The Darśanas
Indian philosophy is a family of rival darśanas — "ways of seeing". Six accepted the Veda (āstika); three rejected it (nāstika); others grew alongside them. Here is the family tree, and below it a map of where each school stands on the questions they argued over for two thousand years.
Where the schools stand
the doctrine matrixChoose a question to light up the schools that answer yes. Hover a column to read it; tap a school to open its page.
| School | Veda | Means of knowledge | The self | God | The world | Causation | Liberation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| न्यायNyāyac. 2nd c. BCE → | accepts | PICTAN | Many eternal selves; consciousness is a quality they acquire | A creator God (Īśvara) — the efficient cause, provable by inference | Real, independent of minds | Effect is new (asatkāryavāda) | Absolute cessation of pain — the self without experience |
| वैशेषिकVaiśeṣikac. 2nd c. BCE → | accepts | PICTAN | Many eternal, all-pervading selves | Early: not stressed; later: God moves the atoms | Real — built from atoms | Effect is new (asatkāryavāda) | The self freed of all specific qualities |
| सांख्यSāṃkhyac. 500 BCE → | accepts | PICTAN | Many pure, inactive consciousnesses (puruṣa) | No creator needed | Real — the evolution of nature (prakṛti) | Effect pre-exists in cause (satkāryavāda) | Isolation (kaivalya) — consciousness sees it was never bound |
| योगYogac. 200 BCE–400 CE → | accepts | PICTAN | Many pure consciousnesses (the "seer") | Īśvara — a special self, a teacher and object of devotion, not a creator | Real — nature with its guṇas | Effect pre-exists in cause (satkāryavāda) | Kaivalya through samādhi and discrimination |
| मीमांसाMīmāṃsāc. 300 BCE → | accepts | PICTAN | Many eternal selves | No creator; the Veda needs no author | Real and beginningless | Unseen potency (apūrva) carries action to its fruit | At first heaven; later the exhaustion of karma |
| वेदान्तVedāntac. 200 BCE → | accepts | PICTAN | Related to Brahman — how, the sub-schools disagree | Brahman — the source of the world | Disputed: appearance or real | Brahman is the cause | Knowing or loving Brahman |
| अद्वैतAdvaitac. 700 → | accepts | PICTAN | One Self — identical with Brahman | Īśvara real only at the level of appearance; Brahman is beyond qualities | Appearance (māyā) — neither real nor unreal | Apparent transformation (vivartavāda) | Realising one was always Brahman — possible while alive |
| विशिष्टाद्वैतViśiṣṭādvaitac. 1100 → | accepts | PICTAN | Many real selves — modes of God, distinct yet inseparable | Viṣṇu–Nārāyaṇa — personal, full of good qualities | Real — God’s body | Real transformation (pariṇāma) | Eternal loving service of God in Vaikuṇṭha, by grace |
| द्वैतDvaitac. 1250 → | accepts | PICTAN | Many selves, eternally distinct from God and graded by nature | Viṣṇu — alone independent; efficient (not material) cause | Real | God shapes eternal matter | Bliss according to one’s nature, by God’s grace — not for all |
| चार्वाकCārvākac. 600 BCE → | rejects | PICTAN | The self is the living body | None | Real — only the four elements | Things happen by their own nature (svabhāva) | None — death is the end |
| जैनJainismc. 600 BCE → | rejects | PICTAN | Infinite eternal souls (jīva) in all living things | No creator; the perfected souls are worshipped as models | Real and uncreated | Many-sided — permanence and change together | The soul, freed of karmic matter, rises to the top of the universe |
| बौद्धBuddhismc. 450 BCE → | rejects | PICTAN | No permanent self (anātman) — a stream of processes | No creator | Dependently arisen — the schools differ | Dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda) | Nirvāṇa — the fires of greed, hatred and delusion go out |
| थेरवादTheravāda / Abhidharmac. 250 BCE → | rejects | PICTAN | No self — momentary dharmas | No creator | Real as momentary dharmas | Dependent origination; momentariness | Nirvāṇa — the arhat is not reborn |
| मध्यमकMadhyamakac. 150 → | rejects | PICTAN | Empty — like everything | No creator | Empty — real only conventionally | Dependent origination = emptiness | Seeing emptiness — saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are not two |
| योगाचारYogācārac. 350 → | rejects | PICTAN | No self — a stream of consciousness | No creator | Constructed by consciousness | Seeds in the storehouse ripen as experience | The "turning of the basis" — consciousness becomes wisdom |
| त्रिकKashmir Śaivismc. 850 → | accepts | PICTAN | One consciousness — Śiva contracted into many | Śiva — consciousness itself, freely manifesting the world | Real — Śiva’s self-expression | Free manifestation (ābhāsa) | Recognition (pratyabhijñā): "I am Śiva" |
| भक्तिBhaktic. 550 → | accepts | PICTAN | The soul as lover of God | Personal God — with form (saguṇa) or beyond form (nirguṇa) | God’s play (līlā) | God’s will and grace | Love of God — often preferred even to liberation |
Means of knowledge: P Perception (pratyakṣa)I Inference (anumāna)C Comparison (upamāna)T Testimony (śabda)A Postulation (arthāpatti)N Non-perception (anupalabdhi)
Reading the map
The classical pairs are pairs for a reason. Nyāya supplied the logic and Vaiśeṣika the inventory of what exists; Sāṃkhya gave the theory and Yoga the practice; Mīmāṃsā read the Veda's commands and Vedānta its teaching about Brahman. The orthodox and the heterodox were never sealed off from each other: Gauḍapāda borrowed from Buddhist emptiness, Udayana wrote his proofs of God against Dharmakīrti, and the Jains' many-sidedness was an answer to everyone at once.
Two questions divide the map most sharply. Is there a permanent self? Every āstika school and the Jains say yes; the Buddhists say no, and the Cārvākas say the self is the body. Is the world real? Most say yes; Advaita says it is an appearance of Brahman, Madhyamaka that it is empty, Yogācāra that it is constructed by consciousness.