School
Advaita Vedānta
Also known as Advaita Vedanta, Advaita, Non-dualism
School of Vedānta which holds that brahman alone is real, that the world of plurality is an appearance, and that the individual self is identical with brahman.
Vedānta is the family of interpretations of the Upaniṣads and of Bādarāyaṇa’s Brahma Sūtra, and advaita, often translated “non-dualism”, literally means “non-secondness”. For Advaita, brahman appears as the world through its creative power (māyā), and the world has no existence apart from it. The individual self and the self of the universe are in reality identical, though they seem different, as space in a jar seems different from space as such.
Plurality is experienced because of error and ignorance (avidyā), and knowledge of brahman removes them and brings liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Śaṅkara is credited with establishing Advaita as a school of its own, but it began earlier; of the teachers before him, Gauḍapāda is one of the few who can be dated with some confidence.
- Tradition
- Indian
Philosophers
- Gauḍapādafl. 450–550 CE
- Śaṅkarafl. 700–800 CE
- Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan1888–1975
Terms on this page
- advaita
- Non-dualism, literally “non-secondness”: the name of Advaita Vedānta, for which brahman, revealed in the Upaniṣads, is the nondual reality of all things. Śaṅkara promoted it, but its origins are earlier.
- brahman
- The ultimate reality taught in the Vedānta. Advaita identifies it with the self (ātman); Madhva held that the self and brahman are fundamentally and permanently different.
- māyā
- The creative or magical power by which, in Advaita Vedānta, the one reality appears as a world of many things. Gauḍapāda held that all dualities are projected by māyā and do not really exist.
- avidyā
- Ignorance: in Advaita Vedānta, the error of mistaking body and mind for the self and the self for them, which Śaṅkara identified as the root of all existential suffering.
Sources
- Sangeetha Menon, Vedanta, Advaita, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy