Abhava means non-existence, negation, nothing or absence. [1] It is the negative of Bhava which means being, becoming, existing or appearance.
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Abhava means non-existence, negation, nothing or absence. [1] It is the negative of Bhava which means being, becoming, existing or appearance.
Uddayana divides Padārtha (Categories) into Bhava (existence) which is real, and Abhava (non-existence) which is not real. Dravya (substance), Guṇa (quality), Karma (action), Samanya (community or generality), Visesa (particularity or partimerity) and Samavaya (inherence) are the marks of existence. Four kinds of Abhava are defined by the Vaisheshika School of Hindu philosophy: [2]
The process with which the sound value collapses into the point value of the gap existing between the first and the next syllable of the first letter of the Rigveda, Agnim, is Pradhvamsabhava, the silent point of all possibilities within the gap is Atyantabhava, the structuring dynamics of what happens within the gap Anyonyabhava, and the mechanics by which the sound emerges from the point value of the gap i.e. emergence of the following syllable, is Pragabhava; this mechanism is inherent in both syllables. [3]
The Vaisheshika, the Nyaya, the Bhatta Mimamsa and Dvaita schools hold Abhava as a distinct category. Recognised as a reality by the Nyaya school, Abhava is often stated to be the reality of the greatest moment in the pluralistic universe and is connected with Mukti. [4] It is a relative word, for there can be abhava only when previously there is bhava; moreover it is an event occurring in time. [5] [6] The Nyaya and the Siddhantin maintain that the cognition of abhava is due to perception involving special kind of contact or sense contact. [7]
Abhava is that unmanifest level from where the concrete Bhava arises or emerges. [8] Vasubandhu has referred to Sunyata having the characteristic of the own-being of abhava, rather than a characteristic consisting of bhava. Sthiramati observes that this is, in fact, not redundant, meaning abhava does not negate bhava. [9] Abhava refers to particular entities and not to Being; it is a theoretical or logical denial of the existence of some particular impossibility. [10] The acceptance of abhava as an independent padartha having ontological reality of its own is a peculiar feature of Indian philosophical tradition. Dharmakirti considered abhava as an anumana . He had brought in the idea of imaginary presence of that whose absence was apprehended in order to explain the specificity of the absence. [11]
Nyāya, literally meaning "justice", "rules", "method" or "judgment", is one of the six traditional schools of Hindu philosophy that affirm the Vedas. Nyaya's most significant contributions to Indian philosophy were systematic development of the theory of logic, methodology, and its treatises on epistemology.
Hindu philosophy or Vedic philosophy is the set of Indian philosophical systems developing alongside the religion of Hinduism and emerging in the Iron and Classical periods, which consists of six orthodox schools of thought (shad-darśana): Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta. In Indian tradition, the word used for philosophy is Darshana, from the Sanskrit root drish.
Vaisheshika or Vaiśeṣika is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy from ancient India. In its early stages, the Vaiśeṣika was an independent philosophy with its own metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and soteriology. Over time, the Vaiśeṣika system became similar in its philosophical procedures, ethical conclusions and soteriology to the Nyāya school of Hinduism, but retained its difference in epistemology and metaphysics.
Mīmāṁsā is a Sanskrit word that means "reflection" or "critical investigation" and thus refers to a tradition of contemplation which reflected on the meanings of certain Vedic texts. This tradition is also known as Pūrva-Mīmāṁsā because of its focus on the earlier (pūrva) Vedic texts dealing with ritual actions, and similarly as Karma-Mīmāṁsā due to its focus on ritual action (karma). It is one of six Vedic "affirming" (āstika) schools of Hinduism. This particular school is known for its philosophical theories on the nature of dharma, based on hermeneutics of the Vedas, especially the Brāḥmanas and Saṃhitas. The Mīmāṃsā school was foundational and influential for the vedāntic schools, which were also known as Uttara-Mīmāṁsā for their focus on the "later" (uttara) portions of the Vedas, the Upaniṣads. While both "earlier" and "later" Mīmāṃsā investigate the aim of human action, they do so with different attitudes towards the necessity of ritual praxis.
Kaṇāda, also known as Ulūka, Kashyapa, Kaṇabhaksha, Kaṇabhuj was an ancient Indian natural scientist and philosopher who founded the Vaisheshika school of Indian philosophy that also represents the earliest Indian physics.
Guṇa is a concept in Hinduism and Sikhism, which can be translated as "quality, peculiarity, attribute, property".
