberation original: "Mokṣa (emancipation)"—the soul's release from the cycle of rebirth. . . . . . . . . . . . . 207