Adi Shankara
The nondualist reformer who traveled India founding monasteries and arguing that only consciousness is ultimately real.
Core ideas
- Brahman alone is real; the world of separation is appearance
- The self (atman) is not other than the absolute (brahman)
- Liberation is recognition, not acquisition
Historical context
By tradition died at 32 after walking the subcontinent; the four monastic centers he founded still anchor Hindu monasticism.
Key works
Brahma Sutra Bhashya · Vivekachudamani
Questions they speak to
Minds in conversation
- NagarjunaSouthern India
- The BuddhaLumbini / Ganges valley
- SuhrawardiSohrevard → Aleppo
Sources
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Advaita Vedanta