Rajanaka Kṣemarāja (क्षेमराज) (late 10th to early 11th century) was a philosopher and brilliant disciple of
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE) was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logicianRe-accessing Abhinavagupta, Navjivan Rastogi, ...
,
who was a peerless master of
tantra
Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...
,
yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...
,
poetics, and
dramaturgy.
Not much is known of Kṣemarāja's life or parentage. His chief disciple was a sage known as Yogāraja. The
Pratyabhijnahridayam, a work in which Kṣemarāja brings the main tenets of the
Pratyabhijna system into a succinct set of sutras for those who may not have studied in-depth metaphysics, occupies the same place in
Kashmir Shaivite or
Trika
Kashmir Shaivism or Trika Shaivism, is a nondualist tradition of Shaiva-Shakta Tantra which originated sometime after 850 CE. Since this tradition originated in Kashmir it is often called "Kashmiri Shaivism". It later went on to become a pan- ...
literature as Vedanta Sara does in
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
. Other works of his: Spandasandoha, Spandanirnaya, Svacchandodyota, Netrodyota,
Vijnanabhairavodyota,
Shivasutravimarsini, Stavacintamanitika, Parapraveshika, Tattvasandoha.
''"Man bound in all the phases of waking, dream and dreamless sleep by the body,'' '' prana, pleasure, etc. does not recognize his own consciousness which is of the'' ''nature of the great power and full of perfect bliss." -- Kṣemarāja''
See also
*
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE) was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logicianRe-accessing Abhinavagupta, Navjivan Rastogi, ...
*
Vasugupta
Vasugupta (~ 800 – 850 CE) was the author of the '' Shiva Sutras'', an important text of the Advaita tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, also called ''Trika'' (sometimes called ''Trika Yoga'').
Biography
Little is known about Vasugupta's life, othe ...
*
Somananda
Somananda (875–925 CE) was one of the teachers of Kashmir Shaivism, in the lineage of ''Trayambaka'', author of the first philosophical treatise of this school, ''Śivadṛṣṭi''.History of Kashmir Shaivism, B N Pandit, page 27 A contempo ...
*
Utpalacarya
*
Kundalini
In Hinduism, Kundalini ( sa, कुण्डलिनी, translit=kuṇḍalinī, translit-std=IAST, lit=coiled snake, ) is a form of divine feminine energy (or ''Shakti'') believed to be located at the base of the spine, in the ''muladhara'' ...
*
Yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...
References
Further reading
*
Kashmiri writers
10th-century Indian people
11th-century Indian people
Year of death unknown
Year of birth unknown
Kashmir Shaivism
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