Brahman
Brahmaner ihinduismenden uforanderlige, uendelige, immanente og transcendente virkelighed, som er den guddommelige skaber af al materie, energi, tid, rum, alt der er i universet. Det er den øverste, universelle ånd.[1]Brahman omtales undertiden som den absolutte eller Guddommen,[2]som er den guddommelige skaber[3]af alle væsner.
Upanishadernefortæller, at brahman er den ultimative essens af materielle fænomener (herunder den oprindelige identitet af det menneskelige selv), der ikke kan ses eller høres, men hvis natur kan erkendes gennem doktrinen om selverkendelse (Atma jnana).[4]IfølgeAdvaita vedantahar et befriet menneske (jivanmukta) indset, at brahman er vedkommendes eget sande selv (seAtman).
Kilder/henvisninger
- ^The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions,ed. John Bowker, OUP, 1997
- ^Both terms are used by Radhakrishnan
- ^The phrase 'Divine Ground' was in modern times coined byAldous Huxleyin his widely read comparative study of mysticismThe Perennial Philosophy.Divine Ground (Paul Tillich popularized the expression 'Ground of Being' to refer to God) is a neutral term to express the common experience of mystics in diverse religious traditions of an Absolute Ground in which phenomena appear to have their root and origin. Theistic religions refer to this ground as God or Godhead whereas Easterntranstheisticreligions use terms such asTao,DharmakayaorClear Light.Among modern authors who use the expression 'Ground' is Tibetan Buddhist teacherSogyal Rinpoche(see his bookThe Tibetan Book of Living and Dying)
- ^pp.77, Radhakrishnan, S,The Principal Upanisads,HarperCollins India, 1994