A History of Sanskrit Literature c33.s6.3

c33.s6.3

The date of the Sāṁkhya has been fixed by arguments based on the derivation of Buddhism from it, but we have rather to do with the derivation of Buddhism from the early doctrine of the Upaniṣads which ultimately gave also the Sāṁkhya, but in the case of Buddhism with far more conscious rejection of Vedic views. In any case, however, the date of the development of Buddhist doctrine is far too obscure to be of any real aid in fixing the date and the claim² that the Sāṁkhya represents a philosophy of 800–550 B. C. seems quite inadmissible.