मञ्जुश्रीः वैशेषिके २०२१

Source: TW

History

  • Oldest text of Vaiseșikasutra-s is Maharşi Kanāda’s Vaišeşikasutra (approx. 200 B.C.E).
    • Kaņāda = kanān atti; kaņāda iti tasya kāpotim vrttim anutistato rathya-nipatitāṁs-tandulakanān ādāya pratyaham kitähära-nimittä samjñā
    • Ulūka = owl; munaye kaņādāya svayam iśvarah ulūkarūpadhāri pratyakşībhūya dravya-guna-karma-samanya-višeşa-samavāya-laksanam padārtha-satkam upadideśa. Tada nu maharşih lokānukampayā satpadārtha-rahasya-prapancanaparāņi sūtrāni rachayāncakāra

Lost commentaries: vAkya, bhAShya etc..

The principle works of Vaiseșika are:

  1. Prasastapāda (c. 500-600), author of Padārtha-dharma-samgraha - Independent text
  • Vyomasiva (c.800), Vyomavati
  • Śrīdhara (c.991), Nyāyakandali [Commentaries on Padārthadharmasamgraha)
  • Udayana (c.1000), Kiranavali
  • Śankaramiśra (c.1400) Kanādarahasya
  1. Śankaramiśra (c.1400) Upaskāra - Commentary on original Vaiseșikasutra-s

2 other commentaries precede Upaskāra.

Adapted into navya-nyAya.

Goal

yad iha bhāvarūpam, tat sarvar mayā upasamkhyātavyam
(I shall enumerate everything in this world that has a character of being)

  • Vyomaćiva

For the Vaišeşika, the world can be reduced to six fundamental categories/padārtha-s – dravya, guņa, karma, sāmānya, višesa, and samavāya

padArtha characteristics - existance (astiva), language (abhidheyatva) and cognidtion (jneyatva).

dharma-dharmin view

The Vaišeşika-s describe the structure of the world in terms of dharma-dharmin (property and property-possessor). Examples

  • Fire on a Mountain: Fire = Dharma (property); Mountain = Dharmin (property possessor)
  • 2 - Pen in Hand: Pen = Dharma (property); Hand = Dharmin (property possessor)
  • 3 - Blue Pen: Blue Colour = Dharma (property); Pen = Dharmin (property possessor)
  • 4 - Rolling Red Ball: Red Colour + Motion (rolling) = Dharma(property); Ball = Dharmin (property possessor)
  • 5 - Consider the sentence, śabdaḥ anityah (Sound is impermanent) This maybe re-written as śabde anityatvam (There is impermanence in sound). Or sabdah anityatvavan (Sound is a possessor of impermanence) - Vaišeșika option

Theory of Causation

(asatkārya-vāda, आरम्भवाद):

  1. kārya does not pre-exist in kārana.
  2. kārya and käraņa are essentially different entities. Pot is not just an aggregate of its parts - it has an additional unique identity.
  3. kārya and karana are inseparably tied together by the relation of inherence(samavāya)
  • In Vaiśesika, every composite object is called kärya (effect).
  • It has three käraņa-s (causes): samavāyī kāraṇa, asamavāyī kārana and nimitta kārana
  • (1) Inherent Cause (samavāyi kārana)
    • An entity X is said to be the ‘inherent’ cause of an effect Y, if Y, as soon as it is produced, inheres in X, i.e. if the relation known as inherence (samavāya) obtains between X and Y.
    • Eg: The cloth (Y) that is woven out of some threads (X) inheres in those threads as soon as it is produced, and those threads are also the causes of this particular piece of cloth. Therefore, the constituent threads of a cloth are the ‘inherent’ causes of that cloth.
    • CLOTH (effect) - relation of inherence (samavāya) - threads (inherent cause)
  • (2) Non-inherent Cause (a-samaväyi käraņa)
    • The non-inherent cause of an effect co-exists with the effect in the same locus through the relation known as ‘inherence’.
    • Let the entity A (threads) be the inherent cause of the entity B (cloth). Now, the entity C (contact) will be regarded as the ’non-inherent’ cause of B (cloth) if it is the case that
      • (i) C is the cause of B; and
      • (ii) at the same time an entity in which both B and C inhere (threads)
    • (effect) CLOTH - inherence - THREADS; also, CONTACT (cause) - inherence - THREADS.
      • saMyoga = contact is a guNa.
  • (3) Instrumental Cause (nimitta kārana)

Dravya

Dravya is often wrongly translated as “substance”. Definition of substance:

  1. the concrete individual, a thing, an entity, an object of the world
  2. a core of essential properties
  3. what is capable of independent existence
  4. a centre of change
  5. a substratum
  6. a logical subject

Dravya is the independent, uncreated, eternal “substratum” that supports all the other categories. It cannot be a dharma of any other category.

