The six darśanas are Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedānta — six schools that together form the complete panorama of Indian philosophical inquiry.
"Darśana" comes from the root dṛś — to see. Each darśana is a "vision" of reality. They are not religious sects or opinion clubs. They are rigorous systems of inquiry, each with its foundational texts (sūtras), its commentaries, and its methodology.
What makes Indian philosophy unique is that all these schools share a practical goal: liberation (mokṣa). It's not philosophy as intellectual exercise. It's philosophy as an instrument of freedom.
The Six Schools in Pairs
Traditionally, the darśanas are studied in three complementary pairs:
Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika — logic and ontology Sāṃkhya and Yoga — cosmology and practice Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta — Vedic rituals and ultimate knowledge
Each pair covers a different aspect of inquiry. Together, they form a comprehensive system.
Nyāya: The School of Logic
Founded by Gautama (not the Buddha — another Gautama), Nyāya is dedicated to the study of the means of knowledge (pramāṇas). How many valid means of knowledge are there? What are their rules? How to distinguish true knowledge from error?
Nyāya recognizes four pramāṇas: direct perception (pratyakṣa), inference (anumāna), analogy (upamāna), and verbal testimony (śabda).
Nyāya's contribution is enormous. Its formal logic — with five-membered syllogisms — is as sophisticated as Aristotelian logic, and in some aspects more precise.
Vaiśeṣika: The School of Categories
Complementary to Nyāya, Kaṇāda's Vaiśeṣika classifies everything that exists into categories (padārthas): substance, quality, action, generality, particularity, inherence, and — in later versions — absence.
It is an atomistic ontology. Vaiśeṣika proposes that the world is composed of eternal atoms (paramāṇus) that combine to form objects. It predates the Greek atomism of Democritus and Leucippus.
Sāṃkhya: The School of Enumeration
Sāṃkhya is one of the oldest and most influential systems. Founded by Kapila, it proposes a fundamental dualism: puruṣa (consciousness) and prakṛti (matter).
Prakṛti is composed of three guṇas (qualities): sattva (clarity), rajas (activity), and tamas (inertia). All manifestation — from the intellect to the gross elements — is an evolution of prakṛti.
Puruṣa is pure consciousness, without action. The human problem, for Sāṃkhya, is the confusion between puruṣa and prakṛti — thinking that you (consciousness) are the body-mind (matter).
Yoga: The School of Discipline
Patañjali's Yoga is the practical complement to Sāṃkhya. While Sāṃkhya analyzes reality theoretically, Yoga systematizes practice.
The Yoga Sūtras present the path of the eight limbs (aṣṭāṅga): yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi.
The goal is citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ — the cessation of mental modifications. When the mind stops, puruṣa "rests in its own nature."
Note: the Yoga of the sūtras is not gym yoga. It is a complete life discipline, not a sequence of postures.
Mīmāṃsā: The School of Ritual
Mīmāṃsā (also called Pūrva Mīmāṃsā) is dedicated to the interpretation of the karma-kāṇḍa of the Vedas — the portion dealing with rituals and actions.
Founded by Jaimini, Mīmāṃsā developed sophisticated hermeneutic principles for interpreting Vedic texts. Those who wrote laws and legal texts in India used these principles — the influence is vast.
Mīmāṃsā accepts dharma as the supreme purpose and emphasizes that correctly performed ritual actions produce real results (apūrva). It is a deeply pragmatic school.
Vedānta: The School of Ultimate Knowledge
Vedānta — also called Uttara Mīmāṃsā — is dedicated to the jñāna-kāṇḍa of the Vedas: the Upaniṣads.
While Mīmāṃsā asks "what to do?", Vedānta asks "who am I?"
The answer: ātman (the self) is Brahman (the absolute reality). You already are what you seek. The problem is not a lack of something — it is ignorance (avidyā) about yourself.
Vedānta has important subdivisions. Advaita (non-duality) by Śaṅkarācārya is the most well-known. Viśiṣṭādvaita (qualified non-duality) by Rāmānuja and Dvaita (duality) by Madhva are others.
What They All Share
Despite their differences, the six schools share premises:
Human suffering has a solution. This solution is accessible in this life. The path involves knowledge and/or discipline. The Vedas are a valid source of knowledge.
They are also called "āstika" — schools that accept the authority of the Vedas. The "nāstika" schools — Buddhism, Jainism, and Cārvāka — reject this authority but share much of the vocabulary and concerns.
Why Study the Six Darśanas?
Because no school exists in a vacuum. Vedānta is best understood when you know what it argues against (Sāṃkhya, Nyāya) and what it presupposes (Mīmāṃsā). The concepts illuminate each other.
And because the richness of Indian philosophy is under-represented in the West. India produced thousands of years of sophisticated philosophical debate — as rigorous as the Greek tradition, and in many ways more comprehensive.
Start where it makes sense. If you like logic, Nyāya. If you seek practice, Yoga. If you want the ultimate answer about who you are, Vedānta.
Want to study Vedanta in depth?
Join a Study Group →