Similarities between Shaivism & Buddhism - 2
March 23, 2026
This comparison is to bring out the similarities in them than their "frictional" differences which is what usually excites the "masses" as it highlights conflicting ideas to argue about. I will genuinely stay away from that.
As explained in the previous article, the 36 tattvas are an ontological emanation (from pure consciousness downward into matter), while the 12 nidānas are a causal sequence (ignorance -> suffering). In this article I put forth the similarities and treat the tattvas as providing the metaphysical infrastructure presupposed by each DO link, rather than a strict 1:1 equivalence.
Shaiva Tattvas Mapped to Buddhist Dependent Origination (Pratītyasamutpāda)
Group 1 - Deep Ground (Pre-cognitive)
1. Ignorance | Avidyā / Avijjā
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Śiva | Inactive pure consciousness (Śiva tattvas) |
| 2 | Śakti | Active pure consciousness (Śiva tattvas) |
| 3 | Sadāśiva | Pure experience (Śuddha tattvas) |
| 4 | Īśvara | Pure experience (Śuddha tattvas) |
| 5 | Sadvidyā (Śuddhavidyā) | Pure experience (Śuddha tattvas) |
Rationale: The pure Śiva-Śakti ground and the first three "pure" tattvas represent the state before differentiated cognition. In Trika, māyā-śakti contracting this pure awareness is the functional equivalent of avidyā - the concealment (āvaraṇa) of one's true nature. The first five tattvas are the ontological substrate that avidyā obscures.
2. Volitional Formations | Saṃskāra / Sankhāra
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Māyā | Māyā (the limiting veil) |
| 7 | Kalā | Kañcuka (limited agency) |
| 8 | Vidyā | Kañcuka (limited knowledge) |
| 9 | Rāga | Kañcuka (desire/attachment) |
| 10 | Kāla | Kañcuka (time) |
| 11 | Niyati | Kañcuka (causal necessity) |
Rationale: Māyā and the five kañcukas (sheaths of limitation) are the cosmic constraints that structure conditioned action: Kalā (limited agency), Vidyā (limited knowledge), Rāga (attachment/desire), Kāla (time), Niyati (causal necessity). Together these six tattvas constitute the very "shape" of saṃskāric patterning - how volition becomes bounded and habitual. Rāga as a cosmic tattva is notably parallel to how tṛṣṇā/saṃskāra function in Buddhist causality - desire baked into the structure of conditioned existence.
Group 2 - Individual Subject
3. Consciousness | Vijñāna
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Puruṣa | Subjective individual (Puruṣa tattva) |
Rationale: Puruṣa is the individual experiential subject - the contracted Śiva who identifies with a finite perspective. This maps cleanly to vijñāna as the stream of individual consciousness that descends into a new existence.
4. Name-and-Form | Nāmarūpa
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Prakṛti | Primordial materiality |
| 14 | Buddhi | Antaḥkaraṇa (discernment / intellect) |
| 15 | Ahaṃkāra | Antaḥkaraṇa (ego/individuation) |
| 16 | Manas | Antaḥkaraṇa (mental coordinator) |
Rationale: Nāmarūpa ("name" = mental factors; "form" = material basis) maps to Prakṛti (primordial materiality) plus the inner instrument (antaḥkaraṇa): Buddhi provides discernment/nāma, Ahaṃkāra provides the individuating principle (binding name to form), and Manas integrates sensory data into a psychophysical whole.
Group 3 - Cognitive Apparatus
5. Six Sense Bases | Ṣaḍāyatana / Saḷāyatana
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Śrotra (hearing) | Jñānendriya (cognitive sense organ) |
| 18 | Tvak (touch) | Jñānendriya (cognitive sense organ) |
| 19 | Cakṣus (sight) | Jñānendriya (cognitive sense organ) |
| 20 | Jihvā (taste) | Jñānendriya (cognitive sense organ) |
| 21 | Ghrāṇa (smell) | Jñānendriya (cognitive sense organ) |
| 22 | [Manas - see #16] | [Mind as sixth sense base] |
Rationale: The five jñānendriyas (hearing, touch, sight, taste, smell) plus manas (noted under nāmarūpa) are the Shaiva cognitive sense organs. Buddhism enumerates five physical senses + mind as the six āyatanas. The mapping is nearly one-to-one. The Shaiva system also pairs each jñānendriya with a karmendriya (motor organ), which carries over into the next link.
6. Contact | Sparśa / Phassa
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 23 | Vāk (speech) | Karmendriya (motor organ) |
| 24 | Pāṇi (hands) | Karmendriya (motor organ) |
| 25 | Pāda (feet) | Karmendriya (motor organ) |
| 26 | Pāyu (elimination) | Karmendriya (motor organ) |
| 27 | Upastha (reproduction) | Karmendriya (motor organ) |
Rationale: Sparśa is the meeting of sense organ, object, and consciousness. The five karmendriyas (motor organs: speech, hands, feet, elimination, reproduction) are the Shaiva locus of action-in-contact with the world. They enact the "touching" of subject upon object, making contact the operative moment of each organ's exercise.
