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Indian PhilosophyOS

Traditions & schools

Many ways of seeing.

Darśana means “a way of seeing”. These are the traditions that asked India’s great questions — and answered them differently. Explore each on its own terms; compare them when you are ready.
Editorial overviewSee them as a map →

Vedic foundations

वैदिक
Vedic & Upanishadic foundationsThe hymns, rituals and early speculative dialogues from which much later Indian thought draws.

The Six Darshanas

पूर्व मीमांसा
Purva MimamsaThe science of interpreting the Veda, centred on dharma as ritual duty.
न्याय
NyayaThe school of logic and epistemology: right reasoning as a path to liberation.
साङ्ख्य
SankhyaA dualist analysis of reality into pure consciousness and creative nature.
वैशेषिक
VaisheshikaA realist, atomist account of the categories of reality.
वेदान्त
VedantaThe family of schools that interpret the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and Bhagavad Gita.
योग
Yoga (Patanjala)A discipline of mind for isolating pure consciousness, built on Sankhya metaphysics.

Schools of Vedanta

अद्वैत वेदान्त
Advaita Vedantawithin VedantaNon-dual Vedanta: the Self is Brahman, and the world of many things is appearance.
द्वैत वेदान्त
Dvaita Vedantawithin VedantaDualist Vedanta: God, souls and matter are eternally, really distinct.
विशिष्टाद्वैत
Vishishtadvaita Vedantawithin VedantaQualified non-dualism: one Brahman, inseparably qualified by real selves and a real world.

Epics & Puranas

इतिहास-पुराण
Epics & Puranas (Itihasa-Purana)The epics and Puranas: narrative literature that carries dharma, theology and philosophy to wide audiences.

Bhakti

भक्ति
Bhakti traditionsMovements of loving devotion to a personal God, across Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta and other streams.

Shaiva traditions

प्रत्यभिज्ञा / त्रिक
Kashmir Shaivism (Pratyabhijna / Trika)within ShaivismNon-dual Shaivism: all reality is Shiva's free, self-aware consciousness.
शैव सिद्धान्त
Shaiva Siddhantawithin ShaivismThe Agamic Shaiva system of Lord, soul and bond.
शैव
ShaivismThe family of traditions centred on Shiva as the supreme reality.

Shakta traditions

शाक्त
ShaktismTraditions that worship the Goddess (Devi) as the supreme power and reality.

Tantra

तन्त्र
TantraInitiatory traditions of scripture, ritual, contemplation and philosophy across Shaiva, Shakta, Vaishnava, Buddhist and Jain streams.

Sikh philosophy

गुरमत
Sikh philosophy (Gurmat)The teaching of the Gurus: one Creator, the Name, divine order and a life of service.

Tamil ethical literature

Tamil ethical literatureThe ethical classics of Tamil literature, led by the Tirukkural.

Modern expositions

आधुनिक
Modern expositionsNineteenth- and twentieth-century teachers who re-presented classical ideas for modern audiences.

Shramana traditions

बौद्ध दर्शन
Buddhist philosophyA plural family of schools rooted in the Buddha's teaching on suffering, its causes and its end.
जैन दर्शन
Jain philosophyA shramana tradition of non-violence, many-sided reality and the soul's liberation from karmic matter.

Buddhist schools

मध्यमक
Madhyamakawithin Buddhist philosophyThe Middle Way school: all things are empty of intrinsic nature.
स्थविरवाद
Theravadawithin Buddhist philosophyThe "teaching of the elders", the Buddhist school of the Pali Canon.
योगाचार
Yogacarawithin Buddhist philosophyThe "practice of yoga" school: an analysis of experience in terms of consciousness.

Materialism

चार्वाक / लोकायत
Charvaka / LokayataIndian materialism: only the perceptible world is real.