[Advaita-l] Questions on mayavada

[Sunil Bhattacharjya]

Dear Shyamji,

I fully agree with you. The Buddhist scriptures were completely distorted by the time of Adi Sankaracharya. Adi Sankaracharya had to criticise the Buddhist literature prevailing then as the Buddhists themselves were confused as to what Shunyata is. Vasubandhu and his disciple Dignaga (the latter lived about a couple of centuries before Adi Sankaracharya) could not retain the original teachings of Lord Buddha. At first Vasubandhu did not agree with his half-brother Asanga and wrote one book on Abhidharma and later on he went to the side of Asanga and wrote a second book, where  he opposed his own earlier views on Abhidharma. Adi Sankaracharya  had to criticise the Buddhist knowledge  and literature of his time as he wanted to bring to us back the Pure Vedantic knowledge through his work on the Prasthanatraya.. That is why there is reference to the writing of Dharmakirti in Sutrabashya.

There is another aspect also The  Vishnu Purana also says that Lord Buddha created confusion. In Sarnath he first taught about the Moral code which is basic. He talked about Anatma. Then  two decades later he taught the concept of Shunyata and  the tenets of the Mahayana Buddhism.  In spite of Nagrjuna's telling that Shunyata is not Nihilism and that Parajanaparamita also mentioning about the Shunyata after one leaves  the five  skandhas, there are and there will always be people who will go on calling Buddha's philosophy as Nihilism. About the origin of the  Tantric Buddhism also  there are controversies.

Shyamji, any idea as to the Vedantists'  view (throughout the centuries)  on Lord Buddha being an Avatara of Lord Vishnu. It seems that in many Buddha viharas, probably more in Sri Lanka, there are statues of Lord Vishnu, which are looked at reverentially. by the Buddhists. Sri Ramakrishna paramhansa also says that there is no doubt about Lord Buddha being an Avatara of Lord Vishnu. Swami Vivakananda tells us about him very superlatively. Dr. radhakrishnan says that he was a reformer of Hinduism. Personally I worship him as the Avatara of Lord Vishnu.

Regards,

Sunil K. Bhattacharjya

--- On Wed, 11/10/10, Shyam <shyam_md at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Shyam <shyam_md at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Questions on mayavada
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 9:22 AM

"To be brief from every point of view that this Buddhist doctrine may be examined for finding out some justification, it breaks down like a well sunk in sand; and we do not find any the least logic here. Hence also all behavior based on the Buddhist scripture is unjustifiable. MOREOVER BuddhA exposed HIS OWN INCOHERENCE in talk when he instructed the three mutually contradictory theories of the existence of external objects, existence of consciousness and absolute nihilism; or he displayed HIS MALEVOLENCE (was malicious) towards all creatures, acting under the DELUSION that these creatures would get confused by imbibing contradictory views. The idea is that the Buddhist view should be abjured in every way by all who desire the highest good" 

Adi Sankara in His Sutra bhyashya.


Hari OM
Shri Gurbhyoh namah
Shyam

--- On Wed, 11/10/10, Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Sunil Bhattacharjya <sunil_bhattacharjya at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Questions on mayavada
> To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 11:38 AM
> Shri Shrikanta,
> 
> It is like the Vedantist today saying that Sankhya is wrong
> or Yoga is wrong, though these are not wrong and are valid
> within their scope and they do not go to the Vedantic level.
> So also Lord Buddha did not touch Vedanta as he was
> forbidden to teach it ,  yet out of sympathy for his
> advanced disciples he spoke about the concept of Shunyata. 
> Madam Blavatsky explained that.  Adi Sankaracharya and
> Gaudapada knew the truth. However most people today read a
> bit about Lord  Buddha and a bit about Vedanta and see the
> criticism of  what Dignaga and Dharmakirti said as the
> direct criticism of Lord Buddha. The people, who  
> criticise  Lord Buddha do not know that Lord Buddha told
> the highest truth without the argumentation of the Buddhist
> logicians.  Some  Brahmin priests could have been  up
> against Lord Buddha as Lord Buddha was against excess
> ritualism in the name of the Vedas and they propagated that
> Lord Buddha was against the Veda. It does not
>  get registered in thir grey matter that Lord Buddha said
> that he did not invent anything and that he only told what
> the ancient seers told. 
> 
> Now it is quite possible that you will surf the Internet
> and show your scholarship that you always knew all about
> what Blavatsky said  and that even your knowledge on
> Blavatsky is more than what I know.
> 
> Sunil K. Bhattacharjya
> 
> --- On Wed, 11/10/10, srikanta <srikanta at nie.ac.in>
> wrote:
> 
> From: srikanta <srikanta at nie.ac.in>
> Subject: [Advaita-l] Questions on mayavada
> To: advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
> Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 2:03 AM
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You said  as follows:
> <<  .It is too childish to say that niether
> Gaudapada nor Shankara criticised
> Buddha<< <.
> Do you think your giving an assertion without substantiang
> it  is unchildish?
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Sunil K. Bhattacharjya
> 
> Dear Sunil Bhattacharyaji,
> 
> I have given the gist of Gaudapada's arguments which says
> that vedanta is
> not Buddhism.Shankara's commentary follows that.If you say
> that neither
> Gaudapada or Shankara criticised Buddha,what else can I
> say.To understand
> that,you have to study Mandukya Upanishad and the Gaudapada
> karikas.If the
> arguments there must be followed.If you simply repeat what
> I said,what
> else is it?We are not indulging in vithandavada.
> Sincerely,                               
>             N.Srikanta.
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