Group 4 - Subtle Elements & Feeling
7. Feeling / Sensation | Vedanā
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | Śabda-tanmātra (sound) | Tanmātra (subtle element) |
| 29 | Sparśa-tanmātra (touch) | Tanmātra (subtle element) |
| 30 | Rūpa-tanmātra (form/color) | Tanmātra (subtle element) |
| 31 | Rasa-tanmātra (taste) | Tanmātra (subtle element) |
| 32 | Gandha-tanmātra (smell) | Tanmātra (subtle element) |
Rationale: The five tanmātras are subtle sense-qualities - pure potentials of sound, touch, form, taste, and smell prior to full materialization. They are the subjective "feel" of sensory data before it becomes gross. This parallels vedanā (feeling-tone), which in Abhidharma is the hedonic quality (pleasant/unpleasant/neutral) immediately arising from contact - the pure qualitative dimension of experience.
Group 5 - Gross Manifestation & Reactive Chain
8. Craving | Tṛṣṇā / Taṇhā
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | Ākāśa (space/ether) | Mahābhūta (gross element) |
Rationale: Ākāśa is the first gross element - the most expansive and receptive. Craving is similarly the initial "opening" into gross reactive desire; space as the medium in which desire can arise and propagate, the container for all subsequent becoming. Space's unbounded, all-pervading quality mirrors the undirected, pervasive nature of craving before it fixates on an object.
9. Clinging / Grasping | Upādāna
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | Vāyu (air/wind) | Mahābhūta (gross element) |
Rationale: Vāyu is the element of movement, binding, and circulation. Upādāna is the grasping that binds one to objects, views, rites, and self-doctrine. Air's binding movement maps to the "clinging" motion of upādāna: it reaches, attaches, circulates around what craving has targeted.
10. Becoming / Existence | Bhava
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 35 | Agni / Tejas (fire) | Mahābhūta (gross element) |
Rationale: Tejas is the element of transformation and actualization - it converts potential into actual form. Bhava is the actualization of a new mode of being, the "coming into existence" of karmically conditioned life. Fire's transformative, generative heat maps to bhava's function of actualizing a new existence from accumulated karma.
11. Birth | Jāti
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | Pṛthvī (earth) | Mahābhūta (gross element) |
Rationale: Pṛthvī is the densest, most particularized gross element - solid, bounded, individuated. Birth (jāti) is the concrete arising of a being in a particular form. Earth's quality of gross materialized individuation maps directly to jāti as the moment of fully embodied, localized existence.
12. Aging-and-Death | Jarā-maraṇa
| # | Tattva | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 34 | Vāyu | Dissolution of gross elements (pralaya) |
| 35 | Agni / Tejas | Dissolution of gross elements (pralaya) |
| 36 | Pṛthvī | Dissolution of gross elements (pralaya) |
| 5 | Sadvidyā | Dissolution-knowledge (path back toward Śiva) |
Rationale: Jarā-maraṇa (aging and death) spans the full arc of embodied existence dissolving. It corresponds to the exhaustion and reabsorption of the gross elements (pralaya in Shaiva terms), with Sadvidyā as the highest tattva associated with dissolution-knowledge - the path back toward Śiva. No single tattva captures this link; it is the process of all gross tattvas returning toward source. Grief (śoka), lamentation (parideva), pain, sorrow, and despair accompany this link in the full formula, mapping to the experiential texture of the dissolving elemental complex.
Summary Overview Table
| # | DO Link (Pali) | Tattvas | Tattva #s |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ignorance (Avijjā) | Śiva, Śakti, Sadāśiva, Īśvara, Sadvidyā | 1-5 |
| 2 | Volitional formations (Saṃskāra) | Māyā + 5 Kañcukas (Kalā, Vidyā, Rāga, Kāla, Niyati) | 6-11 |
| 3 | Consciousness (Vijñāna) | Puruṣa | 12 |
| 4 | Name-and-form (Nāmarūpa) | Prakṛti, Buddhi, Ahaṃkāra, Manas | 13-16 |
| 5 | Six sense bases (Ṣaḍāyatana) | 5 Jñānendriyas (Śrotra, Tvak, Cakṣus, Jihvā, Ghrāṇa) + Manas | 17-21 (+16) |
| 6 | Contact (Sparśa) | 5 Karmendriyas (Vāk, Pāṇi, Pāda, Pāyu, Upastha) | 23-27 |
| 7 | Feeling (Vedanā) | 5 Tanmātras (Śabda, Sparśa, Rūpa, Rasa, Gandha) | 28-32 |
| 8 | Craving (Taṇhā) | Ākāśa | 33 |
| 9 | Clinging (Upādāna) | Vāyu | 34 |
| 10 | Becoming (Bhava) | Tejas / Agni | 35 |
| 11 | Birth (Jāti) | Pṛthvī | 36 |
| 12 | Aging-and-death (Jarā-maraṇa) | Vāyu, Tejas, Pṛthvī + Sadvidyā (dissolution) | 34-36 + 5 |
Deep Insight
We can see dependent origination as the dynamic unfolding of what Śaivism describes statically as tattvas.
- In Śaivism: this unfolding is real manifestation of consciousness.
- In Buddhism: this unfolding is empty, conditioned process.
All 36 Shaiva tattvas accounted for across the 12 nidānas. Tattvas 1-5 (pure Śiva-Śakti level) map to avidyā as what ignorance conceals; tattvas 34-36 recur at jarā-maraṇa as the dissolution of what was actualized at birth. Ultimately tattvas describe the structure of reality and pratītyasamutpāda describes the mechanism by which that structure is experienced as suffering.