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Alexander BerzinJune 2004, revised May 2008

Origins

The Samkhya (grangs-can-pa) school of Indian philosophy traces itself from the ancient sageKapila (Drang-srong Ser-skya), author of The Numbered Items Sutra (Samkhya Sutra). Thissutra, however, was compiled only in the fourteenth century CE. The earliest Samkhya text toappear, however, was Verses on the Numbered Items (Skt. Samkhya Karika), byIshvarakrshna, in the fifth century CE. The main commentary was by Vacaspati, written in theninth century CE.

The Yoga school began slightly later, at the end of the fifth century CE, with the Yoga Sutraby Patanjali. Its main commentary was by Vyasa, written at the beginning of the sixth centuryCE. This school shares the basic tenets of Samkhya, but adds to the system the supreme godIshvara (dbang-po), equivalent to Shiva.

Primal Matter

The Samkhya-Yoga system divides all knowable phenomena into 25 classes (de-nyid, Skt.tattva).

Of the 25 classes of knowable phenomena, 24 comprise all forms of material phenomena(bem-po). They are known collectively as primal matter (gtso-bo, Skt. pradhana) or naturalmatter (rang-bzhin, Skt. prakrti), which is counted as one of the 24.

Primal matter is made up of three universal constituents (yon-tan, Skt. guna) intertwined likerope. They are the components of primal matter and not qualities distinct from primal matter.The three, in Sanskrit, are:

sattva (snying-stobs), referring in different contexts to luminosity, lightness, strength,and pleasure

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rajas (rdul), referring to activity, motion, and pain• tamas (mun-pa), referring to obscurity, darkness, heaviness, and a neutral feeling.•

The three universal constituents are in equilibrium. As a whole, then, primal matter or thenatural state is

permanent, in the sense of being static, unchanging, and eternal• all-pervasive• the deepest true phenomenon.•

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Persons

A person (skyes-bu, Skt. purusha), soul or self (bdag, Skt. atman), perceiver (shes-pa), orknower (rig-pa) is the self that Buddhists refute. It is equivalent to mere consciousness and istotally passive. There are a manifold number of individual selves and, as mere passiveconsciousness, their qualities are that each one is:

permanent, in the sense of being unchanging, static, and eternal• all-pervasive with the universe• partless and so not made up of the three universal constituents like materialphenomena are

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the conscious experiencer of the results of karmic action• not the agent of actions, since the body is - a soul cannot do anything since that wouldmean it changes

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not the creator of the perturbations of primal matter.•

The Perturbations of Primal Matter

The other 23 classes of material phenomena are transfigurations or perturbations (rnam-' gyur,Skt. vikara) of the equilibrium of the three universal constituents of primal matter, and are anillusion (sgyu-ma, Skt. maya). They constitute conventional or relative reality. As a whole, the23 are eternal, but these perturbations constantly change, and are the agents of action. Theyare what actually do things. The situation is like there is a fabric of primal matter that canneither be created nor destroyed. It seems to be interacting with itself and thus changing all thetime, but those changes are only an illusion. Even space and time are merely perturbations ofthe fabric of primal matter. It is not that space and time are external containers of the fabric ofprimal matter/energy.

Only souls and primal matter are permanent in the sense of unchanging, and both of them areall-pervasive. Everything else, although also eternal, continually changes. All events andphenomena are eternal in the sense that they exist eternally in unmanifest (Skt. avyakta)forms, and then for a brief moment become manifest. Thus, the results of actions are alreadypresent in the causes. Nothing new ever arises.

The perturbations of primal matter happen according to purely mechanical laws of cause andeffect. Only the Yoga school says that the god Ishvara causes these perturbations, but only inthe sense of being the stimulus for them. Thus, although Ishvara is external to both primalmatter and individual souls or persons, Ishvara is not a primal cause that precedes theexistence of the other two and creates them by his will. Ishvara, primal matter, and individualsouls are all equally eternal.

Samkhya asserts no supreme god or creator. Nor are the perturbations of primal matter causedby persons. They occur, however, because of the mere presence of persons. Eventually, theperturbations lead to persons gaining liberation, but not as an act of will on the side of primalmatter. Because of this, all beings will eventually attain liberation.

Mahayana Buddhism says that all beings are capable of attaining liberation andenlightenment, but it is not inevitable that everyone will. Even if someone is surrounded by allthe Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the universe, if the person is not receptive and not interested,he or she would not listen to the Buddha's teachings and would not think about or practice the

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Dharma.

The Other 23 Classes of Material Phenomena

The 23 classes of material phenomena that are perturbations of primal matter evolve fromeach other, and thus everything that happens is reduced to changes of matter and energy. The23 are

The Physical Faculty for Sentience

The physical faculty for sentience (blo, Skt. buddhi) or the mighty one (chen-po, Skt. mahat),the boss, is the physical medium through which a person, as passive consciousness, manifests.

A "physical faculty" is a form of subtle matter or energy. It is not gross matter like some partof a brain is.

The Physical Faculty for Self-Awareness

The physical faculty for self-awareness (nga-rgyal, Skt. ahamkara) derives from the physicalfaculty for sentience. It allows for a sense of "me" and "mine."

The next four sets derive from the physical faculty for self-awareness:

The Physical Faculty for a Mind

The physical faculty for a mind (yid-kyi dbang-po, Skt. mano indriya; or simply yid, Skt.manas) both thinks and organizes sensory information. It does not refer to the gross matter ofa brain.

