CONCEPT OF ATOMISM ACCORDING TO BAUDDHA

PHILOSOPHY*

M. K. SRIDHAR
Fulbright Scholar, Professor of Sanskrit, National College, Bangalore– 560 004
E mail :drmksridhar@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT
The article is a presentation of ideas widely scattered in several Buddhist
traditions giving a holistic view of atomism as visualized and expounded by
Buddhist thinkers and schools. It also throws light on the influence of Greece
on Buddhist atomism and apparent similarity of the concepts in modern
physics.
Key words: atomism, causation, substance, void, momentariness, sensibles.

1. Preamble:

One of the most fascinating Indian physical concepts is atomism. This

concept is based on pure speculation and causal consideration. It has
been developed by early thinkers to explain the origin of the Universe
and of animate and inanimate matter in a speculative and philosophical
way. The orthodox schools of Indian Philosophy viz. Nyaya,
Vaisheshika and heterodox schools such as Jaina and Bauddha have
expounded their atomic concepts based on their philosophies. Each
school developed atomism in the matrix of its philosophical ideas and to
some degree in a logically structured presentation of the nature and the
attributes of atoms.

2. Nyaya Vaisheshika atomism in brief:

The Nyaya Vaisheshika School develops its theory while explaining the
philosophical thoughts and ideas about the physical world. The atom is
called anu or paramanu. The dimension of the atom is given thus: “The
paramanu is that which is the 1/6 part of a mote in a light beam
emerging through the smallest hole of a lattice 1. Several Upanishads use
the word anu in the sense of a very minute or extremely small
substance2. The Vaisheshika Sutras emphasize that the atoms are
globular in nature1. According to them, the entire world is made up of
substance (dravya). The substances are nine in number viz. earth
(pruthvi), water (apah), air (vayu), light (tejas), & space (akasha), time
(kala), quarters (dik), soul (atma) and mind (manas). The first four are
considered to be atomic in nature. They are spherical, indestructible, and
indivisible and have no magnitude. They can be differentiated
qualitatively based on their attributes. These atoms join together to form
molecules which can be perceived through the eyes. Atoms are in
1

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 eternal motion and always like-atoms combine to form gross substances.
Unlike-atoms such as earth-atom and water-atom cannot be combined at
all.

The principle of causality operates in the combination of atoms. Two

atoms combine to form a dyad (dvyanuka). Three dyads combine to
form a triad (trasarenu, trasarenuka). An unseen force (adrishta) sets
this process of combinations and hence it acts as an efficient cause,
whereas the atoms act as the material cause. In fact the Nyaya
Vaisheshika atomism is based on the doctrine of part (avayaya) and a
whole (avayavi). The cause & effect relationship play a crucial role in
the atomism of Nyaya Vaisheshika. For e.g. The groundnut oil is
inherently present in the groundnut seed. Seed serves as a cause
(karana) whereas the oil serves as an effect (karya). The unseen force
sets off the chain of causal relations.

Several scholars opine that the Nyaya Vaisheshika concept of atomism

is pre buddhistic in nature. The proponents such as Prashastapada,
Udayana, Udyotakara, Vachaspati Mishra, Sridhara, Jayantha Bhatta,
Shankara Mishra, Raghunatha Shiromani developed and added new
insights on atomism over a period of time. Prabhakara & Kumarila
Bhatta of Mimamsa school accepted Nyaya Vaisheshika theory of
atomism. On the contrary, Shankaracharya vehemently opposed the
Nyaya Vaisheshika atomic theory. The structural details of atomism as
given by Nyaya Vaisheshika is far more concrete compared to Buddhist
sects as the former has more flexibility in physical world. According to
Dr. B.V. Subbarayappa, this important theory was foreshadowed by the
atomic theory of Leucippus (475 BCE) and Democritus of Greece (500
BCE).3

3. Greek Atomic Theory:

According to Greeks, atoms are indivisible, invisibly minute, in

compressible, void and are real. They are in eternal motion and are of
various sizes and shapes. They ultimately form the building blocks of
the universe. Hence atoms and void are in a continuous flux. Even soul
is comprised of atoms. According to Leucippus, the atoms and motion
are causeless and they originate from the preceding motion which leads
to successive motions. The qualities of substances are due to the
rearrangement of atoms which includes both animate and inanimate
matter. The Epicureans lead by Epicurus of Samos (342-270 BCE),
Lecretius (95-55 BCE) further elaborated the theory of Leucippus.
According to him, the physical and mental phenomena have originated
as a result of the inter-action of atoms. They are solid and there is no
space or void in them. These atoms move together in a mass. The Nyaya

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 Vaisheshika concepts of unseen, dyad, triad, space, and magnitude of
atoms are conspicuous by their absence in the Greek theory.

