Prakāśa

Prakāśa is a concept in Indian philosophy translated by various authors as "light", "luminosity", "shining forth", "manifestation", "splendour", "light of consciousness" and so forth.

In Buddhist philosophy, the term was used to refer to the self-reflexive nature of awareness. In late Yogacara Buddhist philosophy, prakāśa was used to refer to the true nature of mind, the luminous mind, which is the ultimate truth, the ultimate reality.

In Kashmir Shaivism prakāśa is identified with God, Śiva. Paul E. Murphy describes it as, "luminous and undifferentiated consciousness," and Paul Muller-Ortega glosses it as "primordial light beyond all manifestations". For the Shaivas, prakāśa is considered supreme, ultimate, unsurpassable, but as such it cannot be described as pure transcendence, because even though it is above all, it is still present in the manifestation, in every aspect of it. Thus prakāśa is said to be both transcendent and immanent.