Darśana

Darśana (Sanskrit: दर्शन, lit. theophany) is the auspicious sight of a deity or a holy person. The term also refers to six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy and their literature on spirituality and soteriology.

The word, also in the forms of darśana or darshanam, comes from Sanskrit दर्शन, from dṛś, "to see", vision, apparition or glimpse.

Darshana is described as an "auspicious sight" of a holy person, which bestows merit on the person who is seen. "Sight" here means seeing or beholding, and/or being seen or beheld.

It is most commonly used for theophany, "manifestation / visions of the divine", in Hindu worship, e.g. of a deity (especially in image form), or a very holy person or artifact. One can receive darshana or a glimpse of the deity in the temple, or from a great saintly person, such as a great guru.

The term darshana also refers to the six systems of thought, called darśanam, that comprise classical Hindu philosophy. The term therein implies how each of these six systems distinctively look at things and the scriptures in Indian philosophies. The six orthodox Hindu darshana are Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, and Vedanta. Buddhism and Jainism are examples of non-Hindu darshans.

On the significance of darśana in Mahayana thought, Paul Harrison writes: "By the second century CE... the vision of the Buddha (buddha-darśana) and the accompanying hearing of the Dharma (dharma-śravaṇa) are represented as a transformation experience of decisive importance for practitioners, be they who have renounced (mundane life) "ascetics" or householders."

The Abhidharma, collections of systematic summaries of the sutras, mention Darśana-citta, i.e. visions.

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