4. Atomism according to Buddhists:

The Vaibhashika, Sautrantika, Madhyamika and Yogachara are the four

schools of Buddhism. Among them, the Vaibhashikas and Sautrantikas
are realists and accepts atomism. The Madhyamika and Yogacharas
opine that the external world is unreal and hence reject atomism.
According to Madhyamikas, the manifold physical phenomenon has to
be realized through spiritual experience only whereas Yogacharas
emphasize that the super imposition of the duality of subject and object
should be sublimated and united with pure consciousness.
For Vaibhashikas, external objects can be visualized through perception
(bahya-pratyakshavada) but for Sautrantikas external objects cannot be
perceived directly but could be inferred indirectly. The Buddhist
atomism is based on the concept of form (rupa). Hence matter is a
combination of qualities and atom becomes a minutest unit of rupa.4

According to Buddhists, the atoms are indivisible, invertible, inaudible,

untreatable, intangible, can’t be analyzed and are momentary in nature.
These atoms are of two types (1) Simple (dravyaparamanu) and
compound (sanghata-paramanu). The combination of atoms take place
in various ways and there are divergent views in this regard. According
to one school there is a clear combination of atoms. Others opine that
there are inter-atomic states helping in combination and a few hold the
view that there can’t be inter-atomic states. Buddhists are of the opinion
that gross matter is a combination and conglomeration of several
independent atoms and one atom cannot enter or penetrate the other
atom.

Buddhists give a list of eight atoms in total. They are fundamental and
secondary in nature. The fundamental atoms are earth, water, fire and
air. The secondary atoms are odor, taste, color and touch respectively,
although they are specific qualities and are termed as atomic in nature.
The primary and secondary qualities of Buddhist atomism correspond to
the substances (dravya) and attributes (guna) of Nyaya Vaisheshika
system. The secondary atoms form the attributes for the former.

The Vaibhashikas hold the view that the atoms of air are touch sensible
having impact or pressure as their property and form the vayu element
by aggregation. Likewise the atoms of light are color and touch sensible
having heat or energy as their attribute. The atoms of water have taste,
color, touch sensible and have roughness as their attributes. These
combinations result in animate and inanimate objects.5 The Buddhists
aver that akasha is an all pervading element and hence should penetrate

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 an atom externally and internally and hence it should have parts in
contrast to the view of the Nyaya Vaisheshikas that atoms are indivisible
particles.

Buddhists think atoms as not just a group of particles but as a bundle of

kinetic energy or forces. These kinetic forces are present in all the atoms
in equal proportions. The doctrine of momentariness (kshanabhangura
vada) wherein everything is in a state of continuous flux is applicable to
Buddhist atomic theory. Accordingly, no atom is either permanent or
non-permanent. They appear, disappear and reappear, and are in a state
of flux (santana) all the same. Hence everything becomes momentary
in nature. Thus reality, whether material (substance) or spiritual
(consciousness) are momentary in a state of perpetual change. Thus
reality becomes kinetic in nature. To quote Shantarakshita : “The
essence of reality is motion. Reality is indeed kinetic and the
interdependence of the moments following one another evokes the
illusion of stability of duration, but they are forces (samskaras) flashing
into existence without any real enduring substance in them. An
everlasting substantial matter is pure imagination”6. Thus Buddhism
acknowledges reality and similarity and believes selves in the partial
change of things. But this Buddhist doctrine of momentariness is
opposed to the absolute monism of Upanishads. Hence, Shankara
attacks the Buddhists. Vijnanabhikshu, puts forth the view that the
concept of tanmatras of Samkhya system is akin to the anus of Nyaya
Vaisheshikas but it can not be accepted by us as the foundational ideas
of Samkhya is different from that of Nyaya Vaisheshika with respect to
reality.

