Abhinavagupta c. 950 – c. 1016
Abhinavagupta was a Kashmiri philosopher, mystic, and aesthetician and the principal systematizer of the non-dual Trika tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. His encyclopedic Tantraloka draws together the ritual and philosophical texts of the Trika in a single synthesis, while his commentaries on the Pratyabhijna doctrine develop the recognition of the absolute consciousness as the path to liberation. His Locana, a commentary on the Dhvanyaloka, became the definitive text of Indian aesthetic theory and articulated the doctrine of rasa-experience as a foretaste of the bliss of the absolute.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Indian
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Indian Philosophy
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Abhinavagupta:
“Consciousness alone is real; the world is its play.”
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Attributed to Abhinavagupta:
“Recognition of the Self is liberation.”
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Attributed to Abhinavagupta:
“Bliss is the inmost nature of consciousness.”
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Attributed to Abhinavagupta:
“Aesthetic experience reveals the structure of consciousness itself.”
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Attributed to Abhinavagupta:
“What is bound is bound only by ignorance of itself.”