Curated category
Nonduality
- ZenThe word Zen comes from the Japanese pronunciation of a Middle Chinese term that traces back to the Sanskrit word dhyana, meaning contemplation or meditative…
- AnattāThe Pali word anattā combines the prefix an meaning not with attā, which translates to self-existent essence. This composite term defines a central Buddhist…
- Advaita VedantaThe earliest seeds of Advaita Vedanta took root in the Sannyasa Upanishads, texts composed during the first centuries CE.
- MadhyamakaThe Indian Buddhist monk Nāgārjuna established the Madhyamaka tradition sometime in the first three centuries CE. Scholars cannot pinpoint his exact birth…
- Samatha-vipassanāThe Sanskrit word śamatha translates to tranquility, calm, or quietude of the heart. In Pali, samatha carries the same meaning of serenity and mental…
- Prajñā (Buddhism)The Sanskrit word Prajñā appears in ancient Buddhist texts as a term often translated simply as wisdom. Scholars have debated the precise meaning of this…
- YogacharaIn the first centuries of the common era, a group of yogis from the Sarvastivada and Sautrantika traditions in north India began to adopt Mahayana Buddhism.
- VijñānaThe Sanskrit word vijñāna appears in many early Upanishads, where translators have rendered it as understanding, knowledge, and intelligence.