Definitions Archive - Embodied Philosophy

Abhidharma

The Abhidharma represents one of the three primary divisions of the Buddhist Canon, known as the Tripiṭaka or "Three Baskets," which also includes the Vinaya (rules of monastic discipline) and the Sūtras (discourses attributed to the Buddha). The Abhidharma is a detailed scholastic reworking of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist Sūtras, arranged systematically to create...

Achintya-Bheda-Abheda

Achintya-bheda-abheda is a philosophical concept that originated within the Gaudiya Vaishnavism tradition, a branch of Hinduism that focuses on the worship of Lord Krishna. The term "achintya-bheda-abheda" can be broken down as follows: Achintya: It means "inconceivable" or "beyond thought." It emphasizes that the nature...

Adhikāra

The term adhikāra derives from the Sanskrit prefix “adhi-” and the verbal root /kṛ and means “to superintend” or “to be or place over.” The noun adhikāra refers to an authority, qualification, or entitlement with regards to rites of passage and “denotes a range of personal capacities and statuses, especially those conferred by religious...

Ardhanārīśvara

Ardhanārīśvara is a hybridized deity form of Śiva and Śakti and is thus popularly depicted as half-male and half-female. A compound of ardha (अर्ध), meaning “half”, nārī (नारी), meaning “woman”, and īśvara (ईश्वर) , meaning “lord,” the name literally means “Lord who is half woman.” Ardhanārīśvara is thus a profound and...

Bhakti

Bhakti yoga is a spiritual path or discipline within Hindu philosophy that emphasizes devotion, love, and surrender to a personal deity or a chosen form of the divine. The word "bhakti" is derived from the Sanskrit term "bhaj," which means to adore, worship, or serve. Bhakti yoga is considered one of the major paths to spiritual realization in Hinduism...

Chakras/Cakras

The chakras (in IAST, cakra) are one of the most iconic representations of modern spirituality. Having been widely adopted outside their original Tantric cultural milieu by New Age expressions of spirituality and those interested in so-called “energy practices,” they have taken on a life of their own that can not easily be distinguished from the psychologized understanding...

Death

Death always comes as a surprise even when we know it’s coming. It’s as much a part of life as birth. Yet, even when the deceased is an elderly gentleman who dies of natural causes, there’s something about death that feels unnatural. We should consider the possibility that death feels unnatural because it is unnatural. The elderly gentleman was once a strapping...

Deity Yoga

“Deity Yoga” as a phrase is mostly associated with Tāntrik Buddhism such as Vajrāyana, where identification with a chosen deity occurs through various rituals and visualizations. The phrase has been adopted in other traditions to mean numerous things, but here, we’ll explore it from the perspective of Nondual Śākta Tantra. It would be an appropriation of sorts...

Dharma

Dharma is an important concept found in many spiritual philosophies from the Indian subcontinent – including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. In Hinduism, dharma is simultaneously the eternal order that rules the universe and the duty or law that governs one’s life. Fulfilling one’s dharma is more than simply one’s purpose in life...

Direct Realization

Direct realization spiritual practice emphasizes the direct encounter. It de-emphasizes faith, trust and belief in favor of finding out about Reality firsthand for yourself. The direct realization traditions I have practiced in are the Trika Shaivite tradition of Kashmir and the Dzogchen tradition of Tibet. While these two traditions have somewhat different cultural...

Dualism

Dualism, a term used across various fields of philosophy, theology, and psychology, generally refers to the idea that two fundamental and often opposing components constitute reality. The most well-known form of dualism is mind-body dualism, primarily associated with the philosophical writings of René Descartes. Another significant form of dualism...

Ecofeminism

To define ecofeminism, it might be useful to look at the terms it synthesizes. Any conversation, in this case, between environmentalism and intersectional feminism, amounts to more than the sum of its parts; relationships are generative. The ecofeminist critical framework “situates humans in ecological terms and nonhumans in ethical terms,” and models itself...

