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Ābhāsa-caitanya
(Skt., ‘reflection’ + ‘consciousness’).The way in which, in Hinduism, absolute consciousness (cit) is reflected in human awareness. The world-entangled self (jīva) takes this reflection to be the ...
Ādhāra
(Skt., ‘container’).The Hindu understanding of the way in which ātman is contained in the five kośas or sheaths.
Adhyātma
(Skt., ‘that which pertains to the ātman’).1 In Hinduism the inner self or soul of the individual; but because of the relation of ātman to Brahmān, it is also the supreme self, or (theistically ...
adhyatman
(Sanskrit, related to the self)Hindu writings, doctrines, or exercises relating to the self. See advaita, atman.
Ādhyātma-Yoga
A yogic discipline in Hinduism which elucidates the difference between ātman and its kośas (containers), thus leading to the state of ādhyātma-prasāda, which is equivalent to the liberated self ...
adṛṣṭa
(Skt., ‘unseen’).Unseen force; in Indian philosophy related to and sometimes synonymous with karma. It designates an imperceptible constraint on any given event, accounting for such forces as gravity ...
Advaita
(Sanskrit, non-duality)The doctrine of the Vedantic school associated with Shankara, that asserts the identity of brahman and atman; the empirical world is one of phenomena bene fundata and, like the ...
Advaita Vedānta
One of the major theological cum philosophical schools of the Vedānta darśana, now closely associated with the teachings of Śaṅkara (Śaṅkarācārya). The earliest identifiable Advaita text, the ...
Agnihotri
(1859–1928).Hindu founder of the Dev Samaj. Originally called Shiv Narayan, he was born into a brahman family and became a teacher in Lahore. He joined the Brahmo Samāj, and ...
Aham Brahman asmi
‘I am Brahman’ (Bṛhadāraṇaya Upaniṣad 1.4.10). Hindu formula through which the identity of the self (ātman) with Brahman is proclaimed. It is one of the mahāvākyas, great precepts.
Aitareya Upaniṣad
Attached to the Ṛg Veda, the Aitareya is one of the oldest and shortest of the Upaniṣads. It deals with different aspects of the ātman or self.
ajātivāda
Teaching, originating in the earliest śāstra of the Advaita Vedānta system, the Gauḍapādīya Kārikā, that nothing has ever really come into existence (i.e. that change is illusory).
Ajñāna
(Skt.).In Hinduism, the opposite of jñāna, but particularly ignorance of the identity of ātman and Brahman, and thus in consequence equivalent to avidyā.
akṣara
(Skt.). A syllable, letter, or phoneme, especially of Sanskrit. In tantric Buddhism these syllables often constitute a hidden code with mystical significance known only to initiates.
anātman
A key early Buddhist doctrine which denies any permanent, unchanging essence or self (ātman) either to persons or things. It was formulated to contradict the ātman-brahman doctrine of the early ...
Anatta-lakkhaṇa Sutta
A discourse preached five days after the Buddha gave his first sermon, the Dhamma-cakkappavattana Sutta. The Anatta-lakkhaṇa Sutta teaches the doctrine of the five aggregates (skandha) and explains ...
antara-bhāva
(Skt., ‘intermediate state’).The period, according to Hindus, which intervenes between death and rebirth. The term was taken into Buddhism, although there is no soul (ātman) being reborn. In ...
Aruṇanti
(13th century ce)A South Indian brahmin ascetic, the author of perhaps the best known Śaiva Siddhānta śāstra, Civañāṉacittiyār (1253), which is partly a commentary on his guru Meykaṇṭār's ...
aśaikṣa-mārga
(Skt.). The path of ‘no more learning’, the last of the five paths to Buddhahood (pañca-mārga), when all defilements (kleśa) and perverse views about the knowable—such as a belief in an inherent, ...
Asaṇga
Along with Maitreyanātha, the historical co-founder of the Yogācāra school of Mahāyāna Buddhism and half-brother of Vasubandhu. Born in north-west India during the 4th century ce, he was originally a ...
