Vasugupta

Vasugupta ( Sanskrit: वसुगुप्त Vasugupta [ ʋʌsʊɡʊptʌ ] ) (* 875, † 925) was a saint of the Kashmiri Shaivism, who is considered one of the five major philosophers of this school Shivaite. According to tradition, he is said to have achieved the highest awareness levels of Trika Yoga. He also developed from an ascetic Tantrism a householder religion that was close to Shaiva Siddhanta. Vasugupta should have received one of the most important scriptures of Kashmir Shaivism directly from Shiva, the Shiva Sutras. In these writings is the basic for the Kashmiri Shaivism, mentioned principle of Spanda (vibration) for the first time and later authors have further developed this principle. Spanda is the vibratory movement of pure consciousness, which is identical with the inner self and the objective world. Spanda is also a principle of the matter, since its essence controls the matter and penetrates. At the same time Spanda is connected with the vibrations of consciousness or spirit.

In the 9th century, the Spandakarikas and Comments wrote a student Vasuguptas, Bhatta Kallata to this, in which the idea of the Spanda has been further developed.