Ecology

Ecology, or ecological science, is the study of the relationships between organisms and their biophysical environment. A biophysical environment consists of both the biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population. The abiotic environment includes weather, earth, sun, soil, climate and atmosphere. The biotic environment includes organisms...

Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path (āryāṣṭāṅgamārga) forms an essential component of Buddhist practice, offering a comprehensive guide for ethical conduct, mental discipline, and wisdom. It is a central tenet of the Buddha's teachings, articulated in the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, which elucidates the way to cessation of suffering (duḥkha). As a practitioner...

Five Kośas

The concept of the five kośas, or sheaths, is a central tenet in Vedāntic philosophy, particularly within the framework of Advaita Vedānta. These five kośas (pañcakośa) are outlined in the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, one of the principal Upaniṣads, which explores the nature of the human being and the ultimate reality. The five kośas, arranged from gross to the subtle, provide a map of...

Four Noble Truths

When the great universal teacher Shakyamuni Buddha first spoke about the Dharma in the noble land of India, he taught the four noble truths: the truths of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the path to the cessation of suffering. Since many books contain discussions of the four noble truths in English, they (as well as the eight...

Grief

Definitions of grief range from “the simple and short (yet profound) to the highly complex and sophisticated.” Grief is both a process and an outcome, and when deep enough, it can be a teacher and a life path. It’s understood to be a universal experience, but it’s not included in the standard seven universal emotions (anger, contempt, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, and surprise...

Initiation

You can be initiated into a mantra or other practice. You can be initiated into a lineage, or as the student of a particular teacher. Often a student is initiated into all three of these at the same time. Trika Shaivism and Dzogchen each offer various initiations, sometimes called “empowerments” in Dzogchen. During many initiations, the teacher transmits both a main...

Kali Yuga

In Hindu cosmology, time is believed to progress through different cycles, known as Yugas. Kali Yuga is the final and current age in the cycle of four Yugas, as described in Hindu scriptures like the Mahabharata and the Puranas. It is often referred to as the Age of Darkness or the Iron Age. Kali Yuga is believed to be a period characterized by moral and...

Kuṇḍalinī

Kuṇḍalinī is the coiled up, dormant, cosmic power that underlies all organic and inorganic matter within us. The word Kuṇḍalinī refers to the Shakti or Power when it is in its dormant potential state. When the same Energy is manifesting, you call it Devi, Kali, Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi or any other name according to the manifestation it is exhibiting before you.

Līlā

Līlā means, among other things, “sport,” “play” and “pastime.” Often translated as “divine play,” līlā signifies a number of theological and metaphysical ideas that pertain to the spontaneous playfulness of the absolute or supreme being. There are at least two meanings of līlā relevant to the student of Indian traditions and śāstras. These meanings might...

Māyā

Māyā is “illusion,” a core concept in the Advaita Vedānta or “non-dual” school of Vedic thought. It’s key to understanding the way you construct the world through false perception. Māyā is thinking you’re separate from the Divine. Enlightenment is realizing this isn’t true. There’s a deeper reality that transcends the changing world. In the Vedas, it’s called...

Pramāṇa

In yoga, pramāṇa means right knowledge, a correct understanding of reality that can be acquired in one of three ways: sense perception (pratyakṣa), logic (anumāna), and verbal testimony (āgamaḥ or śabdaḥ) as the sources for the acquisition of valid knowledge. In his Yoga-sūtras, Patañjali categorizes pramāna as one of five possible movements of the mind that bind a person...

Queer

Language around sexuality and gender has shifted and changed throughout history. New words have emerged and existing words have altered meanings and the way they are used. Queer is an example of this repositioning. In the 16th century, the word queer in the English language originally meant “strange,” “odd,” “peculiar,” or “eccentric.” It referred to something suspicious or “not quite...

Queer Theory

To ask the question “what is queer theory?” is a gesture that can easily invite frustration, for by asking it we request a definition for something that, by definition, resists definition. It is a regular refrain of those who engage with “queer theory” that it is indefinable, and that, furthermore, this indefinable nature is one of its strengths. As McCann and Monaghan suggest...

