topics: |  india | philosophy |

Radhakrishnan was born to a poor telugu-speaking brahmin couple in the temple town of Tirutani, eighty km north of Madras. His ancestors had moved from the village of Sarvepalli in the middle of the 18th c. His mother Sitamma was a fiery woman. As the second child, he was very different from his siblings - and very strong academically. So much so, his biographer-son tells us, that it was widely rumoured in the village that his father may have been a vaishnavite official known to her brother.

	Credence is lent to the story by the difficulty
	in believing that Radhakrishnan and his four
	brothers and sister belonged to the same genetic
	pool.  Intellectual endowment and physical
	appearance both suggested that Radhakrishnan
	belonged to different stock.  Radhakrishnan
	himself accepted this version and, critical of
	his mother's conduct, always, throughout her
	long life, kept her at a distance. But he was
	attached to the man who passed for his father.
		- Sarvepalli Gopal, Radhakrishnan, A biography, p. 10

Radhakrishnan was educated in a series of Christian missionary schools.
From 1896 to 1900, he was at the Hermansburg Evangelical Luther Mission
School at Tirupati.  But here he often played truant and was then sent to
the Voorhees' College, Vellore, where a distant uncle was a teacher
(1901-4).  Radhakrishnan was exposed to the Christian criticisms against
Hinduism, and was much influenced by the writings of Swami Vivekananda,
which he often read clandestinely, along with other writings such as
Savarkar's polemical work on 1857.

Later, Radhakrishnan would describe his interest in Indian philosophy as an
attempt to meet the Christian criticism, arising in the era of nationalism.
When he started his studies in Philosophy, the subject of Indian Philosophy
was not a part of the B.A. or M.A. curriculum at Madras University.
Writing in 1937, Radhakrishnan notes that "even to-day Indian philosophy
forms a very minor part of philosophical studies in Indian Universities."

In this atmosphere, Radhakrishnan took up his "study of Hinduism" to find
out his own answers to the Christian criticisms of Hindu practices.  Of
course, it was also a period of intense nationalist fervour among educated
Indians...

Radhakrishnan writes about his M.A. at the Madras Christian College:

	I prepared a thesis on the Ethics of tke Vedanta, which was intended
	to be a reply to the charge that the Vedanta system had no room for
	ethics.  At the time (1908) when I was only a young student of
	twenty, the publication of a book with my name on the title-page
	excited me a great deal though now, when I look back upon the
	juvenile and rhetorical production, I am ashamed that I ever wrote
	it. My great surprise, however, was that my distinguished teacher,
	Professor A. G. Hogg, the present Principal of the Madras Christian
	College, a thinker of great penetration in theological matters,
	awarded me a testimonial, which I still treasure, in which he
	expressed himself thus: "The thesis which he prepared in the second
	year of his study for this degree shows a remarkable understanding of
	the main aspects of the philosophical problem, a capacity for
	handling easily a complex argument besides more than the average
	mastery of good English."
		from Vergilius Ferm, Religion in Transition 1937

Subsequently he published a book titled "The reign of religions" (1920), 
and brought out this work in 1923. 

a friendlier god?

An interesting point highlighted by Radhakrishnan is that Gods in India are
closer to the devotee - they are friends, they are lovers, they are the
near and dear.  In contrast, in the judeo-christian gods seem to be distant
and vengeful.  zeus is bent upon destroying the human race, and prometheus
and hercules have to defend mankind against the divine vengeance.  "the
main tendency of western culture is an opposition between man and god,"
whereas

	in india man is a product of god. the whole world is due to the
	sacrifice of god. the puruSa sUkta speaks of such an eternal
	sacrifice which sustains man and the world.  in it the whole world is
	pictured as one single being of incomparable vastness and immensity,
	animated by one spirit, including within its substance all forms of
	life.  p.41

Excerpts

indian philosophy - not solely driven by religion

it is untrue to say that philosophy in india never became
self-conscious or critical. even in its early stages rational
reflection tended to correct religious belief. witness the advance of
religion implied in the progress from the hymns of the veda to the
upaniSads. when we come to buddhism, the philosophic spirit has already
become that confident attitude of mind which in intellectual matters
bends to no outside authority and recognises no limit to its
enterprise, unless it be as the result of logic, which probes all
things, tests all things, and follows fearlessly wherever the argument
leads.  when we reach the several darsanas or systems of thought, we
have mighty and persistent efforts at systematic thinking.  how
completely free from traditional religion and bias the systems are will
be obvious from the fact that the sAMkhya is silent about the existence
of god, though certain about its theoretical indemonstrability.
vaiseSika and yoga, while they admit a supreme being, do not consider
him to be the creator of the universe, and jaimini refers to god only
to deny his providence and moral government of the world.  the early
buddhist systems are known to be indifferent to god, and we have also
the materialist carvakas, who deny god, ridicule the priests, revile
the vedas and seek salvation in pleasure. p.27

is the indian god "friendlier" than in the west?