It is of 9 types: prthvi - ap- tejas - vāyu - ākāśa - dik - kāla - ātman - manas

Atoms

  • Prthvi - ap-tejas - vāyu are in the form of atoms : indivisible, of the dimension, “anu”, eternal.

Each of the atoms possess certain properties:

  • earth : odour taste colour touch
  • water : taste colour touch
  • fire : colour touch
  • air: touch

Atoms are the building blocks of matter; they combine in geometric progression to form the phenomenal world that we see.

Therefor, in Vaišeşika, creation = combining of atoms; destruction = dissolution of this combination (of atoms).

Why posit the theory of atoms?

Ananta-karanair ārabdha-golaka-rūpā prthivī tathā ghātādi-kāryam apīty ekākāratā-prasangah.

Both pot and mountain would be “euqal”, being made up of infinite parts.

Creation theory

At the beginning of a new creation cycle, the atoms are first set-into motion by the divine will of iśvara (for the sake of jIva-s). This results in the combining of two atoms to create a new product known as a dyad (dvyaņuka). Thereafter, three dyads combine to form a triad (tryanuka) (this is the smallest visible form of matter); subsequently, four triads join to form a tetrad (caturanuka), and the creation of gross bodies takes place in geometric progression.

prashastapAda: After creation of fire, hiraNyagarbha. In hiraNyagarbha, Ishvara creates brahma and assigns creation duty.

Inference of dravya-s

Start off with some quality / guNa. Find a substratum for it.

AkAsha

Not space here! Äkāśa is a technical term in Vaišeşika-its only function is to facilitate the propagation of sound (a type of “field”). It is eternal, infinite and all pervading.

Wave

Propagation of sound is in the form of “waves” - sabda-santāna/vicīsantāna.

(Everytime-) The first sound of the sabda-santāna is produced by an external energy but the following ones are produced by the propagation of that energy.

Dik

Dik maybe translated as “space” that possesses two properties - distance and direction. It is eternal, infinite and all-pervading.

Kāla

Kāla (time) is the infinite, eternal, static background against which events happen, and from which events derive their chronological order. A type of field that connects various other particles with the sun. Time of an event is then defined by the state of solar motion “connected” with that event.

Atman

Inference

to postulate ātman

Let

Cx = x is a cognition ;

Qx = x is a quality ;
Sx = x belongs to a substance;

Ex = x belongs to earth;
Wx = x belongs to water;
Fx = x belongs to fire ;
Ax = x belongs to air ;
Kx = x belongs to akasa;
IX = x belongs to space ;
Tx = x belongs to time;
Mx = x belongs to inner sense ;
Nx = x belongs to an additional ninth substance called the self

Then,

(x)(Cx ⊂ Qx) and (x)(Qx ⊂ Sx)

Cognition does not belong to any other substance - so belongs to Atman.

Properties

By itself Atman is unconscious. In contact with mind, it experiences cognition.

According to Vaišeșika, Self is:

  • A type of dravya -> therefore it is eternal, uncreated
  • Infinite in number, all-pervasive in nature, tied to individual body-mind through karma
  • By nature, not conscious - in the liberated state, Self sheds all awareness

Ishvara

Ishvara is a paramAtman - eternally conscious, eternal knowledge. No pain or pleasure.

According to Vaišeşika, īśvara is a “special type of Self”

  • => dravya
  • eternal, uncreated
  • Eternally conscious
  • Possesses perfect, eternal, universal knowledge
  • Can desire and will, but does not undergo pain/pleasure
  • Instrumental cause of the Universe

manas

According to Vaiśesika, manas is an instrument of attention; it is atomic in size, eternal, and facilitates cognition to arise in ātman. It is directed by the Atman to get data from (external or internal) sense organs - so, an intermediary organ. It is like a ball thrown by a boy sitting in a room. Atomic size ensures that the self is not overwhelmed.

Attention is different from awareness. Attention (sending of mind to fetch data) is prior to awareness. Debated by bauddhas.

guNa

  • Guņa is wrongly translated as “qualities”. It is a technical term - it is an “unrepeatable” entity which has a dravya for its substratum. So black color in object A is different from black color in object B.

Vaiśeşika-s accept 24 guna-s. They are as follows:
(1) Colour (2) Taste (3) Smell (4) Touch (5) Number (6) Contact (7) Disjunction (8) Farness (9) Nearness (10) Dimension (11) Separateness (12) Cognition (13) Pleasure (14) Frustration (15) Desire (16) Hatred (17) Effort (18) Weight (19) Fluidity (20) Viscosity (21) Dispositional tendency (22) Dharma (23) Adharma (24) Sound

Color

  • Rūpa, or colour, is what enables perception (by eyes).
  • The atoms of water can possess only one colour, abhāsvara-sukla-rupa; the atoms of fire can possess only one colour, bhāsvara-sukla-rupa; the atoms of prthvi may have many different colours, white (sukla), blue/black (nīla), yellow (pita), red (rakta), green (harita), tawny (kapisa) and variegated (citra).
  • Colour of a composite object is the resultant of the colour of its parts.

