Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Upadeśasāhasrī
Śaṅkara's 'Upadeśasāhasrī' (A Thousand Teachings) — independent didactic exposition of Advaita Vedanta
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Upadeśasāhasrī (Mature) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Cyclical |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Bi-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Non-local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Matter · Conservation | Non-conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Non-local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Space Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Total |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Disembodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Singular |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Impersonal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Revelation |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Energy · Conservation | Non-conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Relational |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Upadeśasāhasrī
c. late 8th century CE. The Upadeśasāhasrī is generally considered the only independent (non-commentarial) Śaṅkara work whose authenticity is well-established.
Space
Upadeśasāhasrī
South India — Śaṅkara's geographical-cultural region.
Matter
Upadeśasāhasrī
Sanskrit independent treatise (~200 pages in standard editions). Form is prose-then-verse two-part composition.
Observer
Upadeśasāhasrī
Mature Śaṅkara. The observer-philosopher is here writing in his own voice rather than as commentator — the work is the most direct source for Śaṅkara's mature pedagogical method.
Energy
Upadeśasāhasrī
Didactic-philosophical energies. The work is structured as teaching: the prose part for methodological-philosophical foundations, the verse part for the central doctrinal exposition.
Information
Upadeśasāhasrī
Prose + verse two-part treatise. The 18th chapter of the verse part (Tat-tvam-asi prakaraṇa, on the great-saying 'Tat tvam asi') is the most philosophically dense and most-discussed material.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Śaṅkara's only major independent (non-commentary) work; the principal direct-pedagogical Śaṅkara source. The methodological material (the prose part) is the most-cited source for Śaṅkara's account of how non-dual realisation can be communicated through dualistic-grammatical language — a question of central importance for the entire subsequent Advaita-Vedantic teaching tradition.