there is a cordial harmony between god and man in indian thought,
while the opposition between the two is more marked in the west. p.41

the myth of prometheus, the representative man, who helps mankind by
defending them against zeus, who wants to destroy the human
race... the conception of christ as the son of man, indicate that
man is the centre of attention in the west. it is true that christ
is also called the son of god, the eldest begotten who is to be
sacrificed before a just god's anger can be appeased. our point here
is that the main tendency of western culture is an opposition
between man and god, where man resists the might of god, steals fire
from him in the interests of humanity.

in india man is a product of god. the whole world is due to the
sacrifice of god. the puruSa sUkta speaks of such an eternal
sacrifice which sustains man and the world.
[R.V., x. 90;  also RV., X. 81]
in it the whole world is pictured as one single being of
incomparable vastness and immensity, animated by one spirit,
including within its substance all forms of life.  p.41

saMkara: four pre-requisites for a student of philosophy

saMkara. in his commentary on the first sUtra of the vedanta sUtras,
makes out that four conditions are essential for any student of
philosophy.

1.  a knowledge of the distinction between the eternal and the
    non-eternal.

    this does not mean full knowledge, which can come only at the
    end, but only a metaphysical bent which does not accept all it
    sees to be absolutely real, a questioning tendency in the
    inquirer. ...

2. the subjugation of the desire for the fruits of action either in
    the present life or a future one.

    this demands the renunciation of all petty desire, personal
    motive and practical interest. speculation or inquiry to the
    reflective mind is its own end. ...  the philosopher must tand
    outside of life and look on it. so it is said that he must have
    no love of the present or the future.

3. the student [must] acquire tranquillity, self-restraint,
    renunciation.  patience, peace of mind and faith. [related to
    the subjugation of desire above]

    only a trained mind which utterly controls the body can inquire
    and meditate endlessly. ... the seeker after truth is required
    to undergo hard discipline, spurn pleasure, suffer sorrow and
    contempt. a spiritual discipline which includes pitiless
    self-examination will enable the seeker to reach his end of
    freedom.

4. the desire for mokSa or release.

    the metaphysically minded man who has given up all his desires
    and trained his mind has only one devouring desire to achieve
    the end or reach the eternal.

broad divisions (periods) of indian philosophy

1. the vedic period (1500 b.c.-600 b.c.)

covers the age of the settlement of the aryans and the gradual
expanison and spread of the aryan culture and civilisation. it was
the time which witnessed the rise of the forest universities, where
were evolved the beginnings of the sublime idealism of india.

we discern in it successive strata of thought, signified by the
mantras or the hymns, the brAhmaNas, and the upaniSads.

the views put forward in this age are not philosophical in the
technical sense of the term. it is the age of groping, where
superstition and thought are yet in conflict. yet to give order and
continuity to the subject, it is necessary for us to begin with an
account of the outlook of the hymns of the rg-veda and discuss the
views of the upaniSads.

2. the epic period (600 b.c. to a.d. 200)

extends over the development between the early upaniSads and the
darshanas or the systems of philosophy. the epics of the rAmAyaNa
and the mahAbhArata serve as the vehicles through which was conveyed
the new message of the heroic and the godly in human relations. in
this period we have also the great democratisation of the upaniSad
ideas in buddhism and the bhagavadgItA. the religious systems of
buddhism, jainism, shaivism, vaiSnavism belong to this age.

the development of abstract thought which culminated in the
schools of indian philosophy, the darshanas, belongs to this
period. most of the systems had their early beginnings about the
period of the rise of buddhism, and they developed side by side
through many centuries; yet the systematic works of the schools
belong to a later age.

