Dualism (Indian philosophy)

Dualism in Indian philosophy is a belief, or large spectrum of beliefs, held by certain schools of Indian philosophy that reality is fundamentally composed of two parts or two types of existence. This mainly takes the form of either mind-matter dualism, as in some strands of Buddhist philosophy, or consciousness-nonconsciousness dualism in the Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hindu philosophy. These can be compared and contrasted with mind-body dualism in Western philosophy of mind and metaphysics.^[1]

Another form of dualism in Hindu philosophy is found in the Dvaita ("dualism") Vedanta school, which regards God and the world as two realities with distinct essences; this is a form of theistic dualism. By contrast, schools such as Advaita ("nondualism") Vedanta embrace nondualism or absolute monism, regarding dualism as an illusion (maya).