Darsana

In Indian religions, ''Darshana'', also spelt ''Darshan'', (Sanskrit: दर्शन, , ) or ''Darshanam'' (darśanam) is the auspicious sight of a deity or a holy person.

The term also refers to six traditional schools of Hindu philosophy and their literature on spirituality and soteriology.

Etymology

The word darshana, also in the forms of ''darśana'' or ''darshanam'', comes from Sanskrit दर्शन, from ''dṛś'', 'to see', vision, apparition or glimpse.

Definition

''Darshana'' is described as an "auspicious sight" of a holy person, which bestows merit on the viewer.

It is most commonly used for theophany, meaning a manifestation or vision of the divine, in Hindu worship, e.g. of a deity (especially in image form), or a very holy person or artifact. One can receive ''darshana'' or a glimpse of the deity in the temple, or from a great saintly person, such as a great guru.

In Hinduism

The term ''darshana'' also refers to the six systems of thought, called ''darshanam'', that comprise classical Hindu philosophy. The term therein implies how each of these six systems distinctively look at things and the scriptures in Indian philosophies. The six orthodox Hindu ''darshana'' are Nyaya, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedanta. Buddhism and Jainism are examples of non-Hindu darshans.

Mahayana Buddhism

On the significance of ''darshana'' in Mahayana thought, Paul Harrison writes: "By the second century CE... the vision of the Buddha (''buddha-darśana'') and the accompanying hearing of the Dharma (''dharma-śravaṇa'') are represented as a transformation experience of decisive importance for practitioners, be they who have renounced (mundane life) 'ascetics' or householders."

The Abhidharma, collections of systematic summaries of the sutras, mention ''Darshana-citta, i.e.'' visions.

Indian Mahayana philosophers Vasubandhu and Asanga acknowledged five paths to liberation, of which the third is ''darshana-marga'', the "path of seeing".

Nagarjuna, a prominent philosopher of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism, wrote that the wise person perceives ''tattva-darshana,'' true reality.

Other meanings

''Darshana'' also sometimes has a more mundane meaning. For example, Sivananda Saraswati wrote in his book ''The Practice of Brahmacharya'' that one of the eight aspects of brahmacharya (celibacy) is not to look lustfully at women: "You should carefully avoid ... Darshana or looking at women with passionate resolve".

Scholar of religion Richard H. Davis has said that ''darshana'' (viewpoint, philosophical school) is one of three terms in classical Indian discourse that could be considered roughly analogous to what today's English-speakers understand as "religion." The other two terms are ''dharma'' (duty, morality, a code of proper conduct) and '' marga'' (route, spiritual path). According to Davis, "most Hindu texts accepted that religious paths (''marga'') are relative to the points of view (''darśana'') and moral responsibilities (''dharma'') of practitioners, whose individual circumstances may make one or another course of action more appropriate in their particular situations."

Poet Gary Snyder has given a naturalistic meaning to ''darshana'':

See also

* Blessing
* Dharma transmission
* Guru–shishya tradition
* Jharokha Darshan
* Pranāma

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Buddhist devotion
Hindu philosophical concepts
Rituals in Hindu worship
Spiritual gifts