3. the sUtra period (from a.d. 200)

[sUtra = aphorism]

the mass of material grew so unwieldy that it was found necessary to
devise a shorthand scheme of philosophy. this reduction and
summarisation occurred in the form of sUtras.
[or was this condensation not prompted also by the compulsions of
the oral tradition?]

these sUtras are unintelligible without commentaries, so much so
that the latter have become more important than the sutras
themselves. here we have the critical attitude in philosophy
developed.

in the preceding periods we have philosophical discussions, no
doubt. where the mind did not passively receive whatever it was
told, but played round the subject, raising objections and answering
them. by happy intuition the thinkers pitch upon some general
principles which seem to the.m to explain all aspects of the
universe.

the philosophical syntheses, however profound and acute they may be,
suffered throughout from the defect of being pre-critical, in the
kantian sense of the term. without a previous criticism of the human
capacity to solve philosophical problems, the mind looked at the
world and reached its conclusions. the earlier efforts to understand
and interpret the world were not strictly philosophical attempts,
since they were not troubled by any scruples about the competence of
the human mind or the efficiency of the instruments and the criteria
employed. as caird puts it, mind was "too busy with the object to
attend to itself." [ [Critical Philosophty of Kant v.1 p.2]

so when we come to the sUtras we have thought and reflection become
self-conscious, and not merely constructive imagination and
religious freedom.

among the systems themselves, we cannot say definitely which are
earlier and which later.  there are cross-references throughout. the
yoga accepts the sAMkhya, the vaisheSika recognises both the nyAya
and the sAMkhya. nyAya refers to the vedAnta and the sAMkhya.
mImAMsA directly or indirectly recognises the pre-existence of all
others. so does the vedAnta. professor garbe holds that the
sarllkhya is the oldest school. next came yoga, next mImAMsA and
vedAnta, and last of all vaisheSika and nyAya.

4. the scholastic period (from 2nd c. AD)

it is to this period that the great names of kumArila, saMkara,
sridhara, rAmAnuja, mAdhva, vAcaspati, udayana, bhAskara, jayanta,
vijn~anabhikSu and raghunAtha belong.

the literature soon becomes grossly polemical. we find a brood of
schoolmen, noisy controversialists indulging in over-subtle theories
and fine-spun arguments, who fought fiercely over the nature of
logical universals. many indian scholars dread opening their tomes
which more often confuse than enlighten us. ... instead of thought
we find words, instead of philosophy logic-chopping.  obscurity of
thought, subtlety of logic, intolerance of disposition, mark the
worst type of the commentators.

the better type, of course, are quite as valuable as the ancient
thinkers themselves. commentators like saMkara and rAmAnuja re-state
the old doctrine, and their restatement is just as valuable as a
spiritual discovery.

indian commentaries on philosophy

there are some histories of indian philosophy written by indian
thinkers. almost all later commentators from their own points of
view discuss other doctrines. in that way every commentator happens
to give an idea of the other views. sometimes conscious attempts are
made to deal with the several systems in a continuous manner. some
of the chief of these "historical" accounts may here be mentioned.

* SaDdarshanasamuccaya: (the epitome of the six systems), by
  haribhadra.

* AptamImAMsA, said to be the work of samantabhadra, a digambara
  jain of the sixth century.  reviews the various philosophical
  schools.
  [vidyabhushan, medieval systems of indian logic, 1907, pp. 23.]

* tarkajvAla : reputed to be the work of bhAvaviveka, a mAdhyamika
  buddhist.  presents a criticism of the mImAMsA, sAMkhya, vaiseSika
  and vedAnta schools.

* aSTasAhasrI, by the digambara  jain vidyAnanda
* SaRdarshanavicAra (1300 a.d.) by another digambara merutun.ga,
	both are said to have criticised the hindu
	systems.

* sarvadarshanasaMgraha, is the most popular account of indian
  philosophy, by the well-known vedantin mAdhavAcArya, who lived in
  the fourteenth century in south india.

* sarvasiddhAntasArasaMgraha, assigned to saMkara [ascription
  doubtful. Keith, Indian Logic, p.242]
* prasthAnanabheda by madhusUdana sarasvati

upaniSads : women are important to religous ritual

to the thinkers of the upaniSads, marriage is a religious sacrament,
a form of divine service. 

