of the Vêdas, reduces the religious doctrines of the Vêdas to scientifically exact terms. Its trend is a philosophy which is called Advaita or non-duality, a spiritualistic monism, or rather a pantism, teaching the doctrine that Brahma, the universal soul, is the all, and the only true reality, while all things and individual beings are mere appearance, a product of illusion (Mâyâ) and ignorance (Avidya).

The Vaisheshika and Nyâna belong together. The founder of the Vaisheshika is only known by his nickname Kanâda which means "Atom-eater." The peculiarity of his philosophy consists in his method of classification. There are six categories: Substance, quality, action, generality of properties, particularity and inherence. The disciples of Kanâda add as a seventh category, non-existence. The fifth category, particularity (vaishesha), gave the name to the system. Reality is conceived of as an infinite variety of particular units or atoms, the infinite nature of which remains constantly the same. The atoms are self-existent, uncaused and eternal. An invisible force (adrishta) is the forming principle. Man's soul (purusha) is supposed to be without beginning and without end, all-pervading and omnipresent in space. The action of the soul depends upon mind (manas), which, in contrast to the diffused nature of the soul, is conceived as an atom capable of being in one place only at a time. This artificial idea of an all-pervading soul and a monadmind, or manas, was invented to account for the fact that man can think of one thing at a time only,

while he is at the same time conscious of possessing deeper spiritual resources.

The Nyâna philosophy is a mere extension of the Vaisheshika. It adopts the atomic theory and psychology of the latter and adds expositions of the method of inquiry. It might best be characterized as a system of formal logic applied to practical reasoning. Later representatives of the Vaisheshika and the Nyâna admitted a certain theism, but their god is not like the Christian God, the creator of the world, but only one extraordinarily powerful individual soul which has become omnipresent and omniscient through the accumulation of merit in former existences, and is now exempt from migration, enjoying the unfathomable bliss of needing no deliverance.

The Sâmkhya philosophy is dualistic, propounding the theory of a radical difference of self or soul or subjective being, and the objectivity of material bodies; it assumes the eternal existence and reality of both matter and soul, or rather souls, for Kapila assumed the existence of an indefinite number of souls. He argued: Impure matter cannot originate from pure spirit or vice versa; and he denied at the same time in unequivocal terms the existence of a creator, for there is no creation out of nothing, and all becoming is transformation according to law. Sâmkhya means "enumeration," which name has probably been chosen on account of the enumeration of the principles of Sâmkhya philosophy, which sketch the evolution of the present form of existence

from the undifferentiated primordial matter called prakriti―the unproduced producer and the rootless root of all things.

The Yoga philosophy adopts the theories of the Sâmkhya, adding to them the practice of meditation and self-induced trances. The means of self-hypnotization consisted in abstraction from the outer world and the concentration of the mind on itself with the aim of isolating the soul from matter and thus gaining deliverance.

We might mention as a seventh school the materialistic philosophy of the Chârvâkas or Lokâyatas, founded by Vrihaspati. They recognize only senseperception as a source of knowledge and reject the reliability of logical inference. They regard only the four elements-earth, air, fire, and water—as real, and consider intelligence as a transient product of these elements. Soul is to them identical with the body, and all phenomena are declared to be purely mechanical processes. They ridicule sacrifices as much as devotion and penance, and do not believe in the retribution of moral justice. The Chârvâkas have never succeeded in becoming a recognized school or producing any literary documents of importance. We know them only through the arguments of their adversaries who mention their theories merely for the purpose of refuting them.

There are certain ideas which cannot be credited to any one of the various schools, because they have come to be the common property of Indian thought; they are briefly stated as follows:

1. The irrefragability of the law of causation, which is said to be as rigid in the sphere of morals as in the physical world. It is called "the law of Karma, which means that our existence is the exact product of our deeds done in our present and in former existences, and that our sufferings are just punishments for sins previously committed, while the advantages we enjoy are the rewards for former merits.

2. The transmigration of souls according to their Karma,

3. The pain of Samsâra (the circuit of life), which means that the eternal repetition of soul-migration implicates us in evils of all kinds, especially birth, disease, old age, and death; or briefly, that life is suffering.

4. The salvation of Nirvâna, that is to say, the aim of all moral aspirations is to reach the calm and peaceful bliss of Nirvâna, which is a deliverance from the evils of Samsâra.

THE SAMKHYA PHILOSOPHY.

The Sâmkhya philosophy is of special interest in so far as it forms the starting-point of Buddhistic thought. We cannot understand Buddhism without considering the great influence of the dualism and pessimism exercised on Indian thinkers by the Sâmkhya philosophy.

As in Sanskrit, soul and man are expressed by the same word (Purusha), matter was naturally com

pared to a woman, a favorite simile employed not only by many dualistic philosophers, but also by Giordano Bruno, the great martyr and champion of monism who stands at the threshold of modern thought. But while Giordano represents the female principle, matter, as passive and the male principle, spirit, as active, Kapila represents matter as active and soul as passive, reminding us of the quite modern view of some French psychologists who describe consciousness as a mere accompaniment of the physiological brain motions, which latter alone are said to be active and efficient to serve as causes in the bodily system. Soul, according to the Sâmkhya view, is the principle of apperception, while matter is that which produces effects in the world of reality. Their union as we find it in living organisms is compared to a lame man mounted on a blind man. Matter, the kind man, is said to be the faithful servant of the soul, the lame man. The exertions of the former are solely for the benefit of the latter. As soon as the soul becomes disgusted with the restlessness of the material world, matter ceases to be active; it is recognized as inane and becomes inert, while the soul after its separation from matter enjoys deliverance (Apavarga), which is the highest bliss attainable. At the close of the introduction of a Sâmkhya text-book (the Sâmkhya Pravacana-Bhashya) the following four propositions are added, which bear a close resemblance to the four noble truths of Buddha. We read :

1. That from which we deliver ourselves is pain.