(Sanskrit: "Nondualism") Most influential school of Vedanta .
It originated with Gaudapada's 7th-century commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad . Gaudapada builds on the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy of emptiness, asserting that there is no duality; the mind, awake or dreaming, moves through maya (illusion). The mind's ignorance conceals the truth that there is no becoming and no individual soul or self ( jiva ), only a temporary delineation from the atman (all-soul). In the 8th century Sankara developed Advaita further, arguing that the world is unreal and that the Upanishads teach the nature of Brahman , the only reality. The extensive Advaita literature influences modern Hindu thought.