Buddhism and the Self

[un824 at FREENET.VICTORIA.BC.CA]

Namaste,

Anand writes,

>  When one considers all the three advaitic interpretations, ie. those
>  of the upanishads, the Brahma suutra, and the Giitaa, it becomes amply clear
>  that advaita and Budhhism are different.
>

No one said they are the same in every respect, only that it is argued by
some distinguished Buddhist scholars that Buddhism does *not* deny the Self
or "substratum" as was so vehemently claimed by some Advaitin `experts' on
Buddhism. Of course there *are* differences between the two religions, for
instance, as you point out...

>.......Shankara never said karma kaaNDa
>  should be abolished as the Buddhists did.

If karma kaaNDa refers to the efficacy of ritual, then I think Buddha did
claim believing that is a "fetter to liberation" which is automatically
                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
given up when one directly apprehends the truth, even for a moment. But if
Buddha contradicts the Vedas on this point then he *must* be wrong, right?

-Allan Curry