Monism

===Indian religions===

====Characteristics====
The central problem in Asian (religious) philosophy is not the body-mind problem, but the search for an unchanging Real or Absolute beyond the world of appearances and changing phenomena,{{sfn|Nakamura|1991}} and the search for liberation from [[dukkha]] and the liberation from the [[Reincarnation|cycle of rebirth]].{{sfn|Puligandla|1997}} In Hinduism, [[Substance theory|substance-ontology]] prevails, seeing [[Brahman]] as the unchanging real beyond the world of [[Maya (illusion)|appearances]].{{sfn|Puligandla|1997|p=50}} In Buddhism, [[process ontology]] is prevalent,{{sfn|Puligandla|1997|p=50}} seeing reality as [[sunyata|empty]] of an unchanging essence.{{sfn|Kalupahana|1992}}{{sfn|Kalupahana|1994}}

Characteristic for various Asian religions is the discernment of levels of truth,{{sfn|Loy|1988|p=9-11}} an emphasis on intuitive-experiential understanding of the Absolute{{sfn|Rambachan|1994}}{{sfn|Hawley|2006}}{{sfn|Sharf|1995}}{{sfn|Renard|1999|p=59}} such as [[jnana]], [[bodhi]] and [[kensho]], and an emphasis on the integration of these levels of truth and its understanding.{{sfn|Renard|1999|p=31}}{{sfn|Maezumi| Glassman|2007}}

====Hinduism====
{{Main|Hinduism|Hindu philosophy|Hindu denominations}}

=====Vedanta=====
{{Main|Vedanta}}
[[File:Raja Ravi Varma - Sankaracharya.jpg|''[[Adi Shankara]] with Disciples'', by [[Raja Ravi Varma]] (1904)|right|thumb|x216px]]
Vedanta is the inquiry into and systematisation of the Vedas and Upanishads, to harmonise the various and contrasting ideas that can be found in those texts. Within Vedanta, different schools exist:<ref>Wilhelm Halbfass (1995), Philology and Confrontation: Paul Hacker on Traditional and Modern Vedanta, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791425824}}, pages 137–143</ref> 
* [[Advaita]], unqualified [[nonduality]], is the school of [[Adi Shankara]];
* [[Vishishtadvaita]], qualified monism, is from the school of [[Ramanuja]];<ref>Jeaneane Fowler (2012), The Bhagavad Gita: A Text and Commentary for Students, Sussex Academic Press, {{ISBN|978-1845193461}}, page xxviii</ref>
* [[Shuddhadvaita]], in-essence monism, is the school of [[Vallabha]]; 
* [[Dvaitadvaita]], differential monism, is a school founded by [[Nimbarka]]; 
* [[Achintya Bheda Abheda]], a school of [[Vedanta]] founded by [[Chaitanya Mahaprabhu]] representing the philosophy of ''inconceivable one-ness and difference''. It can be understood as an integration of the strict dualist (dvaita) theology of [[Madhvacharya]] and the qualified monism (vishishtadvaita) of [[Ramanuja]].

=====Vaishnava=====
{{Main|Vaishnavism}}
All [[Vaishnava]] schools are [[panentheistic]] and view the universe as part of [[Krishna]] or [[Narayana]], but see a plurality of souls and substances within [[Brahman]]. Monistic theism, which includes the concept of a personal god as a [[Universality (philosophy)|universal]], [[omnipotent]] [[God|Supreme Being]] who is both [[Immanence|immanent]] and [[transcendence (religion)|transcendent]], is prevalent within many other schools of Hinduism as well.

=====Tantra=====
{{Main|Tantra}}
[[Tantra]] sees the Divine as both immanent and transcendent. The Divine can be found in the concrete world. Practices are aimed at transforming the passions, instead of transcending them.

