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Reading path · Intermediate

Indian philosophy: from the Upaniṣads to the darśanas

Classical Indian philosophy grew from the Upaniṣads into schools, the darśanas, that argued with one another and with Buddhists and Jainas for centuries. This path starts with a narrative history, reads the Upaniṣads and the Bhagavad Gītā, then takes four schools through their own root texts: Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Śaṅkara's Advaita Vedānta and Nyāya. Many root texts are terse sūtras or verses written to be read with a commentary, so choose a translation that includes one. Allow about three months.

7 books, in order

  1. Step 1: Classical Indian Philosophy

    Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri · 2020

    Adamson and Ganeri cover the Vedic period, the Upaniṣads, the Gītā, the sūtra literature and the Buddhist and Jaina debates in forty-nine short chapters, written to be read straight through.

    Where to start
    Read chapters 1 to 6, from the introduction through the three chapters on the Upaniṣads. Then read the chapter on each school before its root text.
    Time
    3–4 weeks
    Difficulty
    Beginner

  2. Step 2: The Upanishads (the principal Upanishads)

    Various anonymous Vedic teachers (dialogues feature Yājñavalkya, Uddālaka Āruṇi and others) · c. 8th–3rd century BCE (dates debated)

    These dialogues and teachings ask what the self (ātman) is and how it relates to ultimate reality (brahman). Every school of Vedānta is built as a reading of them.

    Where to start
    Begin with the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, where the boy Naciketas questions Death, then Chāndogya 6, Uddālaka's teaching to Śvetaketu, and Yājñavalkya's teaching to King Janaka in Bṛhadāraṇyaka 4.3–4.4. Patrick Olivelle's translation (1996) is a good choice.
    Time
    2–3 weeks
    Difficulty
    Intermediate

  3. Step 3: Bhagavad Gita

    Vyāsa (traditional attribution) · c. 2nd century BCE (dates debated)

    On the eve of the war in the Mahābhārata, Kṛṣṇa answers Arjuna's refusal to fight with an account of the self and of action done without concern for its results. Its eighteen chapters are short enough to read whole.

    Where to start
    Read it whole; chapter 2, where Kṛṣṇa begins his answer, states the main argument.
    Time
    3–4 evenings
    Difficulty
    Beginner

  4. Step 4: Sāṃkhya Kārikā

    Īśvarakṛṣṇa · c. 4th–5th century CE

    Seventy-two verses set out a dualism of conscious, inactive persons (puruṣa) and unconscious, active nature (prakṛti), with the view that effects already exist in their causes. Sāṃkhya ideas, given their classical form here, also run through the Gītā and the Yoga Sūtras.

    Where to start
    Read all seventy-two verses in one sitting, then reread them with a commentary.
    Time
    2 evenings
    Difficulty
    Intermediate

  5. Step 5: Yoga Sūtras

    Attributed to Patañjali · c. 2nd century BCE–5th century CE (dates debated)

    Patañjali's 195 sūtras (196 in some editions) give a theory of mind and attention in Sāṃkhya terms, defining yoga as the stilling of the mind's fluctuations. Reading it corrects many popular ideas about yoga.

    Where to start
    Read Book 1 (Samādhi Pāda) from the definition at 1.2, then the eight limbs, listed at 2.29 in Book 2 (Sādhana Pāda).
    Time
    1 week
    Difficulty
    Intermediate

  6. Step 6: A Thousand Teachings

    Adi Shankara · c. 8th century CE

    This is the only work outside his commentaries that scholars, including its translator Sengaku Mayeda, accept as Śaṅkara's own. It states Advaita Vedānta: the self is identical with brahman, and liberation comes through knowledge.

    Where to start
    Begin with the prose part, which explains how to teach the path to liberation, in Sengaku Mayeda's translation.
    Time
    1 week
    Difficulty
    Intermediate

  7. Step 7: Nyāya Sūtra

    Attributed to Gautama (Akṣapāda) · c. 2nd century CE (traditional date; compiled in layers)

    The root text of the Nyāya school defines the means of knowledge (pramāṇa) and lays down rules and fallacies for debate. Read it with Vātsyāyana's commentary, the oldest that survives.

    Where to start
    Read the opening sūtras of Book 1, which define perception, inference, comparison and testimony (1.1.4–8).
    Time
    2 weeks
    Difficulty
    Advanced

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