the Ajiva category, divided into two parts: Loakasa (the part occupied by the material world) and Aloakasa (the space beyond it which is absolutely void and empty). In Loakasa the universe forms only a part. Akasha is that which gives space and makes room for the existence of all extended substances. At the summit of the lokākāśa is the Siddhashila (abode of the liberated souls). Buddhism In Buddhist phenomenology, akasha is divided into limited space (ākāsa-dhātu) and endless space (ajatākasā). The Vaibhashika, an early school of Buddhist philosophy, hold the existence of akasha to be real. Ākāsa is identified as the first arūpa jhāna, but usually translates as "infinite space." Modern reception The Western mystic-religious philosophy called Theosophy has popularized the word akasha as an adjective, through the use of the term "Akashic records" or "Akashic library", referring to an etheric compendium of all knowledge and history. Scott Cunningham (1995) uses the term akasha to refer to "the spiritual force that Earth, Air, Fire, and Water descend from". Ervin László in Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything (2004), based on ideas by Rudolf Steiner, posits "a field of information" as the substance of the cosmos, which he calls "Akashic field" or "A-field". See also Ākāśagarbha – a Bodhisattva associated with akasha References Classical elements Hindu philosophical concepts Hindu given names Indian masculine given names