Early Indian Metaphysics

---

Veda (as early as 1200 BCE):

polytheism

henotheism

---

Upanishads (as early as 800 BCE):

non-dualism (Advaita)

Indian theism

---

Gautama, the Buddha ( c. 500 BCE)

Early Buddhism

Mahayana

---

Gita (c. 200 BCE):

Indian theism

Samkhya

Advaita

---

Advaita:

(1) Brahman, the non-dual Absolute, known

(a) in self-illumining consciousness (one’s deepest self as knowing itself self-illuminingly, like a lamp) & mystical sublation

(b) as making possible everyday self-awareness;

(2) things as distinct from Brahman are unreal (maya)

---

Indian theism:

(1) creation, which is real, is a manifestion (sarga) of God;

(2) the individual self is in one sense identical and in another distinct from God;

(3) avatara theory (Divine incarnations)

---

Samkhya (Analysis):

(1) a dualism of

(a) many individual conscious beings or persons (purusa) and

(b) a single Nature (prakrti), comprised of strands (guna)

(2) enlightenment coming from disidentification