Lakshana
लक्षणा lakṣaṇā'Implication, indication.' A mode of meaning in which, when a sentence's literal sense is impossible, one keeps what the words can jointly point to and sets aside what blocks it. Advaita reads tat tvam asi by bhaga-tyaga-lakshana, dropping the contradictory features of 'that' and 'thou' to reach the identical consciousness they both name.
Where this term appears
- Tat tvam asi: three readings Philosophy
How can a sentence equate them without talking nonsense? Shankara answers with a method called lakshana , implication.
- Anatomy of a Hindu Temple: Gopuram to Garbhagriha Temples
He worked in the orbit of Ujjain, and his great compendium, the Brihat Samhita , the Great Compilation, devotes its fifty-sixth chapter to prasada-lakshana , the characteristics of temples.
- Sat-Chit-Ananda: Being, Consciousness, Bliss Essentials
Sat, chit, and ananda are not attributes of Brahman; they are what the tradition calls svarupa-lakshana , a pointer to Brahman's very essence, its own nature.
- What are the Puranas? Scriptures
The Amarakosha , the great lexicon of Amarasimha, gives as a synonym for purana the term pancha-lakshana , "that which has five characteristic topics." Five marks.
- What is bhakti? Essentials
And the Bhagavata does not call them navadha bhakti . Its own word at 7.5.24 is nava-lakshana , having nine marks.
- What is Mimamsa? Philosophy
…arma is artha , a good or benefit, that has the distinguishing mark ( lakshana ) of being enjoined by a Vedic command.
- Is Sanskrit the mother of all languages? Journal
The Tolkappiyam 's own term for the discipline of grammar is ilakkanam , which is the Sanskrit lakshana naturalised into Tamil.
- Of Old Treatise
The tradition does offer a definition, a neat one, and it is worth knowing precisely because of how badly it fails. A Purana, the texts say, has five marks, the pancha-lakshana .