摩耶 (印度哲学)

摩耶(梵語：माया，māyā)，源自梵文，它有多重意思，最主要的意思是幻覺，是印度宗教（Indic religions）教義中的重要概念，可以被譯為錯覺。在印度教所認可的一些理論中，世界是婆羅賀摩遊玩時所產生的，人因無明而不能認知梵，而導致輪迴。許多宗教尋求刺破摩耶面紗，以一睹終極現實。

關於這一個概念最有名的理論是商羯羅所創立的吠檀多不二論。

在印度教神系中，難近母女神被視為摩耶的化身。

在佛教里，摩耶译作“諂（英语：Maya (Buddhist mental factor)）”，是心法中的小烦恼地法之一。

词源

Māyā这个词在梵语里来源不明，可能来自词根“Mā”，意为“测量”。^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]类似的词也出现在阿维斯陀语的“māyā”中，意为“魔法力量”。^[5]

^ Jan Gonda, Four studies in the language of the Veda, Disputationes Rheno-Traiectinae (1959), pages 119-188
^ [a] Tracy Pintchman (1994), The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791421123, pages 3-4;
[b] Donald Braue (2006), Maya in Radhakrishnan's Thought: Six Meanings other than Illusion, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120822979, page 101, Quote: "Etymologically, the term māyā is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root mā (...) Whitney says the primary meaning of √mā is 'to measure'. L Thomas O'Neil agrees in his helpful exposition of the ways and contexts in which māyā is used in the Rigvedic tradition."
^ Adrian Snodgrass. The Symbolism of the Stupa. Motilal Banarsidass. 1992: 29. ISBN 978-81-208-0781-5. The word māyā comes from the same root mā, "to measure", as does mātra, "measure", which in turn is etymologically linked to the Latin materia, from which our word "matter" derives. Materia not only relates to mater, "mother" and to matrix, but also to metiri, "to measure, to lay out (a place)", (...)
^ Bangala Bhasar Abhidhaan (Dictionary of the Bengali Language) Shishu Sahitya Samsad Pvt Ltd. 32A, APC Road, Kolakata – 700009, Volume 2, p.1757 (ed. 1994)
^ Mary Boyce (1996), A History of Zoroastrianism: The Early Period, Brill Academic, ISBN 978-9004104747, page 38-40