Atman

Quick meaning: Atman is a noun meaning (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Vedanta) The true self of an individual beyond identification with worldly phenomena, the essence of an individual, an infinitesimal part of Brahman.

Meaning

(Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Vedanta) The true self of an individual beyond identification with worldly phenomena, the essence of an individual, an infinitesimal part of Brahman.

Example Sentences

The human being in Hindu thought comprises Atman (or Punisha) and Maya (or Prakriti). The Hindu doctrine of Atman concerns one's deepest identity.

However, we have been led beyond this to a threefold analysis which in its western version is body-soul-spirit and in its eastern version body-mind-atman.

The priests who were immersed in the ritual science of the Brahmanas began to speculate on the nature of the self, and gradually the word "atman" came to refer to the essential and eternal core of the human person, which made him or her unique.

The Brahmanic tradition that Buddhism is both connected to and a reaction against was, according to almost every scholar, over the top as regards atman. So, not only were individuals possessed of an immutable, indestructible atman. Some, perhaps many Brahmins were asserting that they were ATMAN.

Word Forms

• atmans
• atma

Synonyms for atman

Depending on context, synonyms include witness-consciousness.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include brahman, jnana, jivaatma, jivatma, jiva, witness-consciousness.

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