The Six Systems Of Indian Philosophy (Paperback)

COLLECTED WORKS OF THE RIGHT HON. F. MAX MOLLER XIX THE SIX SYSTEMS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. First printed 8w, June, 1899, New Edition, Or. Bvo, in the Collected Edition of Prof. Max Mutters Works, October, 1903. Reprinted, January, 1912 March, 1916 September, 1919. THE SIX SYSTEMS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY BY THE RIGHT HON. PROFESSOR MAX MULLER, K. M. LATE FOREIGN MEMBER OF THE FRENCH INSTITUTE NEW IMPRESSION LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON FOURTH AVENUE SOrn STREET, NEW YORK BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS 1919 PREFACE. IT is not without serious misgivings that I venture at this late hour of life, to place before my fellow-workers and all who are interested in the growth of philosophical thought throughout the world, some of the notes on the Six Systems of Indian Philosophy which have accumulated in my note-books for many years. It was as early as 1852 that I published my first contributions to the study of Indian philosophy in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Mor genldndischen Gesellschaft. My other occupations, however, and, more particularly, my preparations for a complete edition of the Rig-Veda, and its voluminous commentary, did not allow me at that time to continue these contri butions, though my interest in Indian philosophy, as a most important part of the literature of India and of Universal Philosophy, has always remained the same This interest was kindled afresh when I had to finish for the Sacred Books of the East vols. I and XV my translation of the Upanishads, the remote sources of Indian philosophy, and especially of the Vedanta-philosophy, a system in which human speculation seems to me to have reached its very acme. Some of the other systemsof Indian philosophy also have from time to time roused the curiosity of scholars and philosophers in Europe and America, and in India itself a revival of philosophic and theosophic studies, though not always well directed, has taken place, which, if it leads to a more active co-operation between European and Indian VI PBEtfACJB. thinkers, may be productive in the future of most im portant results. Under these circumstances a general desire has arisen, and has repeatedly been expressed, for the publication of a more general and comprehensive account of the six systems in which the philosophical thought of India has found its full realisation. More recently the excellent publications of Professors Deussen and Garbe in Germany, and of Dr. G. Thibaut in India, have given a new impulse to these important studies, important not only in the eyes of Sanskrit scholars by pro fession, but of all who wish to become acquainted with all the solutions which the most highly gifted races of mankind have proposed for the eternal riddles of the world. These studies, to quote the words of a high authority, have indeed ceased to be the hobby of . a few individuals, and have become a subject of interest to the whole nation 1 . Professor Deussens work on the Ved nta philosophy 1883 and his translation of the Ved nta-Sfttras 1887, Professor Garbes translation of the S mkhya-Sfttras 1889 followed by his work on the S mkhya-philosophy 1894 5 and, last not least, Dr. G. Thibauts careful and most useful translation of the Ved nta-Sfttras in vols, XXXIV and XXXVIII of the Sacred Books of the East 1890 and 1896, mark a new era in the study of the two most important philosophical systems of ancient India, and havedeservedly placed the names of their authors in the front rank of Sanskrit scholars in Europe. My object in publishing the results of my own studies in Indian philosophy was not so much to restate the mere tenets of each system, so deliberately and so clearly put forward by the reputed authors of the principal philosophies of India, as to give a more comprehensive account of the 1 Words of the Viceroy of India, see Times, Nov. 8, 1898. PREFACE...