Devotees offering prayers at a sanctum in Chennakesava temple at Belur

Indian religions Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification of ...

, ''Darshana'', also spelt ''Darshan'', ( Sanskrit: दर्शन, , ) or ''Darshanam'' (darśanam) is the auspicious sight of a deity or a holy person. The term also refers to six traditional schools of Hindu philosophy and their literature on spirituality and soteriology.

Etymology

The word darshana, also in the forms of ''darśana'' or ''darshanam'', comes from Sanskrit दर्शन, from ''dṛś'', 'to see', vision, apparition or glimpse.

Definition

''Darshana'' is described as an "auspicious sight" of a holy person, which bestows merit on the viewer. It is most commonly used for theophany, meaning a manifestation or vision of the divine, in

Hindu worship Worship in Hinduism is an act of religious devotion usually directed to one or more Hindu deities. A sense of Bhakti or devotional love is generally invoked. This term is probably a central one in Hinduism, but a direct translation from the ...

, e.g. of a deity (especially in image form), or a very holy person or artifact. One can receive ''darshana'' or a glimpse of the deity in the temple, or from a great saintly person, such as a great guru.

In Hinduism

The term ''darshana'' also refers to the six systems of thought, called ''darshanam'', that comprise classical Hindu philosophy. The term therein implies how each of these six systems distinctively look at things and the scriptures in Indian philosophies. The six orthodox Hindu ''darshana'' are

Nyaya (Sanskrit: न्याय, ''nyā-yá''), literally meaning "justice", "rules", "method" or "judgment",Vaisheshika,

Samkhya ''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a Dualism (Indian philosophy), dualistic Āstika and nāstika, school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, ''purusha, puruṣa' ...

, Yoga,

Mīmāṃsā ''Mīmāṁsā'' (Sanskrit: मीमांसा) is a Sanskrit word that means "reflection" or "critical investigation" and thus refers to a tradition of contemplation which reflected on the meanings of certain Vedic texts.

, and Vedanta. Buddhism and Jainism are examples of non-Hindu darshans.

Mahayana Buddhism

On the significance of ''darshana'' in Mahayana thought, Paul Harrison writes: "By the second century CE... the vision of the Buddha (''buddha-darśana'') and the accompanying hearing of the

Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

(''dharma-śravaṇa'') are represented as a transformation experience of decisive importance for practitioners, be they who have renounced (mundane life) 'ascetics' or householders." The Abhidharma, collections of systematic summaries of the

sutra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...

s, mention ''Darshana- citta, i.e.''

visions Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...

. Indian Mahayana philosophers Vasubandhu and

Asanga Asaṅga (, ; Romaji: ''Mujaku'') ( fl. 4th century C.E.) was "one of the most important spiritual figures" of Mahayana Buddhism and the "founder of the Yogachara school".Engle, Artemus (translator), Asanga, ''The Bodhisattva Path to Unsurpassed ...

acknowledged five paths to liberation, of which the third is ''darshana-marga'', the "path of seeing". Nagarjuna, a prominent philosopher of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism, wrote that the wise person perceives '' tattva-darshana,'' true reality.

Other meanings

''Darshana'' also sometimes has a more mundane meaning. For example, Sivananda Saraswati wrote in his book ''The Practice of Brahmacharya'' that one of the eight aspects of

brahmacharya ''Brahmacharya'' (; sa, ब्रह्मचर्य ) is a concept within Indian religions that literally means to stay in conduct within one's own Self. In Yoga, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism it generally refers to a lifestyle charac ...

(

celibacy Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the ...

) is not to look lustfully at women: "You should carefully avoid ... Darshana or looking at women with passionate resolve". Scholar of religion Richard H. Davis has said that ''darshana'' (viewpoint, philosophical school) is one of three terms in classical Indian discourse that could be considered roughly analogous to what today's English-speakers understand as "religion." The other two terms are ''

dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

'' (duty, morality, a code of proper conduct) and '' marga'' (route, spiritual path). According to Davis, "most Hindu texts accepted that religious paths (''marga'') are relative to the points of view (''darśana'') and moral responsibilities (''dharma'') of practitioners, whose individual circumstances may make one or another course of action more appropriate in their particular situations." Poet

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...

Etymology

Definition

In Hinduism

Mahayana Buddhism

Other meanings

See also

References

Citations

Works cited

Further reading