Foundations · Reading
Astika and Nastika darshans
The six schools that accept the Vedas, and the three that do not.
Awaiting subject reviewWritten from our source material and not yet checked by a teacher of this practice. Read it as reference, and learn the practice from someone who teaches it.
Philosophy
Darshan means a way of seeing. Indian philosophy is traditionally grouped by whether a school accepts the authority of the Vedas.
The six astika, or orthodox, schools are usually paired: Nyaya, logic, with Vaisheshika, the atomist account of nature; Sankhya, the enumeration of principles, with Yog, its practice; and Mimamsa, the interpretation of Vedic ritual, with Vedanta, the teaching of the Upanishads.
The nastika, or heterodox, schools are the Buddhist, the Jain and the Charvaka, the materialist school.
Terms
- Nyaya
- The school of logic.
- Vaisheshika
- The school of the categories of nature.
- Sankhya
- The enumeration of the principles of existence.
- Yog
- Patanjali's school of practice.
- Mimamsa
- The interpretation of Vedic ritual.
- Vedanta
- The teaching of the Upanishads.
- Charvaka
- The materialist school.
Ideas behind it
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, pp. 2–3, philosophy and foundations