Samkhya

Samkhya or Sankhya (; ) is a dualistic orthodox school of Hindu philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, Puruṣa ('consciousness' or spirit) and Prakṛti (nature or matter, including the human mind and emotions).

foundational text of Yoga in Sanskrit from ancient India by Patanjali

psycho-spiritual constituents of living beings, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings

teacher of yogic meditation and second teacher of Gautama Buddha

Patanjali's classification of classical yoga

The Sāṅkhyakārikā (Sanskrit: साङ्ख्यकारिका, Sāṅkhyakārikā, sometimes spelled Sāṃkhyakārikā) is the earliest surviving text of the Sāṅkhya (sometimes Sāṃkhya) school of Indian philosophy. The text's original composition date is unknown, but its terminus ad quem (completed before) date has been established through its Chinese translation that became available by 569 CE. It is attributed to Īśvarakṛṣṇa (fl. 350 CE).

Īśvarakṛṣṇa (, , ) (fl. 350 CE) was an Indian philosopher and sage. He was the author of Samkhyakarika (“Verses on Samkhya”), an account of the universe and its components (tattvas) according to the Samkhya school, one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy. Samkhyakarika is the earliest surviving authoritative text on classical Samkhya philosophy.

The Samkhya school of philosophy, which follows Prakṛti Parinama-vada (doctrine of the transformation of objective nature), describes the origination and evolution of universe through its theory of Satkāryavāda () which is the theory of causation. According to this theory, the manifested effect is pre-existent in the cause; and the original material cause of everything that is perceived is Prakriti. When Prakriti is not in proximity with immutable Purusha, the conscious ability (chiti-shakti), the three modes (gunas-sattva, rajas and tamas) of prakriti are in equipoise and prakriti is an unman

belief held by certain schools of Indian philosophy that reality is fundamentally composed of two parts