Upanishads
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| + | The German philosopher [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] read the Latin translation and praised the Upanishads in his main work, ''[[The World as Will and Representation]]'' (1819), as well as in his ''[[Parerga and Paralipomena]]'' (1851). He found his own philosophy was in accord with the Upanishads, which taught that the individual is a manifestation of the one basis of reality. For Schopenhauer, that fundamentally real underlying unity is what we know in ourselves as "will". Schopenhauer used to keep a copy of the Latin ''Oupnekhet'' by his side and commented, "It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death." | ||
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| - | The '''Upanishads'''are [[philosophical text]]s of the [[Hindu]] religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main (''[[mukhya]]'') or old Upanishads. The oldest of these, the ''Brihadaranyaka'' and ''Chandogya'' Upanishads, were composed during the pre-Buddhist era of [[India]],{{sfn|Olivelle|p=xxxvi|1998}}{{sfn|King|Acarya|p=52|1995}}{{#tag:ref|The date of the Buddha's birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as [[circa|c.]] 563 BCE to 483 BCE,{{sfn|Cousins|1996|pp=57-63}} but more recent opinion dates his death to between to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to some, between 411 and 400 BCE.{{sfn|Narain|2003|p=}}|group=note}} while the ''Taittiriya, Aitareya'' and ''Kausitaki'', which show Buddhist influence, must have been composed after the fifth century BC.{{sfn|King|Acarya|p=52|1995}} The remainder of the mukhya Upanishads are dated to the first two centuries of the common era.{{sfn|King|Acarya|p=52|1995}} The new Upanishads were composed in the [[medieval]] and early modern period: discoveries of newer Upanishads were being reported as late as 1926.{{sfn|Ranade|1926|p=12}} One, the ''{{IAST|[[Muktikā]]}}'' Upanishad, predates 1656{{sfn|Verma|2009}} and contains a list of 108 canonical Upanishads,{{sfn|Sen|1937|p=19}} including itself as the last. However, several texts under the title of "Upanishads" originated right up to the first half of the 20th century, some of which did not deal with subjects of vedic philosophy.{{sfn|Varghese|2008|p=101}} The newer Upanishads are known to be imitations of the mukhya Upanishads. | ||
| - | The Upanishads have been attributed to several authors: Yajnavalkya and Uddalaka Aruni feature prominently in the early Upanishads.{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|pp59-60}} Other important writers include Shwetaketu, Shandilya, Aitreya, Pippalada and Sanat Kumara. Important women authors include Yajnavalkya's wife Maitreyi, and Gargi. [[Dara Shikoh]], son of the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Shah Jahan]], translated 50 Upanishads into [[Persian language|Persian]] in 1657. The first written English translation came in 1804 from [[Max Müller]], who was aware of 170 Upanishads. Sadhale's catalog from 1985, the {{IAST|''Upaniṣad-vākya-mahā-kośa''}}, lists 223 Upanishads.{{sfn|Sadhale|1987}} The Upanishads are mostly the concluding part of the [[Brahmanas]], and the transition from the latter to the former is identified as the ''[[Aranyakas]]''.{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|p=56}} | + | {{Template}} |
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| - | All Upanishads have been passed down in [[oral tradition]]. The mukhya Upanishads hold the stature of revealed texts (''[[shruti]]''). With the [[Bhagavad Gita]] and the [[Brahmasutra]] (known collectively as the [[Prasthanatrayi]]),{{sfn|Ranade|1926|p=205}} the mukhya Upanishads provide a foundation for several later schools of [[India]]n philosophy (''vedanta''), among them, two influential [[monism|monistic]] schools of Hinduism.{{#tag:ref|Advaita Vedanta'', generally attributed to Shankara (788–820), advances a non-dualistic (''a-dvaita'') interpretation of the Upanishads."{{sfn|Cornille|1992|p=12}}|group=note}}{{#tag:ref|"These Upanishadic ideas are developed into Advaita monism. Brahman's unity comes to be taken to mean that appearances of individualities.{{sfn|Phillips|1995|p=10}}|group=note}}{{#tag:ref|"The doctrine of advaita (non dualism) has is origin in the Upanishads."{{sfn|Marbaniang|2010|p=91}}|group=note}} The Upanishads are collectively considered amongst the [[100 Most Influential Books Ever Written]] by the British poet [[Martin Seymour-Smith]]. The texts have received praise from writers and scholars like [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]], [[Thoreau]], [[Kant]], [[Schopenhauer]] and several others. Some criticism of the Upanishads revolves around the denial of pluralistic ideas due to the core philosophy of unity of the Upanishads. | + | |
| + | The '''Upanishads'''are [[philosophical text]]s of the [[Hindu]] religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main (''[[mukhya]]'') or old Upanishads. | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| *[[100 Most Influential Books Ever Written]] | *[[100 Most Influential Books Ever Written]] | ||
Revision as of 23:21, 11 December 2014
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The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer read the Latin translation and praised the Upanishads in his main work, The World as Will and Representation (1819), as well as in his Parerga and Paralipomena (1851). He found his own philosophy was in accord with the Upanishads, which taught that the individual is a manifestation of the one basis of reality. For Schopenhauer, that fundamentally real underlying unity is what we know in ourselves as "will". Schopenhauer used to keep a copy of the Latin Oupnekhet by his side and commented, "It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death." |
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The Upanishadsare philosophical texts of the Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main (mukhya) or old Upanishads.
See also
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