Shankara
Archetype: Spiritualist of Meaning
c. 788 to 820 · Kerala and various regions of India
“Brahman is real; the world is appearance.”
Do you think like Shankara? Answer 44 to 132 statements and find out who, among 130 thinkers, has the way of thinking closest to yours.
Who was Shankara
Adi Shankara was an Indian philosopher and monk who, according to tradition, lived just over 30 years and traveled across India debating other schools. He wrote commentaries on the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita and organized monasteries that still exist. He is the greatest systematizer of Advaita Vedanta, one of the most influential philosophies of Hinduism.
Core ideas
- Only Brahman, the absolute reality, is fully real
- The deep self, the Atman, is identical to Brahman
- The world of differences is an appearance caused by ignorance, called maya
The tradition: Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta means non-dual Vedanta: the Hindu school that teaches that everything is, at bottom, a single reality. Shankara is its main systematizer and greatest reference.
Learn more: Wikipedia
Books by Shankara
Three ways in. Start with the first.
Where Shankara stands on the 11 axes
Each axis runs from the first pole (−1) to the second (+1). These are the positions the test compares with your answers.
