<P> If atman is brahman in a pot (the body), then one need merely break the pot to fully realize the primordial unity of the individual soul with the plenitude of Being that was the Absolute . </P> <P> Schools of Indian philosophy, such as Advaita (non-dualism) see Ātman within each living entity as being fully identical with Brahman--the Principle, whereas other schools such as Dvaita (dualism) differentiate between the individual atma in living beings, and the Supreme atma (Paramatma) as being at least partially separate beings . Unlike Advaita, Samkhya holds blissfullness of Ātman as merely figurative . However, both Samkhya and Advaita consider the ego (asmita, ahamkara) rather than the Ātman to be the cause of pleasure and pain . Later Advaitic text Pañcadaśī classifies the degrees of Ātman under three headings: Gauna or secondary (anything other than the personality that an individual identifies with), Mithya or false (bodily personality) and Mukhya or primary (the real Self). </P> <P> The concept of Ātman was rejected by the Buddha . Terms like anatman (not - self) and shunyata (voidness) are at the core of all Buddhist traditions . The permanent transcendence of the belief in the separate existence of the self is integral to the enlightenment of an Arhat . The Buddha criticized conceiving theories even of a unitary soul or identity immanent in all things as unskillful . In fact, according to the Buddha's statement in Khandha Samyutta 47, all thoughts about self are necessarily, whether the thinker is aware of it or not, thoughts about the five aggregates or one of them . </P> <P> Despite the rejection of Ātman by Buddhists there were similarities between certain concepts in Buddhism and Ātman . The Upanishadic "Self" shares certain characteristics with nibbana; both are permanent, beyond suffering, and unconditioned . Buddhist mysticism is also of a different sort from that found in systems revolving around the concept of a "God" or "Self": </P>

In what region was art most closely connected with the religions of buddhism and hinduism