Kashmir Shaivism

[4] Its main exegetical works are those of Abhinavagupta, such as the Tantraloka, Mālinīślokavārttika, and Tantrasāra which are formally an exegesis of the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra, although they also drew heavily on the Kali-based Krama subcategory of the Kulamārga.

[6] Kashmir Shaivism shares many parallel points of agreement with the lesser known monistic school of Shaiva Siddhanta as expressed in the Tirumantiram of Tirumular.

[7] While also sharing this branch's disagreements with the dualistic Shaiva Siddhanta school of Meykandar, which scholars consider to be normative tantric Shaivism.

[9] Dating from around 850–900 CE, the Shiva Sutras of Vasugupta and Spandakārikā were a Śākta Śaiva attempt to present a non-dualistic metaphysics and gnostic soteriology in opposition to the dualistic exegesis of the Meykandar school of Shaiva Siddhanta,[10] while remaining in agreement with the monistic view expressed in the older and arguably more authoritative Tirumantiram of Tirumular.

His Tantrāloka, Mālinīślokavārttika, and Tantrasāra are mainly based on the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra, although they also drew heavily on the Kali-based Krama tradition of the Kulamārga.

It is encyclopedic in its scope though not organized like an encyclopedia, for instead of just enumerating theories and practices, it brings them all into a coherent framework in which everything has its place and everything makes sense in relation to the whole.

[20][21] Another tantric tradition influenced by Trika was the post-classical Kalikula (family of Kali) form of Shaktism which is influential in northeastern Indian regions, such as in Bengal, Orissa, and Nepāl.

[22] In the 20th century Swami Lakshman Joo, a Kashmiri Hindu, helped revive both the scholarly and yogic streams of Kashmir Shaivism.

[24][25] Acharya Rameshwar Jha, a disciple of Lakshman Joo, is often credited with establishing the roots of Kashmir Shaivism in the learned community of Varanasi.

Rameshwar Jha with his creativity, familiarity with the ancient texts and personal experiences provided access to concepts of non-dualistic Kashmir Shaivism.

Silburn, a student of Lakshman Joo, authored Kundalini: The Energy of the Depths, A Comprehensive Study Based on the Scriptures of Nondualistic Kasmir Saivism (Shaiva Traditions of Kashmir, State University of New York Press, 1988).

Cast as a discourse between the god Shiva and his consort Devi or Shakti, it presents 112 meditation methods or centering techniques (dharanas).

"[35] Although domesticated into a householder tradition, Kashmir Shaivism recommended a secret performance of Kaula practices in keeping with its tantric heritage.

The Mālinīvijayottara Tantra outlines several major preconditions conferring the authority to practice Yoga:The Yogin who has mastered posture [and] the mind, controlled the vital energy, subdued the senses, conquered sleep, overcome anger and agitation and who is free from deceit, should practise Yoga in a quiet, pleasant cave or earthen hut free from all obstructions.

[37]Numerous texts, including the Mālinīvijayottara Tantra, outline six "varieties of the goal" or "targets" (laksyas) of yogic practices, mainly.

[41] Some texts teach "a lineal ascent through the heart, the throat, the palate, and the forehead, culminating with the transcendence of sonic experience as the 'Limit of Resonance' [nadanta] in the cranium is pierced."

the three types of possession (avesa) taught in the Trika (anava, sakta and sambhava) which are innovatively presented as three meta-categories under which all yogic exercises can be subsumed.

[45] In Trika texts as well as those of other Saiva schools, it is common to formulate the process of yogic conquest of the realities (tattvas) as a series of Dhāraṇās.

Dhāraṇās ("introspections") are "complex sequences of meditative practices" which focus on a series of contemplations on a "hierarchy of apperceptive states designed to bring him ever closer to the level of the highest perceiver, Shiva".

[46] According to Somadev Vasudeva, the procedure can be described thus:The Yogin starts by disengaging the mind from external stimuli and then fixes it upon a tattva [such as earth, water, etc] with ever deepening absorption.

According to Somadeva Vasudeva, in Trika, ṣaḍaṅgayoga "is to be understood as a collection of helpful or even indispensable yogic techniques which enable the prospective Yogin to achieve the required “coalescence” or “identification” (tanmayata, lit.

The Saivas also were influenced by the work of Buddhist Vijñānavāda and Pramanavada philosophers, especially Dharmakirti, who was also taken as a primary non-Saiva opponent and whose doctrines were sometimes absorbed into the Pratyabhijñā system.

[64] The philosophy of Recognition, as outlined by thinkers like Utpaladeva, teaches that though the identity of all souls is one with God (Isvara) or Shiva (which is the single reality, Being and absolute consciousness), they have forgotten this due to Maya or ignorance.

[66] Because of this, though this philosophy is idealist, it affirms the reality of the world and everyday life, as a real transformation (parinama), manifestation or appearance (ābhāsa) of the absolute consciousness.

[69]The modern scholar-practitioner of Shaiva Tantra, Christopher Wallis outlines the metaphysics and theology of non-dual Shaiva Tantra thus: All that exists, throughout all time and beyond, is one infinite divine Consciousness, free and blissful, which projects within the field of its awareness a vast multiplicity of apparently differentiated subjects and objects: each object an actualization of a timeless potentiality inherent in the Light of Consciousness, and each subject the same plus a contracted locus of self-awareness.

When those finite subjects then identify with the limited and circumscribed cognitions and circumstances that make up this phase of their existence, instead of identifying with the transindividual overarching pulsation of pure Awareness that is their true nature, they experience what they call “suffering.” To rectify this, some feel an inner urge to take up the path of spiritual gnosis and yogic practice, the purpose of which is to undermine their misidentification and directly reveal within the immediacy of awareness the fact that the divine powers of Consciousness, Bliss, Willing, Knowing, and Acting comprise the totality of individual experience as well—thereby triggering a recognition that one’s real identity is that of the highest Divinity, the Whole in every part.

There are several triads described in Trika theology of thinkers like Abhinavagupta including, Kashmir Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta are both non-dual philosophies that give primacy to Universal Consciousness (Chit or Brahman).

[78] Jaideva Singh lists seven key differences between Advaita and Kashmir Shaivism, where in Kashmir Shaivism, (1) the absolute is active, rather than passive, (2) the world is a real appearance, rather than false (mithyā), (3) grace (anugraha) has a soteriological role, (4) the ātman is present in the human body in dynamic form (spaṇda), rather than as a pure witness (sākṣī), (5) the methods include all four upāyas, rather than solely emphasize Śāmbhavopāya, (6) ignorance (avidyā) is uprooted at both intellectual (bauddha) and personal (paurusha) levels, rather than just the intellectual level, and (7) liberation (muktī) is not an isolation from the world (kaivalya) but an integration into world which appears as Shiva.

Before Utpaladeva, his master Somānanda wrote Śiva Dṛṣṭi (The Vision of Siva), a devotional poem written on multiple levels of meaning.