ShantidevaShantideva (Sanskrit: Śāntideva; ; ; Шантидэва гэгээн; Tịch Thiên) was an 8th-century CE Indian philosopher, Buddhist monk, poet, and scholar at the mahavihara of Nalanda. He was an adherent of the Mādhyamaka philosophy of Nāgārjuna. He is also considered to be one of the 84 mahasiddhas and is known as Bhusuku. The Zhansi Lun of the East Asian Mādhyamaka identifies two different individuals given the name "Shantideva": the founder of the Avaivartika Mahāyānika Sangha in 6th century CE (in Samataṭa, modern Bangladesh) and a later Shantideva who studied at Nalanda in the 8th century CE and appears to be the source of the Tibetan biographies.
AbhinavaguptaAbhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE) was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician – a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture. Abhinavagupta was born in a Brahmin family of scholars and mystics who whose ancestors immigrated from Kannauj by the great king of Kashmira, Lalitaditya Muktapida. He studied all the schools of philosophy and art of his time under the guidance of as many as fifteen (or more) teachers and gurus.
Kaṇāda (philosopher)Kaṇāda (कणाद), also known as Ulūka, Kashyapa, Kaṇabhaksha, Kaṇabhuj was an ancient Indian natural scientist and philosopher who founded the Vaisheshika school of Indian philosophy that also represents the earliest Indian physics. Estimated to have lived sometime between 6th century to 2nd century BCE, little is known about his life. His traditional name "Kaṇāda" means "atom eater", and he is known for developing the foundations of an atomistic approach to physics and philosophy in the Sanskrit text Vaiśeṣika Sūtra.
ShuddhadvaitaShuddadvaita (Sanskrit: "pure non-dualism") is the "purely non-dual" philosophy propounded by Vallabhacharya (1479-1531 CE), the founding philosopher and guru of the ("tradition of Vallabh") or ("The path of grace"), a Hindu Vaishnava tradition focused on the worship of Krishna. Vallabhacharya's pure form (nondualist) philosophy is different from Advaita. The Shrinathji temple at Nathdwara, and compositions of eight poets (), including Surdas, are central to the worship by the followers of the sect.
DignāgaDignāga (also known as Diṅnāga, 480-540 CE) was an Indian Buddhist scholar and one of the Buddhist founders of Indian logic (hetu vidyā). Dignāga's work laid the groundwork for the development of deductive logic in India and created the first system of Buddhist logic and epistemology (Pramana). According to Georges B. Dreyfus, his philosophical school brought about an Indian "epistemological turn" and became the "standard formulation of Buddhist logic and epistemology in India and Tibet.
VidyaranyaVidyaranya (IAST: Vidyāraṇya), usually identified with Mādhavācharya, was the jagadguru of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham from ca. 1374–1380 until 1386 - according to tradition, after ordination at an old age, he took the name of Vidyaranya, and became the Jagadguru of this Matha at Sringeri. Madhavacharya is known as the author of the Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha, a compendium of different philosophical schools of Hindu philosophy and Pañcadaśī, an important text for Advaita Vedanta.
Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa ŚāstraThe Abhidharma Śāstra (अभिधर्म महाविभाष शास्त्र) is an ancient Buddhist text. It is thought to have been authored around 150 CE. It is an encyclopedic work on Abhidharma, scholastic Buddhist philosophy. Its composition led to the founding of a new school of thought, called Vaibhāṣika ('those [upholders] of the Vibhāṣā'), which was very influential in the history of Buddhist thought and practice. is a Sanskrit term meaning 'compendium', 'treatise' or simply 'explanation', derived from the prefix vi + the verbal root √bhāṣ, 'speak' or 'explain'.
GymnosophistsGymnosophists (γυμνοσοφισταί, gymnosophistaí, i.e. "naked philosophers" or "naked wise men" (from Greek γυμνός gymnós "naked" and σοφία sophía "wisdom")) is the name given by the Greeks to certain ancient Indian philosophers who pursued asceticism to the point of regarding food and clothing as detrimental to purity of thought. They were noted to have been vegetarian by several Greek authors. There were also gymnosophists in Upper Egypt who were called Ethiopean Gymnosophists by Apollonius of Tyana.
Naïve realismIn philosophy of perception and epistemology, naïve realism (also known as direct realism, perceptual realism, or common sense realism) is the idea that the senses provide us with direct awareness of objects as they really are. When referred to as direct realism, naïve realism is often contrasted with indirect realism. According to the naïve realist, the objects of perception are not representations of external objects, but are in fact those external objects themselves.
Hindu atheismHindu atheism or non-theism, which is known as Nirīśvaravāda (Sanskrit: निरीश्वरवाद, , lit. "Argument against the existence of Ishvara") has been a historically propounded viewpoint in many of the Astika (Orthodox) streams of Hindu philosophy. Hindu spiritual atheists, agnostics or non-theists who affirm Vedas and Brahman, as well as those who follow astika (orthodox) philosophies but reject personal god(s), are also called Dharmic atheist, Vedic Atheist or Sanatani atheist.
