Eastern Religions Mid Term Vocab

Henotheism

The belief that many gods are all faces of a single divinity.

Avatara

A self-aware incarnation of Brahman descended into the world.

Prakṛti

Nature; one of two absolutely distinct kinds of entity in Samkhya metaphysics; composed of the three gunas; includes not only physical things, but all mental content and activity.

Samsara

The cycle of rebirth and suffering.

Atman

Self or soul.

Maya

Illusion.

Puruṣa

Consciousness; one of two absolutely distinct kinds of entity in Samkhya metaphysics; a pure witness free of all content and activity.

Nirvana

"Cessation"; in Buddhism, the end of the cycle of rebirth.

Mokṣa

Release from the cycle of rebirth.

Guna

Quality; the three basic constituents of nature according to the Samkhya school.

Samadhi

Yogic trance.

Skandha

Heap; in Buddhism one of the five collections (form/matter, feeling, conception, disposition, and consciousness) that make up a human being.

Tat tvam asi

"You are that"; a formulation of the identity between atman and Brahman in the Upaniṣads.

Kaivalya

Aloneness, resulting from the separation of puruṣa from prakṛti; the highest good according to the Yoga school.

Duhkha

Suffering.

Śunyata

Emptiness.