Samkhya and Buddhism

[virtue121]

Does anyone have any information on the relation between Samkhya and Buddhism?

No I'm sorry to say,
Samkhya is a Hindu style religion yes?

[The Cobbler's Apprentice]

Originally Posted by Eelco

No I'm sorry to say,
Samkhya is a Hindu style religion yes?

There seems to be plenty of easily accessible information on the net with minimal googling. (I'd never heard of Samkhya)

[Antilope]

Ask your Guru.

In the wiki it say it's a dualistic school, I only know of a non-dual branch with is vajrayana buddhism....

[virtue121]

As I understand it Samkhya, also known as Sankhya is the oldest of the 6 schools of Hindu philosophy.

It is dualistic believing in Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (matter). These 2 are co-eternal. Every being is an eternal Purusha.

There is some similarity with Jainism.

As it is the oldest school it may have survived the past golden age. Where as other later philosophies came in during the descending Yugas where there are errors.

As I heard it some of the Buddha's teachers were Samkhya people.

I like the neti neti practice whereby we say not this, not this, gradually giving up false identifications and realizing that we are pure consciousness only.

Neti neti makes sense with the dualistic Samkhya but not so well with Advaita school etc.

Thank you for clearing that up.
In Buddhism consciousness and matter are dependent on specific causes.
With the cessation of those causes. Consciousness and Matter will no longer rise. I.e. what the Buddha calls the deathless.

Neti neti points to the Buddhist doctrine of the 3 perceptions which states that every experiential phenomenon can be seen as is impermanent, A cause for dukkha(suffering) and it is not-self. (me or mine) In that sense, it is unworthy of craving it again and should be given up. It is not the path to the end of dukkha.
I've read that many of the Buddha's followers were originally Samkhya people.

[virtue121]

Originally Posted by Eelco

Thank you for clearing that up.
In Buddhism consciousness and matter are dependent on specific causes.
With the cessation of those causes. Consciousness and Matter will no longer rise. I.e. what the Buddha calls the deathless.

Neti neti points to the Buddhist doctrine of the 3 perceptions which states that every experiential phenomenon can be seen as is impermanent, A cause for dukkha(suffering) and it is not-self. (me or mine) In that sense, it is unworthy of craving it again and should be given up. It is not the path to the end of dukkha.
I've read that many of the Buddha's followers were originally Samkhya people.

I agree that many of Buddha's followers were originally Samkhya people. Although I believe that he gained insight from the Samkhya philosophy which helped him achieve enlightenment.

By the time of the Buddha the ancient Samkhya philosophy had fallen somewhat into decay due to the downturn of the Yugas.

So the Buddha's fresh insights were helpful and may have corrected some errors.

However after originally studying Buddhism I then found Samkhya and it seems logical.

The Purusha is each our center, our true nature as pure unchanging witness. As it is unchanging it means that it is not subject to time. It is beyond both creation and destruction.

Prakriti is 100% unconscious and is the substratum of all matter/energy. Again this is eternal. No matter/energy process can have created it nor can destroy it as it is their foundation.

Purusha/consciousness as pure witness also cannot have created it because pure witness is unchanging and not creative.

So if neither created the other then it means that they are co-eternal.

The only other factor is eternal truth such as the infinite number of eternal mathematical facts and all other transcendental unchanging truths.

So what are the cause that you say is the cause of consciousness and matter?

Is not the Nirvana state a state of natural bliss? This means that there is a witness. If there were no Experiencer then there could be no bliss.

The 'deathless' state is the pure Purusha/consciousness free from false identifications with Prakriti.


Let me know your thoughts on this, cheers

Originally Posted by virtue121

So what are the cause that you say is the cause of consciousness and matter?

In the study of dependent co-arising, the base would be ignorance.

With that said it seems that consciousness rises by way of contact with matter, which then leaves a perception of the contact that is made. Say my eye makes contact(sees) a tree. Consciousness of the tree was non-existent before that contact. In that way would matter or at least fabrications create consciousness.

In my mind matter and consciousness give birth to each other in some perpetual cycle until we escape samsara.

Finally, found the Sutta that describes how name and form(matter) and consciousness give rise to each other. I knew I had read it before, just couldn't remember where.

It's from the Maha Nidana Sutta.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/DN/DN15.html

“If one is asked, ‘Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for name-&-form?’ one should answer, ‘There is.’
“If one is asked, ‘From what requisite condition does name-&-form come?’ one should say, ‘Name-&-form comes from consciousness as its requisite condition.’
“If one is asked, ‘Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for consciousness?’ one should answer, ‘There is.’
“If one is asked, ‘From what requisite condition does consciousness come?’ one should say, ‘Consciousness comes from name-&-form as its requisite condition.’
“Thus, Ānanda, from name-&-form as a requisite condition comes consciousness. From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-&-form. From name-&-form as a requisite condition comes contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging. From clinging as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, aging-&-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair come into play. Such is the origination of this entire mass of stress.

@Virtue21 You may find the notes at the end of the linked sutta interesting with regards to sourced differences between early Buddhism and the various Vedic and non-Vedic beliefs around the Self etc, in the time of the Buddha

[ajay00]

Originally Posted by virtue121

Does anyone have any information on the relation between Samkhya and Buddhism?

Sankhya means number in sanskrit.

It is the Sankhya and Shunyata philosophies in Hinduism and Buddhism that provided the philosophical conceptions for the numeral system and zero respectively.

The number system and mathematics originated in India and was studied by the Arabs and Europeans later on, which replaced the roman numeral system in europe, and revolutionised modern science and technology to its present levels.