the home is sacred, and no religious ceremony is complete without
the wife taking part in it.  after the individual realises to the
full the warmth and glow of human love and family affection, through
marriage and parenthood, he is called upon to free himself slowly
from attachment to home and family in order that he might realise
his dignity as a citizen of the universe. if buddhism failed to
secure a permanent hold on the mind of india, it was because it
exalted the ideal of celibacy over that of marriage and allowed all
to enter the highest order of sannyasins, regardless of their
previous preparation for it.  p.222

brahminhood is based on character, not birth

the rules of caste prescribe the duties to society. man has to
fulfil his duties whatever his lot may be. ... brahminhood does not
depend on birth, but on character. the following story reveals this
truth :

	   satyakAma, the son of jabAlA, addressed his mother and
	said: "i wish to become a brahmacarin, mother. of what
	family am i?"
	   she said to him: "i do not know, my child, of what family
	thou art. in my youth, when i had to move about much as a
	servant, i conceived thee. so i do not know of what family
	thou art. i am jabAlA by name. thou art satyakAma. say that
	thou art satyakAma jabAlA."
	    he going to gautama, the son of haridrumat, said to him:
	"i wish to become a brahmacarin with thee, sire. may i come
	to you?"
	   gautama: "of what family art thou, my friend?"
	   satyakAma: "i do not know, sire, of what family i am. i
	asked my mother, and she answered: 'in my youth, when i had
	to move about much as a servant, i conceived thee. i do not
	know of what family thou art.  i am jabAlA. thou art
	satyakAma.' I am therefore satyakAma jabAlA."
	   gautama said to him: .. no one but a true brAhmin would
	thus speak out. go and fetch fuel, i shall initiate
	thee. thou hast not swerved from the truth."
				[chandogya, iv. 4. i. 4.]

no caste or gender restrictions on learning

the whole philosophy of the upaniSads tends towards the softening of
the divisions and the undermining of class hatreds and
antipathies. god is the inner soul of all alike.  so all must be
capable of responding to the truth and therefore possess a right to
be taught the truth. sanat-kumAra, the representative of the
kSatriyas, instructs the brAhmin nArada about the ultimate mystery
of things.  higher philosophy and religion were by no means confined
to the brAhmin class. we read of kings instructing the famous
teachers of the time about the deep problems of spirit...  it was a
period of keen intellectual life.  even ordinary people were
interested in the problems of philosophy. wise men are found
wandering up and down the country eager to debate. ...

women, though they were much sheltered so far as the struggle for
life was concerned, had equal rights with men in the spiritual
struggle for salvation. maitreyI, gArgI discuss the deep problems of
spirit and enter into philosophic tournaments.

Contents

preface to second edition 5

preface 7

chap. I : introduction 21
    general characteristics of indian philosophy - the natural
    situation of india - the dominance of the intellectual interest
    - the individuality of indian philosophy - the influence of the
    west - the spiritual character of indian thought - its close
    relation to life and religion - the stress on the subjective -
    psychological basis of metaphysics - indian achievements in
    positive science - speculative synthesis and scientific analysis
    - the brooding east - monistic idealism - its varieties,
    non-dualism, pure monism, modified monism and implicit monism -
    god is all - the intuitional nature of philosophy - darshana -
    saMkara's qualifications of a candidate for the study of
    philosophy - the constructive conservatism of indian thought -
    the unity and continuity of indian thought - consideration of
    some charges levelled against indian philosophy, such as
    pessimism, dogmatism, indifference to ethics and unprogressive
    character - the value of the study of indian philosophy - the
    justification of the title 'indian philosophy' - historical
    method - the difficulty of a chronological treatment - the
    different periods of indian thought - vedic, epic, systematic
    and scholastic - 'indian' histories of indian philosophy

part I : the vedic period

II : the hymns of the rg - veda 65
    the four vedas - the parts of the veda, the mantras, the
    brAhmaNas, the upaniSads - the importance of the study of the
    hymns - date and authorship - different views of the teaching of
    the hymns - their philosophical tendencies - religion - 'deva' -
    naturalism and anthropomorphism - heaven and earth - varuNa -
    r^ta - sUrya - uSas - soma - yama - indra - minor gods and
    goddesses - classification of the vedic deities - monotheistic
    tendencies - the unity of nature - the unifying impulse of the
    logical mind - the implications of the religious consciousness -
    henotheism - visvakarman, br^haspati, prajApati and
    hiraNyagarbha - the rise of reflection and criticism - the
    philosophical inadequacy of monotheism - monism - philosophy and
    religion - the cosmological speculations of the vedic hymns -
    the nAsadIya sUkta - the relation of the world to the absolute -
    the puruSa sUkta - practical religion - prayer - sacrifice - the
    ethical rules - karma - asceticism - caste - future life - the
    two paths of the gods and the fathers - hell - rebirth -
    conclusion.

III : transition to the upaniSads 117
    the general character of the atharva-veda - conflict of cultures
    - the primitive religion of the atharva-veda - magic and
    mysticism - the yajur-veda - the brAhmaNas - their religion of
    sacrifice and prayer - the dominance of the priest - the
    authoritativeness of the veda - cosmology - ethics - caste -
    future life.