The Five Physical Faculties for Sense Perception

The five physical faculties for sense perception (blo'i dbang-po, Skt. buddhindriya) are thephysical faculties for

eyes (mig, Skt. caksu) to see• ears (rna-ba, Skt. shrotra) to hear• a nose (sna, Skt. nasika) to smell• a tongue (lce, Skt. jihva) to taste• skin (pags-pa, Skt. tvac) to feel physical sensations.•

These five do not refer to the gross matter of the eyes and so forth, but to subtle forms ofmatter or energy that allow for the gross matter of the sense organs to perform their functions.

The Five Physical Faculties for Actions

The five physical faculties for actions (las-kyi dbang-po, Skt. karmendriya) are the physicalfaculties for

speech (ngag, Skt. vak) to speak• hands (lag-pa, Skt. pani) to take things•

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The Perturbations of Primal Matter 3

legs (rkang-pa, Skt. pada) to walk• a sexual organ ('doms, Skt. prastha) to expel urine• an anus (rkub, Skt. payu) to expel excrement.•

These five do not refer to the gross matter of the hands and so forth, but to subtle forms ofmatter or energy that allow for the gross matter of the action organs to perform their functions.

The Five Subtle Elements of Mere Sensory Information

The five subtle elements of mere sensory information (de-tsam, Skt. tanmatra) are the subtleelements of

sight (gzugs-kyi de-tsam, Skt. rupa-tanmatra)• sound (sgra'i de-tsam, Skt. shabda-tanmatra)• smell (dri'i de-tsam, Skt. gandha-tanmatra)• taste (ro'i de-tsam, Skt. rasa-tanmatra)• physical sensation (reg-bya'i de-tsam, Skt. sparsha-tanmatra).•

These five do not refer to external sights, sounds, and so on, but to subtle forms of matter orenergy that constitute the visual information and so on that are cognized.

The various subtle elements of mere sensory information are the immediate causes for

The Five Great Elements

The five great elements ('byung-ba chen-po, Skt. mahabhuta) are

earth (sa, Skt. prthivi)• water (chu, Skt. ap)• fire (me, Skt. tejas)• wind (rlung, Skt. vayu)• space (nam-mkha', Skt. akasha).•

Each of the five great elements is comprised of a finite number of distinct ultimately smallestparticles (paramanu).

The manner in which the subtle elements of sensory information are the immediate causes forthe five great elements is as follows:

The subtle element of mere sound information is the immediate cause for the grosselement of space.

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The subtle elements of mere sound and mere physical sensation information togetherare the immediate cause for the gross element of wind.

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The subtle elements of mere sound, physical sensation, and sight information togetherare the immediate cause for the gross element of fire.

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The subtle elements of mere sound, physical sensation, sight, and taste informationtogether are the immediate cause for the gross element of water.

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The subtle elements of mere sound, physical sensation, sight, taste, and smellinformation together are the immediate cause for the gross element of earth.

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Cognition, the Internal Agent, and the Subtle Body

In knowing anything, the physical faculty for sentience takes on or assumes the form or aspectof a mental representation of the object. This is similar to the functioning of the subtlest windin Buddhist anuttarayoga tantra. These representations are like mental holograms and aremodifications (Skt. vrtti) of this physical faculty. This is the nonconceptual stage of cognition.

The physical faculty for a mind interprets this mental hologram conceptually and the physicalfaculty for self-awareness experiences it. Then, the physical faculty for sentience assumes theform of the action to take in response to the cognition.

The combination of these three physical faculties - the physical faculty for sentience, thephysical faculty for self-awareness, and the physical faculty for a mind - is called the "internalagent" (nang-du byed-pa, Skt. anta:karana).

In contrast to the internal agent of actions, the person or soul is passive consciousness.Although it is neither the experiencer of the mental representations of objects nor the agent ofactions in response to them, it is the consciousness that experiences karmic results through apurely physical faculty for a mind that in and of itself lacks consciousness. A person or soul,then, is like a transcendental self.

The person or soul, however, is not what goes from lifetime to lifetime, since a person canneither change nor do anything. What does pass from one lifetime to the next is the subtlebody (Skt. lingasharira). The subtle body is the combination of

an individual physical faculty for sentience• a physical faculty for self-awareness• a physical faculty for a mind• five physical faculties for sense perception• five physical faculties for actions• five subtle elements of mere sensory information.•

The gross body in each lifetime is made of different combinations of the five great elements,and that transforms into something else after death.

Liberation

Persons or souls suffer through repeated rebirth (Skt. samsara) due to unawareness (Skt.avidya, ignorance) that the person or soul is not the same as the physical faculty for sentience- the physical medium through which a person manifests. Unawareness is a lack of knowing,not incorrect knowing. It is a fault of insufficient knowledge, not a fault of being confused.

Liberation occurs when a soul gains the full knowledge and understanding that it is not thesame as the physical faculty for sentience. With liberation, a person or soul becomes totallydisengaged and separate (Skt. kevala, isolated) from primal matter and all its perturbations.Since it is only through a person's entanglement with a physical faculty for sentience that itexperiences anything (suffering, happiness, or any result of karma), a liberated disengagedperson is just pure consciousness with no object at all.

Note that the Samkhya position is significantly different from

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Cognition, the Internal Agent, and the Subtle Body 5

the Jain assertion that the liberated, disengaged soul is omniscient• the Nyaya-Vaisheshika position that it lacks consciousness• the Advaitya Vedanta assertion that it is in a state beyond being conscious ofeverything or conscious of nothing.

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