Guṇa (Sanskrit: गुण) is a concept in Hinduism and Sikhism, which can be translated as “quality, peculiarity, attribute, property”

The concept is originally notable as a feature of Samkhya philosophy

The gunas are now a key concept in nearly all 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

These three gunas are called: sattva (goodness, calmness, harmonious), rajas (passion, activity, movement), and tamas (ignorance, inertia, laziness)

All of these three gunas are present in everyone and everything, it is the proportion that is different, according to Hindu worldview

The interplay of these gunas defines the character of someone or something, of nature and determines the progress of life

In some contexts, it may mean “a subdivision, species, kind, quality”, or an operational principle or tendency of something or someone

In human behavior studies, Guna means personality, innate nature and psychological attributes of an individual

Like all Sanskrit technical terms, guṇa can be difficult to summarize in a single word

Its original and common meaning is a thread, implying the original materials that weave together to make up reality

The usual, but approximate translation in common usage is “quality”