The Vedantic position that self and ultimate reality are, at the deepest level, not two; one of three named rival positions this archive tracks alongside Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita.
The principle of non-harm or non-violence toward living beings; emphasized to differing degrees across traditions and later adapted into modern ethical and political thought.
Bliss or fullness treated as an intrinsic feature of ultimate reality itself, sharply distinguished from ordinary, conditional pleasure or emotional happiness.
A classical scheme of four life stages - student, householder, forest-dweller, and renunciant - each carrying its own appropriate duties across a full lifespan.
A term for the innermost or essential self as developed in the Upanishads; its existence and nature are affirmed by some traditions and explicitly questioned by others.
The doctrine of divine descent into the world in tangible form to restore order when it has badly decayed, most fully developed within Vaishnava theology.
The Buddhist term for the pervasive unsatisfactoriness of ordinary existence; broader than "suffering," it includes subtle unease and impermanence, not only pain.
The Vedantic position asserting permanent, irreducible difference between self and ultimate reality; distinct from the separate dualism developed in Samkhya, though the two share a family resemblance.
A Samkhya-derived scheme of three fundamental qualities - clarity, activity, and inertia - held to combine in shifting proportions within all matter and mental activity.
The principle of an authoritative teacher who transmits realized understanding rather than mere information, central across traditions this archive covers despite their otherwise significant differences.
A concept of a personal, guiding divine principle; central and indispensable in devotional traditions, but treated as an optional aid rather than a core requirement within some philosophical schools.
A term for appearance or illusion; in Vedanta it names the way ultimate reality appears as a manifold world, though schools disagree sharply on what that implies.
A sacred syllable treated in the Upanishads as a symbolic representation of ultimate reality itself, used as a meditative focus rather than merely a decorative or devotional sound.
The Samkhya and Yoga Darshana term for the single, dynamic material principle whose unfolding accounts for mind, senses, and the entire observable world.
The Samkhya and Yoga Darshana term for pure, inactive consciousness - a plurality of witnesses that observe the material principle's activity without ever becoming entangled in it.
The classical scheme of four aims of life — dharma (duty), artha (prosperity), kama (pleasure), and moksha (liberation) — meant to be balanced rather than ranked absolutely.
The culminating, graded stage of contemplative absorption in classical yoga philosophy, where the distinction between meditator and object of meditation is said to progressively dissolve.
The cycle of birth, death, and rebirth; a framework shared across several Indian traditions, each of which explains its mechanism and its escape differently.
A twentieth-century political philosophy of truth-force and non-violent resistance, developed as a considered modern reworking of ahimsa rather than a restatement of ancient sources.
Cultivated dispassion toward craving and aversion, treated as a disciplined clarity that enables full engagement with the world rather than emotional withdrawal from it.
The Vedantic position that self and ultimate reality form a real unity containing genuine internal distinction; a considered middle position, not a compromise, between Advaita and Dvaita.
A family of disciplines of mind and body aimed at self-restraint and liberation; historically a technical philosophical and contemplative term, not primarily physical exercise.