Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c8.s2.t1: Sassatavāda and Sāṃkhya
Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c8.s2.t1
- Language
- English
Sassatavāda and Sāṃkhya
v1.c8.s2.t1.1
The only Brāhmaṇic school of philosophy to which the Sassatavāda bears resemblance is the Sāṃkhya. According to this school, there are two distinct eternals, the *Puruṣa* and the *Prakṛti*, the former corresponding to *Attā* and the latter to *Loka*,
v1.c8.s2.t1.2
is only realisable within one’s ownself (*paccattaṃ veditabbo viññūhi*). It cannot be described by any of the empirical terms, and hence the question of eternality or non-eternality does not arise.
v1.c8.s2.t1.3
with this difference that, according to the Sassatavādins, the soul is an active agent while the Puruṣa (= eternal attā) of the Sāṅkhya is an inactive onlooker, the active agent being Ahaṅkāra, the principle of individuation, which however, issues out of the Prakṛti or matter in its primeval form. The eternal Loka of the Sassatavādins is the evolved world in its variety.