A Comparative Study of man Viewpoint Theravāda Buddhist and Sāṅkhya Philosophical

Abstract

This thesis has three objectives 1) to study the concept of man in Theravada Buddhist philosophy, 2) to study the concept of man in Sãṅkhya philosophy, and 3) to compare the concept of man in Theravada Buddhist philosophy and Sãṅkhya philosophy. This is a documentary research.
In the research, it was clearly found that the concept of man in Theravada Buddhist philosophy is of the view that man is the five aggregates of existence comprising of corporeality, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness. In short, man is by nature is of body and mind. According to Theravada Buddhist philosophy, life is undergoing endless suffering because man’s life is controlled by the natural law; the suffering is the real nature man is supposed to get either the bodily or the mental suffering which is caused by attachment. In Theravada Buddhist philosophy, Nibbãna is highly regarded as the ultimate goal of life because it puts an end to the mentioned kinds of suffering. As regards the concept of man in Sãṅkhya philosophy, it is of the view that all things are conditioned by two ultimate things, Puruṣa and Prãkṛiti. Viewed from both of them, man by nature consists of both Puruṣa and Prãkṛiti. It says that the all things including suffering are evolutionalized by Puruṣa and Prãkṛiti. Once man comes to realize the separation of both, such realization would land him in the complete free from bondages, man will not be reborn after his/her death, that is, his/her becomes absolutely purified. The goal of Sãṅkhya philosophy is to gain liberation through the complete separation of Puruṣa and Prãkṛiti. In the comparison of the concept of man between Theravada Buddhist philosophy and Sãṅkhya philosophy, this research was considerably found that the similar point is that both share the same concept that man by nature consists of two components, body and mind; both are somehow related resulting in having life. Apart from that, it was also found that if man cannot achieve the Summum Bonum of life, then he/she will be reborn endlessly. To be able to obtain the ultimate goal, man needs to have the proper understanding of body and mind through the realization on its mutual condition. With respect to the differences, on the one hand, Theravada Buddhist philosophy holds that the concept of mind is the non-substantial self, on the other hand, the mind is viewed as the substantial self by Sãṅkhya philosophy, and such mind becomes eternal. Moreover, Theravada Buddhist philosophy holds that in the man’s body there are four kinds of hard element, earth, water, fire and wind which are quite different from Sãṅkhya philosophy whose view is of five kinds, earth, water, fire, wind and ether. From the research, it argued that the comparison of both schools of thought take a great pains in understanding the nature of man, liberation and its path leading to the ultimate goal.