Advaita Vedanta

=====''Svayam prakāśa'' (self-luminosity)=====
{{Main|prakāśa}}
In the Advaita tradition, consciousness is svayam prakāśa, "self-luminous,"{{sfn|Indich|2000|p=24, 28}}{{sfn|Menon|2012}}{{refn|group=note|name=self-luminous}} which means that "self is pure awareness by nature."{{sfn|Ganeri|2019|p=103}} According to Dasgupta, it is "the most fundamental concept of the Vedanta."{{sfn|Dasgupta|1975|p=148-149}} According to [[Tiruppattur R. Venkatachala Murti|T. R. V. Murti]], the Vedanta concept is explained as follows:
{{blockquote|The point to be reached is a foundational consciousness that is unconditional, self-evident, and immediate (''svayam-prakāśa''). It is that to which everything is presented, but is itself no presentation, that which knows all, but is itself no object. The self should not be confused with the contents and states which it enjoys and manipulates. If we have to give an account of it, we can describe it only as what it is not, for any positive description of it would be possible only if it could be made an object of observation, which from the nature of the case it is not. We "know" it only as we withdraw ourselves from the body with which we happen to be identified, in this transition.{{sfn|Murti|1983|p=339}}{{refn|group=note|Compare {{harvnb|Fasching|2021}}: For Advaita Vedānta, consciousness is to be distinguished from all contents of consciousness that might be introspectively detectable: It is precisely consciousness of whatever contents it is conscious of and not itself one of these contents. Its only nature is, Advaita holds, prakāśa (manifestation); in itself it is devoid of any content or structure and can never become an object.}}}}

According to Jonardon Ganeri, the concept was introduced by the Buddhist philosopher [[Dignāga]] (c.480–c.540 CE), and accepted by the Vedanta tradition;{{sfn|Ganeri|2019|p=103}} according to Zhihua Yao, the concept has older roots in the [[Mahasanghika#Self-Awareness and the Mind|Mahasanghika]] school.{{sfnp|Yao|2005|p=2}}