This book examines Arthur Schopenhauer’s encounter with Indian thought in the context of the intellectual climate of early nineteenth-century Europe. It discusses the two main pillars of Schopenhauer’s system in relation to broadly comparable ideas found, in the case of Hindu thought, in Advaita Vedānta, and within Buddhism in the Mādhyamika and Yogācāra schools. The second main pillar of Schopenhauer’s system, the doctrine of the world as will, is examined and its relationship to Indian thought explored. This book breaks new ground, for although the similarity of Schopenhauer’s ethical and so ... More

This book examines Arthur Schopenhauer’s encounter with Indian thought in the context of the intellectual climate of early nineteenth-century Europe. It discusses the two main pillars of Schopenhauer’s system in relation to broadly comparable ideas found, in the case of Hindu thought, in Advaita Vedānta, and within Buddhism in the Mādhyamika and Yogācāra schools. The second main pillar of Schopenhauer’s system, the doctrine of the world as will, is examined and its relationship to Indian thought explored. This book breaks new ground, for although the similarity of Schopenhauer’s ethical and soteriological teaching to that of Indian religions has long been noted, the underlying reasons for this have not been grasped. It is demonstrated that they are to be found in affinities between the metaphysics of the will and Indian ideas relating to karmic impressions (vāsanās), the store-consciousness, the causal body, and śakti as the “force” or “energy” that maintains the existence of the world. The book also looks at the relation of the will to final reality in Schopenhauer’s thought in the light of Indian conceptions.