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A Thousand Teachings
Upadeśasāhasrī (उपदेशसाहस्री)
Adi Shankara · c. 8th century CE · Short (under 150 pages)
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At a glance
- Difficulty
- Intermediate Easier with some philosophy behind you.
- Length
- Short (under 150 pages)
- Questions it addresses
- Ontology
Substance Theory
2 more - Reading path
- Step 6 of 7 in Indian philosophy: from the Upaniṣads to the darśanas
What it is
Unlike Shankara's great commentaries, this is an independent work, and one widely accepted as authentically his. It has two parts: a short prose part in three chapters and a longer verse part in nineteen chapters. The prose part explains how a teacher should instruct a student seeking liberation, and includes a dialogue in which the teacher leads the pupil to see that the true self is not the body or the mind but pure consciousness. The verse chapters return again and again to the central claims of Advaita Vedanta: that the self (atman) is identical with brahman, that bondage arises from ignorance which superimposes the not-self on the self, and that liberation comes through knowledge, especially through understanding statements of the Upanishads such as 'that thou art'.
Why read it
It is a compact and practical statement of Advaita Vedanta by its most important teacher, showing his method as well as his conclusions.
Where to start
Begin with the prose part, which reads as a guide to teaching, before moving on to the verse chapters.