Antiquity of Advaita Vedanta (was Re: An Open Letter to All)

[Anand Hudli]

On Tue, 13 Jun 2000 15:32:53 -0700, Ravisankar Mayavaram
<miinalochanii at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>If you think understanding the similarities and disagreements with
>buddhism is so important, can you support it with a quote from any of
>the shankaracharya-s? Have they ever advised their followers to do so?
>

 Excellent point. Somehow this simple point seems to be beyond the
 grasp of many on this list. I do, however, recognize that there is some
 merit in studying the arguments of advaita *against* Buddhism. This
 has always been the traditional stand of advaita - Buddhist theories
 have many defects, being anti-Vedic (or at least indifferent to Vedas),
 being essentially nihilist, among others. Anyone who dares to suggest
 that accepting or practising some or all aspects of Buddhism will make
 us better advaitins is *obligated* to show exactly why the likes of
 Shankara, VAchaspati Mishra, and MadhusUdana sarasvatI, are all
 wrong in their views about any aspect of Buddhism. So far, I have not
 seen anything by Nanda or anyone with similar views which has
 attempted to do this. This lack of addressing the advaitins' criticisms
 of Buddhism point-by-point is clearly unacceptable. I would go even
 as far as challenging the lovers of Buddhism to follow the example of
 MadhusUdana in the advaita-siddhi where he adresses specific criticisms
 from the dvaitins, and faces the criticisms squarely and with full
 attention.

>I do welcome Nanda to post his article. But the fine line is if his
>article attempts to discuss buddhism on its own right rather than
>comparing it with advaita-vedanta then it clearly goes outside the
>scope of the list.
>
>My 2c and my intention is not to offend anyone.
>
 You read my mind! Your 2c is right on target.

 Anand

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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