Views of Material Causality

1. asatkaryavada: the view that the effect is not pre-existent in the cause

[1a. sadrsyavada: Buddhist view that the effect is similar to the cause, to be discussed later.]

1b. arambhavada: the view that a new effect is produced by the combination of its parts

• metaphors: pot-halves joined to make a pot, strings woven into a cloth
• application: The universe consists of many distinct entities, among which compound material entities are the products of collections of parts, analyzable down to the level of indivisible atoms. Souls are innumerable, omnipresent, and distinct from each other.
• adherents: Vaisesika and Nyaya systems, and some Mimamsakas.

2. satkaryavada: the view that the effect is pre-existent in the cause

2a. parinamavada: the view that the cause is actually transformed into the effect

• metaphors: milk becoming yogurt, gold being shaped into jewelry
• application: Alongside Selves of pure consciousness (purusas), one root matter (prakrti) evolves into all other things in the universe, physical and psychological, illuminated by the pure consciousness which is entirely separate.
• adherents: Sankhya and Yoga systems, and some theistic Vedantins.

2a. vivartavada: the view that the cause (falsely) appears or is manifested as the effect

• metaphors: rope mistaken for a snake, mother-of-pearl mistaken for silver; prototype and mirror image; and many others of several types
• application: Ultimately the one reality is absolute consciousness (brahma), which through ignorance appears as the various objects of the universe to individual selves, which in their separateness are also illusory manifestations of brahma, from which they are actually not different.
• adherents:Many Advaita Vedanta systems