=====Modern Hinduism=====
{{Main|Hindu reform movements}}
The colonisation of India by the British had a major impact on Hindu society.{{sfn|Michaels|2004}} In response, leading Hindu intellectuals started to study western culture and philosophy, integrating several western notions into Hinduism.{{sfn|Michaels|2004}} This modernised Hinduism, at its turn, has gained popularity in the west.{{sfn|Rambachan|1994}}

A major role was played in the 19th century by [[Swami Vivekananda]] in the [[Hindu reform movements|revival of Hinduism]],{{sfn|Dense|1999|p=191}} and the spread of Advaita Vedanta to the west via the [[Ramakrishna Mission]]. His interpretation of Advaita Vedanta has been called [[Neo-Vedanta]].{{sfn|Mukerji|1983}} In Advaita, Shankara suggests meditation and [[Nirvikalpa|Nirvikalpa Samadhi]] are means to gain knowledge of the already existing unity of ''Brahman'' and ''[[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atman]]'',{{sfn|Comans|1993}} not the highest goal itself:
{{blockquote|[Y]oga is a meditative exercise of withdrawal from the particular and identification with the universal, leading to contemplation of oneself as the most universal, namely, Consciousness. This approach is different from the classical Yoga of complete thought suppression.{{sfn|Comans|1993}}}}

Vivekananda, according to [[Gavin Flood]], was "a figure of great importance in the development of a modern Hindu self-understanding and in formulating the West's view of Hinduism."{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=257}} Central to his philosophy is the idea that the divine exists in all beings, that all human beings can achieve union with this "innate divinity",{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=258}} and that seeing this divine as the essence of others will further love and social harmony.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=258}} According to Vivekananda, there is an essential unity to Hinduism, which underlies the diversity of its many forms.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=258}} According to Flood, Vivekananda's view of Hinduism is the most common among Hindus today.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=259}} This monism, according to Flood, is at the foundation of earlier Upanishads, to theosophy in the later Vedanta tradition and in modern Neo-Hinduism.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=85}}

====Buddhism====
{{Main|Buddhism|Middle Way}}
According to the [[Pāli Canon]], both pluralism (''nānatta'') and monism (''ekatta'') are speculative [[View (Buddhism)|views]]. A [[Theravada]] commentary notes that the former is similar to or associated with [[nihilism]] (''ucchēdavāda''), and the latter is similar to or associated with eternalism (''[[sassatavada]]'').<ref>[[David Kalupahana]], ''Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism.'' The University Press of Hawaii, 1975, page 88. The passage is SN 2.77.</ref>

In the [[Madhyamaka]] school of [[Mahayana|Mahayana Buddhism]], the ultimate nature of the world is described as ''[[Śūnyatā]]'' or "emptiness", which is inseparable from both inner and outer appearance, which includes all sensory and mental objects. That appears to be a monist position, but the Madhyamaka views – including variations like ''[[rangtong]]'' and ''[[shentong]]'' – will refrain from asserting any ultimately existent entity. They instead deconstruct any detailed or conceptual assertions about ultimate existence as resulting in absurd consequences. The [[Yogacara]] view, a minority school now only found among the Mahayana, also rejects monism.

=====Levels of truth=====
Within Buddhism, a rich variety of philosophical{{sfn|Williams|1994}} and pedagogical models{{sfn|Buswell|Gimello|1994}} can be found. Various schools of Buddhism discern levels of truth:
* The [[Two truths doctrine]] of the [[Madhyamaka]]
* The [[Three natures|Three Natures]] of the [[Yogacara]]
* [[Essence-Function]], or [[Chinese Chán#Absolute-relative|Absolute-relative]] in Chinese and Korean Buddhism
* The [[Trikaya]]-formule, consisting of 
** The ''[[Dharmakāya]]'' or ''Truth body'' which embodies the very principle of [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|enlightenment]] and knows no limits or boundaries;
** The ''[[Sambhogakāya]]'' or ''body of mutual enjoyment'' which is a body of bliss or clear light manifestation;
** The ''[[Nirmāṇakāya]]'' or ''created body'' which manifests in time and space.<ref name="Welwood, John 2007">Welwood, John (2000). [http://www.purifymind.com/PlayMind.htm ''The Play of the Mind: Form, Emptiness, and Beyond''], accessed January 13, 2007</ref>