IV : the philosophy of the upaniSads 137
    introduction - the fluid and indefinite character of the
    teaching of the upaniSads - western students of the upaniSads -
    date - early upaniSads - the great thinkers of the age - the
    hymns of the rg-veda and the doctrine of the upaniSads compared
    - emphasis on the monistic side of the hymns - the shifting of
    the centre from the object to the subject - the pessimism of the
    upaniSads - the pessimistic implications of the connection of
    saMsAra - protest against the externalism of the vedic religion
    - subordination of the vedic knowledge -
    central problems of the upaniSads - ultimate reality - the
    nature of Atman distinguished from body, dream consciousness and
    empirical self - the different modes of consciousness, waking,
    dreaming, dreamless sleep and ecstasy - the influence of the
    upaniSad analysis of self on subsequent thought - the approach
    to reality from the object side - matter, life, consciousness,
    intelligence and Ananda - saMkara and rAmAnuja on the status of
    Ananda -
    brahman and Atman - tat tvam asi - the positive character of
    brahman - intellect and intuition - brahman and the world -
    creation - the doctrine of mAyA - deussen's view examined -
    degrees of reality - are the upaniSads pantheistic? - the finite
    self - the ethics of the upaniSads - the nature of the ideal -
    the metaphysical warrant for an ethical theory - moral life -
    its general features - asceticism - intellectualism - jn~Ana,
    karma and upAsana - morality and religion - beyond good and evil
    - the religion of the upaniSads - different forms - the highest
    state of freedom - the ambiguous accounts of it in the upaniSads
    - evil - suffering karma - its value - the problem of freedom -
    future life and immortality - psychology of the upaniSads -
    non-vedantic tendencies in the upaniSads - sAMkhya - yoga -
    nyAya - general estimate of the thought of the upaniSads -
    transition to the epic period.

part II : the epic period

V : materialism 271
   the epic period 600 bc to ad 200 - intellectual stir - freedom of
   thought - the influence of the upaniSads - the political conditions
   of the time - the many-sided philosophic activity of the epic
   period - the three chief tendencies of ethical revolt, religious
   reconstruction and systematic philosophy - common ideas of the
   age - materialism - its antecedents - lokAyata - theory of
   knowledge - matter the only reality - body and mind - no future life - no
   god - hedonistic ethics - the repudiation of the authority of the
   vedas - the effects of the theory - later criticism of materialism.


VI : the pluralistic realism of the jainas 286
    jainism - life of vardhamAna - division into shvetAmbaras and
    digambaras - literature - relation to buddhism - the sAMkhya
    philosophy and the upaniSads - jaina logic - five kinds of
    knowledge - the nayas and their divisions - saptabhan.gi -
    criticism of the jaina theory of knowledge - its monistic
    implications - the psychological views of the jainas - soul -
    body and mind - jaina metaphysics - substance and quality - jIva
    and ajIva - AkAsha, dharma and adharma - time - matter - the
    atomic theory - karma - leshyAs - jIvas and their kinds - jaina
    ethics - human freedom - ethics of jainism and of buddhism
    compared - caste - san.gha - attitude to god - religion - nirvANa
    - a critical estimate of the jaina philosophy.