Ishvara is a concept in Hinduism, with a wide range of meanings that depend on the era and the school of Hinduism. In ancient texts of Hindu philosophy, depending on the context, Ishvara can mean supreme Self, ruler, lord, king, queen or husband. In medieval era Hindu texts, depending on the school of Hinduism, Ishvara means God, Supreme Being, personal God, or special Self.
The Nyāya Sūtras is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text composed by Akṣapāda Gautama, and the foundational text of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy. The date when the text was composed, and the biography of its author is unknown, but variously estimated between 6th-century BCE and 2nd-century CE. The text may have been composed by more than one author, over a period of time. The text consists of five books, with two chapters in each book, with a cumulative total of 528 aphoristic sutras, about rules of reason, logic, epistemology and metaphysics.
Anekāntavāda is the Jain doctrine about metaphysical truths that emerged in ancient India. It states that the ultimate truth and reality is complex and has multiple aspects.
Pramana literally means "proof" and "means of knowledge". In Indian philosophies, pramana are the means which can lead to knowledge, and serve as one of the core concepts in Indian epistemology. It has been one of the key, much debated fields of study in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism since ancient times. It is a theory of knowledge, and encompasses one or more reliable and valid means by which human beings gain accurate, true knowledge. The focus of pramana is how correct knowledge can be acquired, how one knows, how one does not know, and to what extent knowledge pertinent about someone or something can be acquired.
Vaiśeṣika Sūtra, also called Kanada sutra, is an ancient Sanskrit text at the foundation of the Vaisheshika school of Hindu philosophy. The sutra was authored by the Hindu sage Kanada, also known as Kashyapa. According to some scholars, he flourished before the advent of Buddhism because the Vaiśeṣika Sūtra makes no mention of Buddhism or Buddhist doctrines; however, the details of Kanada's life are uncertain, and the Vaiśeṣika Sūtra was likely compiled sometime between 6th and 2nd century BCE, and finalized in the currently existing version before the start of the common era.
Padārtha is a Sanskrit word for "categories" in Vaisheshika and Nyaya schools of Indian philosophy.
As a philosophical term anavastha refers to the non-finality of a proposition or endless series of statements or regressus ad infinitum. In the Hindi language, anavastha means nothingness.
Mithyātva means "false belief", and is an important concept in Jainism and Hinduism. Mithyātva, states Jayatirtha, cannot be easily defined as 'indefinable', 'non-existent', 'something other than real', 'which cannot be proved, produced by avidya or as its effect', or as 'the nature of being perceived in the same locus along with its own absolute non-existence'.
Pradhāna is an adjective meaning "most important, prime, chief or major". The Shatapatha Brahmana gives its meaning as "the chief cause of the material nature" (S.B.7.15.27) or "the creative principle of nature" (S.B.10.85.3). The Samkhya School of Indian philosophy employs the word to mean the creative principle of nature, as the original root of matter, the Prime Matter but which according to Badarayana’s logic is the unintelligent principle which cannot be the one consisting of bliss.
Anupalabdhi means 'non-recognition', 'non-perception'. This word refers to the Pramana of Non-perception which consists in the presentative knowledge of negative facts.
Praśastapāda was an ancient Indian philosopher. He wrote the Padārtha-dharma-saṅgraha and a commentary, titled Praśastapāda Bhāṣya, on the Vaisheshika Sutras of Kanada ; both texts are comprehensive books in physics. In these texts Prashastapada discusses the properties of motion. Ganganath Jha had translated Praśastapāda Bhāṣya which was published in 1916. Prashasta or Praśasta means praised or praiseworthy, lauded or laudable, commended or commendable or eulogized.
Pratibandhaka variously means – 'opposition', 'resistance', 'investment', 'blockade', 'siege', 'invariable and inseparable connection', 'cessation', 'disappointment'; it also means – 'impediment', 'obstacle', 'cognitive blocker', 'antidote' or 'preventive measure'. Pratibandhaka is a causal dependency and refers to something that must perform the specific function of obstructing.
Adhyavasāya generally means – 'apprehension', 'clinging to', 'mental effort' and also 'perseverance', 'having decided'.
Yoga philosophy is one of the six major orthodox schools of Hinduism, though it is only at the end of the first millennium CE that Yoga is mentioned as a separate school of thought in Indian texts, distinct from Samkhya. Ancient, medieval and most modern literature often refers to Yoga-philosophy simply as Yoga. A systematic collection of ideas of Yoga is found in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a key text of Yoga which has influenced all other schools of Indian philosophy.