Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge c7.4

c7.4

(84) Das Gupta, followed in this respect by Jadunath Sinha¹ and Chattopadhyaya,² finds 'references to the lokāyata doctrine (by which he means Materialism) ... in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad VIII, 7, 8, where Virocana ... went away satisfied with the view that the self was identical with the body';³ but this is not full-fledged Materialism since this particular brand of *dehātmavāda*, as Das Gupta calls it (*loc. cit.*), entertains a belief in the after-life which is quite explicit (Ch. 8.8.5). Ruben, on the other hand, as we have seen (*v. supra*, 22) traces the origins of Materialism to the thought of Uddālaka even calling him a Materialist. There are undoubtedly certain materialistic trends in the thought of Uddālaka⁴ but we must remember that his ultimate reality Being (sat) has the quality of sentience (tad aikṣata bahu syām, Ch. 6.2.3) and creatures in some sense survive bodily death (Ch. 6.9.2.3). It nevertheless could have furnished the germs of a Materialist philosophy if these inconsistencies were got rid of.