Śaiva cosmology
षट्त्रिंशत् तत्त्वानि
How does reality unfold?
The 36 tattvas describe the descent from undivided consciousness into material particularity — and, read upward, the path of recognition. This scheme belongs primarily to Tantric Śaiva traditions; it is not shared by all Hindu systems.
Pure tattvas
Śuddha — unity is undisturbed; distinction appears without separation.
Pure-impure tattvas
Śuddhāśuddha — māyā and the five cloaks that limit the subject.
Impure tattvas
Aśuddha — subject and object stand fully apart; the world of ordinary experience.
The enumeration extends the twenty-five tattvas of Sāṃkhya with eleven further principles. Numbering and groupings vary slightly between Āgamic and Trika sources; treat any single list as one tradition's systematisation.