The Long ConversationA timeline of world philosophy

Philosopher

Gauḍapāda

fl. 450–550 CE

Also known as Gaudapada, Gauḍapādācārya

Early Advaita Vedānta teacher, revered as the teacher of Śaṅkara's teacher, who held that nothing is ever truly born and that the world of plurality is like a dream.

Almost nothing is known of Gauḍapāda’s life; even his name may refer to a region, Gauḍa in Bengal, rather than to a person. His dates are uncertain: Buddhist writers of the sixth to eighth centuries cite his verses, and he himself cites Buddhist views of Nāgārjuna and Asaṅga, so he is usually placed around 500 CE. In the Advaita tradition he is the teacher of Govinda, who taught Śaṅkara, and Śaṅkara treats him with deep reverence.

His metrical commentary on the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, the Māṇḍūkya Kārikā, is the one work all scholars agree is his. It sets out the doctrines of Advaita Vedānta in four chapters, on scripture, on the illusoriness of the world, on non-duality and on the “quenching of the firebrand”. His influence on the later development of Advaita Vedānta was far-reaching.

Key ideas

Non-origination (ajāti)
Nothing is ever born and nothing is created. The Self alone is real and eternal; origination is a magical projection upon it, and every theory of creation is to be dismantled.
The world as appearance
The world of many things is imagined by the mind, like a city seen in the sky, a dream that vanishes on waking, or a rope mistaken in the dark for a snake. Its apparent plurality is due to māyā.
Four states of the self
The syllable OM maps the states of consciousness. Waking, dreaming and deep sleep correspond to its sounds; the fourth, turīya, lies beyond them all, non-dual and without attributes.
Contactless yoga
Asparśa yoga, “contactless” contemplation, is the path by which one realises the unborn, non-dual Self, and with it liberation. The knowledge that the individual self and the supreme self are not different is what frees.
Tradition
Indian
Region
India

Influences

Influenced by

Gauḍapādafl. 450–550 CE

Influenced

Influenced by

Gauḍapādafl. 450–550 CE

Influenced

Where these links come from
  • Gauḍapāda drew on Nāgārjuna. Source: Devanathan Jagannathan, Gaudapada, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Śaṅkara drew on Gauḍapāda. Source: Neil Dalal, Śaṅkara, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Śāntarakṣita drew on Gauḍapāda. Source: Devanathan Jagannathan, Gaudapada, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Key works

  • Verses on the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (Māṇḍūkya Kārikā)

Sources

  1. Devanathan Jagannathan, Gaudapada, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy