A term for appearance, illusion, or the world's deceptive surface — central to Vedanta and interpreted very differently across schools.
Maya is one of the most misunderstood terms in Indian thought. It is often translated flatly as "illusion," but that single word flattens a concept that different schools develop in genuinely incompatible ways. This page treats maya as an interpretive term with a history, not a fixed doctrine.
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A body of philosophical texts that shifted attention from ritual toward questions about the self, reality, and liberation.
A term for ultimate reality developed in the Upanishads and central to later Vedanta — understood very differently across schools.
A term for the innermost self explored in the Upanishads — its nature, and its relation to ultimate reality, are debated across traditions.
Liberation or release, framed as the ultimate aim in several Indian traditions — with each defining what it means differently.
An influential philosopher associated with a non-dualist reading of Vedanta and with extensive commentarial work — with much of his biography known through later tradition.
A family of interpretive schools centered on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita.
A comparative note on the deepest fault line in Indian philosophy — traditions that affirm an innermost self against the Buddhist analysis that questions it.