VII : the ethical idealism of early buddhism 341
    introduction - the evolution of buddhist thought - literature of
    early buddhism - the three piTakas - questions of king milinda -
    visuddhimagga - life and personality of buddha - conditions of
    the time - the world of thought - the futility of metaphysics -
    the state of religion - moral life - ethics independent of
    metaphysics and theology - the positivist method of buddha - his
    rationalism - religion within the bounds of reason - buddhism
    and the upaniSads - the four truths - the first truth of
    suffering - is buddhism pessimistic? - the second truth of the
    causes of suffering - impermanence of things - ignorance - the
    dynamic conception of reality - bergson - identity of objects
    and continuity of process - causation - impermanence and
    momentariness - the world order - being and becoming in the
    upaniSads and early buddhism - aristotle, kant and bergson -
    saMkara on the kSaNikavAda - the nature of becoming - is it
    objective or only subjective? - external reality - body and mind
    - the empirical individual - nairAtmyavAda - nature of the Atman
    - nAgasena's theory of the soul - its resemblance to hume's -
    the nature of the subject - saMkara and kant - buddhist
    psychology - its relation to modern psychology - sense
    perception - affection, will and knowledge - association -
    duration of mental states - subconsciousness - rebirth -
    pratItyasamutpAda - nidAnas - avidyA and the other links in the
    chain - the place of avidyA in buddha's metaphysics - the ethics
    of buddhism - its psychological basis - analysis of the act -
    good and evil - the middle path - the eightfold way - buddhist
    dhyAna and the yoga philosophy - the ten fetters - the arhat -
    virtues and vices - the motive of moral life - the inwardness of
    buddhist morality - the charge of intellectualism - the
    complaint of asceticism - the order of mendicants - san.gha -
    buddha's attitude to caste and social reform - the authority of
    the vedas - the ethical significance of karma - karma and
    freedom - rebirth - its mechanism - nirvANa - its nature and
    varieties - the nirvANa of buddhism and the mokSa of the
    upaniSads - god in early buddhism - the criticism of the
    traditional proofs for the existence of god - the absolutist
    implications of buddhist metaphysics - the deification of buddha
    - compromises with popular religion - buddhist theory of
    knowledge - buddha's pragmatic agnosticism - buddha's silence on
    metaphysical problems - kant and buddha - the inevitability of
    metaphysics - the unity of thought between buddhism and the
    upaniSads - buddhism and the sAMkhya theory - success of
    buddhism.


VIII : epic philosophy 477
    the readjustment of brAhmanism - the epics - the mahAbhArata -
    date - its importance - the rAmAyana - the religious ferment -
    the common philosophical ideas - durgA worship - pAshupata
    system - vAsudeva-kr^SNa cult - vaiSNavism - pan~carAtra
    religion - the suspected influence of christianity - the
    cosmology of the mahAbhArata - the sAMkhya ideas in the
    mahAbhArata - guNas - psycholgy - ethics - bhakti - karma -
    future life - later upaniSads - the shvetAshvatara upaniSad -
    the code of manu - date - cosmology and ethics


IX : the theism or the bhagavadgItA 519
    the importance of the gItA in indian thought - its universal
    significance - date - relation to the mahAbhArata - the vedas -
    the upaniSads - buddhism - the bhAgavata religion - the saMkhya
    and the yoga - indian commentaries on the gItA - the gItA ethics
    is based on metaphysics - the problem of reality - the real in
    the objective and the subjective worlds - brahman and the world
    - puruSottama - intuition and thought - higher and lower prakrti
    - the avatiras - the nature of the universe - mAyA - creation -
    the individual soul - plurality of souls - rebirth - the ethics
    of the gltA - reason, will add emotion - jn~Ana mArga - science
    and philosophy - pata~njali's yoga - the jn~Ani - bhakti marga -
    the personality of god - the religious consciousness - karma
    marga - the problem of morality - the moral standard -
    disinterested action - guNas - the vedic theory of sacrifices -
    caste - is work compatible with mokSa? - the problem of human
    freedom - the integral life of spirit - ultimate freedom and its
    character.


X : buddhism as a religion 581

    the history of buddhism after the death of buddha - ashoka - the
    mahAyAna and the hInAyAna - northern and southern buddhism -
    literature - hInayAna doctrines - metaphysics, ethics add
    religion - the rise of the mahAyAna - its monistic metaphysics -
    the religion of the mahAyAna - its resemblance to the
    bhagavadgItA - the ethics of the mahAyAna - the ten stages -
    hInayAna and mahAyAna ethics compared - nirvANa - decline of
    buddhism - the effects of buddhism on indian thought.


XI : the schools of buddhism  611

    introduction - the four schools of realism and idealism - the
    vaibhASikas - nature of reality - knowledge - psychology - the
    sautrAntikas - knowledge of the external world - god and nirvana
    - the yogAcAras - their theory of knowledge - -nature of
    Alayavijn~Ana - subjectivism - criticism of it by saMkara and
    kumArila - individual self - forms of knowledge - -the yogAcAra
    theory of the world - avidyA and Alaya - nirvANa - ambiguity of
    Alayavijn~Ana - the mAdhyamikas - literature - the mAdhyamika
    criticism of the yogAcAra - phenomenalism - theory of relations
    - two kinds of knowledge - absolutism - shUnyavada - nirvANa -
    ethics - concluaion.


appendix 671

	the method of approach - the comparative standpoint - the
	upaniSads - early buddhism - the negative, the agnostic and
	the positive views - ear1y buddhism and the upaniSads - the
	schools of buddhism - nAgArjuna's theory of reality -
	shUnyavAda and the advaita vedinta.


notes 705
index 725