The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c41.69

v2.c41.69

The true relation between Greek and Indian philosophy can be seen clearly from the parallel which, quite legitimately, has been drawn² between the view of Empedokles and of Pakudha Kaccāyana, whose opinions are recorded for us by Buddhist texts. The date of the views of the latter teacher is such that it is absurd to assume that his opinions, which were obviously never widely held, could have reached Greece and influenced Empedokles. Kaccāyana asserted the existence of seven distinct elements whose interaction gave rise to the world of experience, namely earth, air, fire, water, pleasure and pain as sources of attraction and repulsion, and the soul, Jīva. The first six of these factors clearly correspond closely with the four elements of Empedokles, to which he added love and strife as sources of motion. Both agree in regarding their elements as unchanging, both recognize pores in organized bodies,³ both deny the existence of a void. Yet the fact that Pakudha Kaccāyana accepted the existence of soul reminds us that he derives from a philosophic tradition to which the conception of souls was familiar, while Empedokles' opinions are based on a naturalistic philosophy, although, like Kaccāyana, he believes in the doctrine of transmigration.