Author

Kanada (trad.)

8 key ideas, each explained in our own words.

The Vaisheshika Sutras

IDEA 1
Reality can be sorted into categories
The Vaisheshika Sutras, attributed to the sage Kanada, analyse everything that exists into a small number of categories, called padarthas. Understanding these categories correctly, the text holds, is part of the path to liberation.
IDEA 2
Substance, quality and action
The first three categories are substance, the things that exist; quality, their properties like colour; and action, their movements. Together they describe the physical world. Every object can be described this way.
IDEA 3
Universals, particulars and inherence
Other categories include universals, shared features like cowness; particularity, what makes each atom unique; and inherence, the relation joining qualities to substances. Later thinkers added non-existence. These ideas explain how things are related.

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