Guṇa

Guṇa (Sanskrit: गुण) depending on the context means 'string, thread or strand', or 'virtue, merit, excellence', or 'quality, peculiarity, attribute, property'.

The concept originated in Samkhya philosophy, but is now a key concept in various schools of Hindu philosophy. There are three gunas, according to this worldview, that have always been and continue to be present in all things and beings in the world. Classically these three gunas are called: sattva (goodness, constructive, harmonious), rajas (passion, active, confused), and tamas (darkness, destructive, chaotic). A non-dualistic view of the guṇas later developed alongside Buddhism and tantric philosophy that reframed tamas as cyclical and grounding, and thus a necessary foundation or container for both rajas and sattva. Under both classical and tantric philosophies, all three gunas are present in everyone and everything in different proportions, and the interplay of these gunas defines the character of someone or something, influencing nature and life's progression.