Nāstika

thumb|The Kamakura Daibutsu, a 13th-century bronze statue of the Buddha [[Amitābha in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan]]

Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion which teaches a path toward spiritual purity and enlightenment through disciplined non-violence (') to all living creatures. The tradition is spiritually guided by twenty-four ' (ford-makers), supreme teachers who have conquered the cycle of rebirth and attained omniscience ('). The core of Jain philosophy is established on three ethical pillars: ' (nonviolence), ' (non-absolutism or many-sided reality), and ' (non-possession). While its ultimate spiritual goal is ' (liberation from '), these ethical principles have historically fos

thumb|260px|An illustration in a manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra from [[Nalanda, depicting the bodhisattva Maitreya, an important figure in Mahāyāna]]

Theravāda is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed Theravādins (anglicized from Pali theravādī), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or Dhamma in the Pāli Canon for over two millennia. As of 2010, Theravada is the second largest branch of Buddhism with 36% Buddhists belonging to Theravada, compared to 53% to Mahayana.

Charvaka (; IAST: Cārvāka), also known as Lokāyata, is an ancient Indian school of materialism. It is an example of the atheistic schools in the Ancient Indian philosophies. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embraces philosophical skepticism, and rejects ritualism. In other words, the Charvaka epistemology states that whenever one infers a truth from a set of observations or truths, one must acknowledge doubt; inferred knowledge is conditional.

elaboration and explanation of the delivered teachings of the Buddha

Ajivika (, IAST: '''') is an ancient nāstika'', or 'heterodox,' Indian school of absolute fatalism or extreme determinism. The Ājīvika school is known for its Niyati ("Fate") doctrine and for the premise that there is no free will, that everything that has happened, is happening and will happen is entirely preordained and a function of cosmic principles.

religious term

epistemological study of Buddhism

Ajñāna (, (Vedic) IPA: /ɐd͡ʑ.ɲɑː.nɐ/; (Classical) IPA: /ɐd͡ʑˈɲɑː.n̪ɐ/) is an ancient nāstika, or 'heterodox,' Indian school of agnosticism that embraces radical skepticism. It emerged as a Śramaṇa movement and was a major rival of early Buddhism, Jainism and the Ājīvika school. They have been recorded in Buddhist and Jain texts. They held that it was impossible to obtain knowledge of metaphysical nature or ascertain the truth value of philosophical propositions; and even if knowledge was possible, it was useless and disadvantageous for final salvation. They specialized in refutation without pr