Vaisheśika School - Vaisheśika School

One of the six Indian philosophical schools. Founded around the time of Christ, it developed a kind of theory of categories. It is said that its founder was Kanada (also known as Kanabju or Kanavaksha). The Vaisheshika Sutra, the fundamental scripture of this school, is said to have been written by him, but in fact it was compiled into its current form around the 2nd or 3rd century. Around the 5th century, the scholar Prashasthapada appeared and wrote Outline of the Meaning of Phrases (also known as Prashasthapada Bhasiya), clearly establishing the theory of this school. This school developed a theory about the meaning of phrases, with the original meaning being "what the word means." Usually, six meanings are established: substance, quality, motion, universal, particular, and internal, but later, the meaning of nothingness was sometimes added to make it seven meanings. In addition, Shoshu Jikkugiron (The Treatise on the Ten Phrases of Master Katsumura) advocated an isolated dissenting view, and established a ten-phrase system that added universal and particular (translated into Chinese as kubun), capable, incapable, and nonexistent to the six-phrase system. Substances are classified into nine types: earth, water, fire, wind, emptiness, direction (space), time, atman (self), and will (organ of thinking). Qualities are classified into 24 types: color, taste, smell, touch, number, quantity, different sex, combination, separation, far-reaching, far-reaching, weight, fluidity, adhesion, sound, knowledge, pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, effort, merit, sin, and potential formative power. Movements are classified into five types: rising, falling, bending, stretching, and progressing. In terms of their relationship to grammatical elements, roughly speaking, substances correspond to nouns, qualities to adjectives, and movements to verbs.

One of the main characteristics of this school is that it thoroughly analyzes all things into their base and attributes, or into those that are determined and those that determine them, and then precisely studies and defines their mutual relationships. This basic approach had a decisive influence on the theory of knowledge of its sister school, the Nyaya school, through such masters as Uddyotakara (7th-8th century) and Bhachaspatimishra (9th century). The two schools were almost completely integrated by Udayana in the 10th century, and the foundation for the formation of the Naviya-Nyaya (neo-Nyaya) school was laid.

[Keiichi Miyamoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

インド六派哲学学派の一つ。紀元前後に成立し、一種のカテゴリー論を展開した。開祖はカナーダ（別名カナブジュ、カナバクシャ）であると伝えられている。この学派の根本経典『バイシェーシカ・スートラ』は彼の作であることになっているが、実際には、2～3世紀ころに現在の形に編纂(へんさん)されたものである。5世紀ころに学匠プラシャスタパーダが現れ、『句義法綱要』（別名『プラシャスタパーダ・バーシヤ』）を著し、この派の学説を明晰(めいせき)に整備した。この派は、「語の意味するところ」を原義とする句義についての説を展開した。普通は、実体、性質、運動、普遍、特殊、内属の六句義がたてられるが、後世、無を加えて七句義とすることもあった。また、『勝宗十句義論(しょうしゅうじっくぎろん)』は孤立した異説を唱え、六句義に、普遍かつ特殊（漢訳語で倶分(くぶん)）、有能、無能、無を加えた十句義をたてた。実体は、地、水、火、風、虚空(こくう)、方角（空間）、時間、アートマン（自我）、意（思考器官）の9種に分類される。性質は、色、味、香、触、数、量、別異性、結合、分離、かなた性、こなた性、重さ、流動性、粘着性、音声、知識、楽、苦、欲望、嫌悪、努力、功徳、罪障、潜在的形成力の24種に分類される。運動は、上昇、下降、屈、伸、進行の5種に分類される。文法的な要素との関連でいえば、おおよそ、実体は名詞に、性質は形容詞に、運動は動詞に対応する。

　この派の一つの大きな特徴は、あらゆる物事を、徹底的に基体と属性、あるいは限定されるものと限定するものに分析し、その相互の関係を精密に研究、規定することにある。この基本姿勢は、ウッディヨータカラ（7～8世紀）やバーチャスパティミシュラ（9世紀）などの学匠を通して、姉妹学派であるニヤーヤ学派の知識論に決定的な影響を及ぼした。10世紀のウダヤナにおいて両派はほぼ完全に融合し、ナビヤ・ニヤーヤ（新ニヤーヤ）学派の形成の基礎が築かれた。

［宮元啓一］

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