Kashmir Shaivism · ≈950–1016
Abhinavagupta
Trika · Kashmir Shaivism · Tantraloka · Para-trishika-vivarana
Yogi, poet, and scholar who gathered the whole tradition into one radiant system. The summit of Kashmiri nondualism.
The essence of the teaching: The highest reality is pure consciousness – Chaitanya, the cause of all and the essence of every being. It is everywhere full and complete; recognize your own nature as this consciousness – beyond any division into self and world.
Transmission
Abhinavagupta did not divide knowledge from experience – he was philosopher, tantric, and connoisseur of art all at once, because in everything he saw one consciousness. He taught: the universe is both real and unreal – depending on the level from which you look. To the divided mind it is a dense world of things; to the awakened one it is the free play of consciousness, manifesting itself through Svatantrya, its own power of freedom. Do not seek Shiva outside of experience – he is the very one who is aware right now. The Supreme, Anuttara, is not a distant state, but your own capacity to be aware, recognized with nothing veiling it.
The full transmission — for members of the School. Here is its essence and its taste.
The tradition
Kashmir Shaivism
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