5. Philosophical Schools of Buddhism:

Vasubandhu’s Abhidharma kosha which propounded the Buddhist

realism was called Kusha in Japanese & became a school by itself. The
followers of Vasubandhu in Japan belongs to the Kusha school. This
school upholds the atomic theory and emphasize the existence of three
atoms. They are (1) The finest atom (paramanu) (2) The form atom
(anu) and (3) The fine dust atom (rajas). Paramanu is indivisible and
can be visible only through meditation: Seven paramanus constitute the
anus which becomes the finest substance, and has a cubic form. The
transition of atomic changes take place in the shortest of time measures
and hence space time remains correlative.7

Harivarman (250-350 AD) wrote a work called Satyasiddhi. He belongs

to the Hinayana negativism or Nihilism and this school is called Jojitsu
in Japanese language. His followers belong to the Jojitsu School. His
doctrine is understood to be the void of self (pudgala Shunyata) and fall

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 elements (sarvadharma shunyata). It is opposed to the Kusha School
where there is a void of self but a creativity of elements (dharmata).

According to the Jojitsu School, the fine gross elements are reduced to
finest atoms which in turn reach the state of voidness (shunyata). The
mind (citta), uncreated elements (asanskrita) are all temporary and
unreal. They accept the existence of all things from the view of worldly
truth only. But this doctrine of void does not summarily reject the chain
of causation as the existence of the world revolves around the cause
-effect relationship. It does not negate the stream of life (samsara) as it
is required to explain the dynamic state of becoming.8

The Theravada school asserts that past and future are real because of the roots
in past and consequence in future. All the true times are separate.

Buddhists believe that Buddha with his supernormal reason, visualized and
analyzed paramanu and declared that it consisted of inter- related forces known
as paramatthas or essentials of matter. They are four in number (earth, water,
fire & air). In modern parlance pruthvi means the element of extension, aapah
is the element of cohesion, ego is the element of heat correspond to
consciousness and action (karma) in the mental realm.9

The quantum theory says that the fundamental particles are empty of inherent
existences and they exist in undefined state of potentialities. They have no
existence from their own side and does not become real until mind interacts
and gives them meaning. In this context, the Buddhist atomic theory is close to
the ideas in particle physics.

Conclusion:

The concept of part & whole, doctrine of momentariness shows that “the entire
universe as a co- ordinate scenario of intricately inter-connected diverse
looking objects which are all essentially made up of the very same elements.
The dynamism involving cyclic degradation and synthesis of every part (but a
plant or an animal or a macro molecule) characterizes the universe.” 10

In the opinion of B.V. Subbarayappa, Indian atomism in general did not find a
place in the history of science owing to its religio-philosophical outlook
whereas Greek atomism found a place. The Nyaya Vaisheshika concept of
atomism was known to Arabic scholars in the ninth and tenth century AD, as
explained in the works of al Ashari and al Razi. It appears that Europeans came
to know the translations of atomism in twelfth and thirteenth centuries through
Latin translations of works. Chinese were aware of Indian atomism through
Buddhist texts (around 700 AD). “There is no denying that Indian atomism has
a distinct place in the history of scientific ideas although by and large, it
remained within the philosophical or metaphysical confines of India11”.

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Acknowledgements:

I am grateful to Professor B.V. Subbarayappa a Science Historian, Professor

Meera Chakravarthy, and Dr Sharat Ananthamurthy for their kind suggestions
while writing this article and to Dr Gayathri for providing some reference
works.

References:

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1
Jaalasurya mareechistham yat sukshmam drishyate rajah tat shashtatamo bhaagaha paramanuhu iti
uchhyate I

2
Vaisheshika Sutras. 7. 1. 20.

3
Bose D.M., Sen S.N., Subbarayappa B.V., 1971. A Concise History of Science in India,
Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi.

4
Das Gupta S.N., History of Indian Philosophy Vol I, pp 94-95.
5
Brajendranath Seal., 1985. The Positive Sciences of the ancient Hindus, Motilal Banarsidass
Publishers, New Delhi, pp 92-93.
6
Stacherbatsky I, 1932. Buddhist Logic I. Leningrad (After Bose D. M. Ibid) p.469
7
Juniro Takakusu, 1998 (Reprint), The essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, New Delhi, pp.63.
8
Jungiro Takakusu. Ibid, pp. 76-78.
9
Narada. 1988, The Buddha and his teachings, Buddhist Missionary Society, Malaysia, pp
459-461.
10
Sivaramakrishna D, 1996. Unity of diversity – an article in J. Swamy Bot. Cl. 13. pp1-8.

Subbarayappa B.V., 2003,Ed., Indian Perspectives on the Physical World Vol IV Part III,
11

History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, General Editor: Debiparasad
Chattopadhyaya, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi, pp 212-248.