Sahajiya

The term "sahajiya" is primarily associated with a mystical or devotional movement within the tradition of Vaishnavism, a branch of Hinduism that venerates Lord Vishnu and his incarnations, particularly Lord Krishna. Sahajiya can be translated as "one who possesses sahaja," which means "natural" or "spontaneous" in Sanskrit. The term is also used in other contexts and traditions with slightly...

Saṃsāra

Saṃsāra refers to the cycle of death and rebirth. It is the natural cycle of creation, maintenance, and dissolution that all material things undergo. For nearly all philosophical systems stemming from the Indian subcontinent, the true self is viewed as pure awareness. It is eternal and categorically different from all material things, although in each cycle of saṃsāra...

Śavāsana

Śavāsana is most popularly known as a haṭha yoga posture that completes the sequence of many modern yoga classes. A compound of the Sanskrit words śava (शव), meaning "corpse" and āsana (आसन), meaning "seat," it is commonly referred to in English as “corpse pose.”

Scholar-Practitioner

A scholar-practitioner is, put simply, a scholar who practices. The term aligns with an emerging movement within academia and independent scholarship to transcend the problematic division between scholarship and practice – a division that has, until recently, dominated much of...

Scientism

Scientism is a rather strange word, but for reasons that we shall see, a useful one. Though this term has been coined rather recently, it is associated with many other “isms” with long and turbulent histories: materialism, naturalism, reductionism, empiricism, and positivism. Rather than tangle...

Smaraṇa

The highest perfection of human life achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit (sāṃkhya), by practice of aṣṭāṅga-yoga (yogābhyām), or perfect discharge of occupation duty (sva-dharma-pariniṣṭhaya), is remembrance (smṛti) of Nārāyaṇa at the end of life.

Tantra

Tantra comes from the Sanskrit verbal root “tan,” which means to “extend,” “spread,” “weave,” “display,” “put forth,” and “compose.” By extension, it comes to mean ‘system,’ ‘doctrine,’ or ‘work.’ A Tantra is then both a text and a term for traditions of spiritual practice that weave together the mind...

Tradition

The handing down of knowledge between generations is central to the understanding of tradition implicit in the AyurYog project. In any study of historical periods, reference to texts is a central criterion to the continuity of knowledge between generations. It is also a way to ensure knowledge...

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) is a term generally used to describe three-dimensional computer-generated environments that can be explored and are interactive. Virtual reality represents an extraordinary shift in the way humans experience the digital realm. VR experiences are simulations that...

Vishnu

Vishnu (Viṣṇu) is one of the principal deities of Hinduism, revered as the preserver and protector within the Trimūrti, the triad of deities that also includes Brahmā, the creator, and Śiva, the destroyer. His role is central to the Vaiṣṇava tradition, a major sect of Hinduism, which holds him as the Supreme Being.

Yantra

A yantra is a meditative ritual device used in South Asian Tantric traditions. It is a blueprint of energy of a specific field of consciousness. Although yantras are sometimes described as representing a deity, each yantra is more than a symbol. A yantra is not a representation of a deity or principle...

Yoginīs

The origin of the yoginīs traces back to the pre-textual history of South Asian culture. Some scholars have suggested that the yoginīs were initially a grouping of deities that were connected to village traditions outside the Vedic mainstream. The earliest proto-yoginī deities are known as the...

Definitions

Abhidharma

Achintya-Bheda-Abheda

Adhikāra

Ardhanārīśvara

Bhakti

Chakras/Cakras

Death

Deity Yoga

Dharma

Direct Realization

Dualism

Ecofeminism

Ecology

Eightfold Path

Five Kośas

Four Noble Truths

Grief

Initiation

Kali Yuga

Kuṇḍalinī

Līlā

Māyā

Pramāṇa

Queer

Queer Theory

Sahajiya

Saṃsāra

Śavāsana

Scholar-Practitioner

Scientism

Smaraṇa

Tantra

Tradition

Virtual Reality

Vishnu

Yantra

Yoginīs

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