Advaitins?

[Chandran, Nanda (NBC)]

Migual Angel writes :
>I consider the Buddha a jnani. And also many others who are not in the
>Vedic tradition, like the Christian Meister Eckhardt, and the Muslim
Ibn
>El'Arabi. And consequently I see them as Advaitists.

>For me Advaita is not a school of Vedanta, but the universal line of
thought
>that turns around the basic principle I said before.

>Though Huxley doesn't call it Advaita, I do.

I'm not sure I agree. You may call all of them non-dual philosophers,
but not Advaitins. For Advaitam is a specific school of thought in
Vedanta based on the Shruti, the Smriti and the Brahma Sutras, it's main
exponents being Gaudapada, Shankara and his disciples. Though it might
mean the same, it also doesn't if viewed from a different perspective.
And this is the reason the Advaitins object to anybody else outside
their tradition being equated to them!
If the school of thought of Shankara and Gaudapada hadn't been called
Advaitam, yeah sure, you can use the term when referring to other
non-dual philosophers. But then why use the term at all?

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