(effect) COLOR (OF CLOTH) inhers in - CLOTH (cause) which inhers in THREADS, which in inhered by COLOR (OF THREADS), the cause.

Motion (karma)

  • Motion is of five types, four volitional (throwing upwards, throwing downwards, contraction, expansion) and the fifth comprising all non-volitional motion (including falling, rotating, flowing, etc.)

Causes

  • Weight (gurutva) is the non-inherent cause of the initial falling motion of a body.
  • Fluidity (dravatya) is the non-inherent cause of initial) flowing.
  • ‘Impetus’ is the non-inherent cause of the second and subsequent falling motions of a body. Caused by the prior motion.
  • Elasticity is that which restores something to its original state after it has been distorted.
  • adṛṣṭa - magnetism, upward movement of flame…

Examples

  • Example: Fruit falling from a tree
    • (1) At time t0, fruit is stationary at place, so.
    • (2) At t1, weight of the fruit causes stalk to break, and the fruit moves to s1.
    • (3) At t2, fruit moves from s1 to s2 because of ‘impetus’ produced by the initial motion.
    • (4) Subsequent motions are produced by ‘impetus’ until it is restored to ‘rest’ by ’elasticity’
  • Example: A javelin thrown obliquely upwards
    • (1) At t1, javelin moves to place s1 due to initial external force.
    • (2) The upward force counteracts the javelin’s weight and causes its upwards motion. When this impetus is exhausted by contact with the air, the javelin’s weight imparts a downwards impetus and the javelin falls.

Universals (सामान्य)

  • A real universal is an entity that is one (unitary, indivisible), eternal (timeless, indestructible), and present in many by a single unitary relation called ‘inherence’ . (samavāya)
    • Even if there are no chairs in the world, chariness exists. Like Platonic ideal realm.
  • Substratum - dravya, guNa or karma
  • In Vaišeşika, a blue-pot will be explained like this:
    • “An instance of blue (a particular blue-occurrence) is located or resident in another particular (a pot substance) while the blue-universal resides in the blue-instance (the quality-particular) and the pot-universal resides in the particular pot.”
  • Only natural classifications are classification are treated as real universals (jāti/sämānya).
  • The properties which do not correspond to “natural” categories are treated as imposed properties (upādhi). Eg. fatherhood of a man.

The real universals are connected with their particular instances that ‘manifest’ them. This connection is said to be a single, unitary relation, a real relation called ‘inherence’ (samavāya).

6 Jātibādhaka-s

6 Jātibādhaka-s are as follow:

(1) Vyatireka-bheda (’non-plurality’) - a genuine universal must be plurally instantiated;

  • Eg. AkAshatva is not a jAti

(2) Tulyatva (’equipollence’) - two co-extensive properties cannot both be genuine universals;

  • If P and Q are distinct properties, then (equipollence, tulyatva): [P] = [Q] → either P or Q (or both) is not a universal, The contraposed form is: P and Q are universals → [P] != [Q].
  • Eg. ghaTatva, kalashatva

(3) Samkara (‘cross-connection’) - two genuine universals must not partially overlap;

If P and Q are distinct properties, then, [P] partially overlaps [Q] → either P or Q (or both) is not a universal.

The contraposed form is: P and Q are universals → [P] ⊂ [Q] or [P] ⊂ [Q] or [P] ∩ [Q] = 0.

Eg. bhUtatva (pRthvi Ap tejas vAyu AkAsha) and mUrtatva (pRthvi Ap tejas vAyu)

(4) Anavasthā - ‘regress’ - a property like universality cannot itself be a universal;

(5) Rūpahāni - a property like differentia-hood (visheShatva) cannot be a genuine universal

(6) Asambandha - a property like inherence-hood (sAmAnyatva) cannot be a universal, since it does not inhere in its loci.

Visesa

The Vaiseșika accept into their ontology a category called ‘basic differentia’ (visesa).

  • This unique category resides in the nitya-dravya, functions as their differentiators.

Samavāya

The different categories of Vaiśesika are tied together through an inseparable relation called as “samavāya”.

There are five instances of samavāya:

  • (1) Inseparable relation between guna & dravya
  • (2) Inseparable relation between karma & dravya
  • (3) Inseparable relation between universal & particular
  • (4) Inseparable relation between avayavin & its avayavas
  • (5) Inseparable relation between višeşa & nitya-dravya

Blue pen samavāyas:

  • Blue pen - part 1 of pen, part 2 of pen
  • part 2 of pen - blue-color in it
  • blue color in part 2 - blueness
  • blue color in part 2 - colorness
  • Blue pen - blue-color in it
  • Blue pen - penness

Blue pen saMyogas (contact, a guNa) - between parts of the pen.