Hinduism - What IS The Nyaya Sutra?

 


The Nyaya school, one of the six schools of ancient Hindu philosophy, has a foundational book called the Nyaya Sutras.

The philosopher Gautama is said to have penned the Nyaya Sutras, although Vatsyayana wrote the most important commentary in the fourth century.

The Nyaya Sutras begin with an explanation of the reason of human bonding, which is presented as a five-part causal chain including pain, birth, activity, flaw, and erroneous belief.

Each of these components is caused by the one before it, and is removed when its cause is destroyed.

The core cause of enslavement and rebirth (samsara) is therefore incorrect beliefs, which must be changed in order to achieve complete soul emancipation (moksha).

The Nyaya Sutras pay special emphasis to the pramanas, or ways by which human beings might receive real and accurate knowledge, as well as the norms and processes for applying them, in their search for proper understanding.

Perception (pratyaksha), inference (anumana), analogy (upamana), and authoritative witness are four such pra manas described in the Nyaya Sutras (shabda).

The Nyayas' greatest contribution to Indian philosophy is their concepts, which are acknowledged by practically all Indian philosophical systems.

~Kiran Atma


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