The [[Prajnaparamita|Prajnaparamita-sutras]] and [[Madhyamaka]] emphasize the non-duality of form and emptiness: "form is emptiness, emptiness is form", as the [[heart sutra]] says.{{sfn|Liang-Chieh|1986|p=9}} In Chinese Buddhism this was understood to mean that ultimate reality is not a transcendental realm, but equal to the daily world of relative reality. This idea fitted into the Chinese culture, which emphasized the mundane world and society. But this does not tell how the absolute is present in the relative world:
{{blockquote|To deny the duality of samsara and nirvana, as the Perfection of Wisdom does, or to demonstrate logically the error of dichotomizing conceptualization, as Nagarjuna does, is not to address the question of the relationship between samsara and nirvana -or, in more philosophical terms, between phenomenal and ultimate reality [...] What, then, is the relationship between these two realms?{{sfn|Liang-Chieh|1986|p=9}}}}
This question is answered in such schemata as [[Five Ranks|the Five Ranks of Tozan]],{{sfn|Kasulis|2003|p=29}} the [[Ten Bulls|Oxherding Pictures]], and [[Hakuin#Four ways of knowing|Hakuin's Four ways of knowing]].{{sfn|Low|2006}}

====Sikhism====
{{Main|God in Sikhism}}
Sikhism complies with the concept of Absolute&nbsp;Monism. Sikh philosophy advocates that all that our senses comprehend is an illusion; God is the ultimate reality. Forms being subject to time shall pass away. God's Reality alone is eternal and abiding.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.allaboutsikhs.com/sikhism-articles/the-idea-of-the-supreme-being-god-in-sikhism|title=The Idea Of The Supreme Being (God) In Sikhism – Sikhism Articles – Gateway to Sikhism|work=Gateway to Sikhism|access-date=2017-12-14|language=en-gb}}</ref>&nbsp;The thought is that Atma (soul) is born from, and a reflection of, ParamAtma (Supreme Soul), and "will again merge into it", in the words of the fifth guru of Sikhs, [[Guru Arjan]], "just as water merges back into the water."<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.thesikhencyclopedia.com/metaphysics/atma|title=ATMA|last=Gujral|first=Maninder S|encyclopedia=The Sikh Encyclopedia -ਸਿੱਖ ਧਰਮ ਵਿਸ਼ਵਕੋਸ਼|date=19 December 2000|access-date=2017-12-14|language=en-gb}}</ref>
{{poemquote|text=ਜਿਉ ਜਲ ਮਹਿ ਜਲੁ ਆਇ ਖਟਾਨਾ ॥
Jio Jal Mehi Jal Aae Khattaanaa {{!}}{{!}}
As water comes to blend with water,

ਤਿਉ ਜੋਤੀ ਸੰਗਿ ਜੋਤਿ ਸਮਾਨਾ ॥
Thio Jothee Sang Joth Samaanaa {{!}}{{!}}
His light blends into the Light.|sign=SGGS. Pg 278|source=https://www.searchgurbani.com/guru-granth-sahib/ang-by-ang}}
God and Soul are fundamentally the same; identical in the same way as Fire and its sparks. "Atam meh Ram, Ram meh Atam" which means "The Ultimate Eternal reality resides in the Soul and the Soul is contained in Him". As from one stream, millions of waves arise and yet the waves, made of water, again become water; in the same way all souls have sprung from the Universal Being and would blend again into it.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rFm9_Jc1ykcC&q=atma+merges+in+parmatma+sikhism&pg=PA266|title=A Complete Guide to Sikhism|last=Singh|first=Jagraj|date=2009|publisher=Unistar Books|isbn=9788171427543|pages=266|language=en}}</ref>