Hinduism
Hinduism is a primary proponent of Monism. In the Hindu religion,
Brahman (Devanāgarī: ब्रह्मन् bráhman) is the eternal, unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe. The nature of Brahman is described as transpersonal, personal and impersonal by different philosophical schools and the Brahman religious belief is just seen as different paths to the one God.
[1] This concept of Brahman explains the prevalence of Monism in Hinduism, because Brahman is considered to be all that exists and thus everything in the universe including the universe itself is considered a manifestation of Brahman.
Monism is found in the
Nasadiya Sukta of the
Rigveda, which speaks of the
One being-non-being that 'breathed without breath'. The first system in Hinduism that unequivocally explicated
absolute monism was the non-dualist philosophy of
Advaita Vedanta as expounded by
Shankara. In short, Advaita declares - All is
Brahman. It is part of the six
Hindu systems of
philosophy, based on the
Upanishads, and posits that the ultimate monad is a formless, ineffable divine ground of all being.
Vishishtadvaita, qualified monism, is from the school of
Ramanuja.
Shuddhadvaita, in-essence monism, is the school of
Vallabha.
Dvaitadvaita, differential monism, is a school founded by
Nimbarka.
Dvaita,
dualism, is a school founded by
Madhvacharya is probably the only Vedantic System which is opposed to all types of monism. It believes that God is eternally different from souls and matter in both form and essence. All
Vaishnava schools are
panentheistic and view the universe as part of
Krishna or
Narayana, but see a plurality of souls and substances within
Brahman. Monistic theism, which includes the concept of a personal God as a
universal,
omnipotent Supreme Being who is both
immanent and
transcendent, is prevalent within many other schools of Hinduism as well.