Ultimate Reality in Religions

Different religions have different ideas about the ultimate reality, its source or ground (or lack thereof) and also about what is the "Maximal Greatness." Paul Tillich's concept of "Ultimate Concern" and Rudolf Otto's "Idea of the Holy" are concepts which point to concerns about the ultimate or highest truth which most religious philosophies deal with in some way. One of the main differences among religions is whether the ultimate reality is a personal God or an impersonal reality.

In Western Religions, various forms of theism are the most common conceptions, while in Eastern Religions, there are theistic and also various non-theistic conceptions of Ultimate. Theistic versus non-theistic is a common way of sorting the different types of religions.

There are also several philosophical positions with regard to the existence of God that one might take including various forms of theism (monotheism and polytheism), agnosticism, and different kinds of atheism.

Ultimate reality is "something that is the supreme, final, and fundamental power in all reality."

In Therevada Buddhism, Nirvana is the ultimate reality. Nirvana is described in negative terms; it is unconstructed and unconditioned. In some strands of Mahayana Buddhism, the Buddha-nature or the Dhammakaya is seen as ultimate reality. Other strands of Buddhism reject the notion of ultimate reality, regarding any existent as empty (sunyata) of inherent existence (svabhava).

In Hinduism, Brahman connotes the highest Ultimate Principle, the Ultimate Reality in the universe. In major schools of Hindu philosophy, it is the material, efficient, formal, and final cause of all that exists. It is the pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet it is the cause of all changes. Brahman as a metaphysical concept is the single binding unity behind diversity in all that exists in the universe.

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