365bet娱乐

Buddhism is an important non-Vedic Indian philosophy developed from the teachings of Buddha long before the Christian era. The search of the solutions for human sufferings led Gautama Buddha to formulate a new path of enlightenment. Peoples鈥� discontent towards the cast discrimination and violent sacrificial culture of Vedic Br膩hma峁噄sm created a social background to the emergence of the system. Four Noble Truths, Noble eight-fold path, the theory of dependent origination, theory of Karma, theory of impermanence and the An膩tmav膩da etc. are the basic concepts of Buddhism.

Even though Buddha denied the Vedic socio-cultural ideologies, he was influenced by the Vedic and Upani峁�adic non-dual thoughts. While preaching he customized these in the light of his own experiences. Chandradhar Sarma observes that Buddha鈥檚 An膩tmav膩da is the denial only of the false notion of the 鈥業鈥� and the 鈥榤ine鈥� (Nirmama-Niraha峁卥膩rav膩da), which 痴别诲腻苍迟补 also accepts.^[1] The elements of non-dualism can be seen in his teachings. His concept of spiritual absolutism is taken from the Upani峁�adic thoughts. Like the 鲍辫补苍颈峁�a诲蝉, Buddha insists on the direct realization of the absolute which he calls 狈颈谤惫腻峁嘺 and prescribes an elaborate spiritual discipline for its realization.^[2]

According to Buddha all dualities arising from conceptual constructions like the polar opposites of existence and non-existence, created and non-created, birth and death, eternalism and nihilism, asceticism and hedonism, subject and object. He denies all of them. Non-dualism stands for the middle position avoiding the extremes and not for any absolute entity. The non-duality in Buddhism is the Middle path or emptiness with the denial of subject-object duality i.e. non-dual nature of experience (Advaya) and attendant purity of utter selflessness.^[3]

Based upon the metaphysical and epistemological view points, four different schools of thoughts evolved in Buddhism in later period. They were the 惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补 school that advocated 艢奴苍测补惫腻诲补, Yogac膩ra school that preached 痴颈箩帽腻苍补v膩da, 厂补耻迟谤腻苍迟颈办补 school that accepts representa-tionism and the 痴补颈产丑腻峁�i办补 school. Buddha鈥檚 teachings can be seen more developed in these schools.

1. 惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补 School of Buddhism

狈腻驳腻谤箩耻苍补 is the founder of 惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补 School. In his famous work 惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补办腻谤颈办腻, he states with great dialectical skill and scholarship the philosophy of 惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补 School. In several aspects this school has very close relationship with the Upani峁�adic traditions.

狈腻驳腻谤箩耻苍补 systematized and established the concept of emptiness (艢奴苍测补迟腻). Generally the 艢奴苍测补惫腻诲补 is understood as nihilism. But it really denies only the phenomenal world and not all realities. 艢奴苍测补 means the indescribable nature of phenomena. A thing cannot be said either real or unreal or both real and unreal or neither real nor unreal. 艢奴苍测补迟腻 is this indeterminable nature. It is only an aspect of the dependent nature of things. It is a logical corollary of fundamental Buddhist teachings of impermanence (Anitya), sufferings (顿耻岣�k丑补) and no-self (膧n膩tman). 狈腻驳腻谤箩耻苍补 defines emptiness by stating that all things are empty because they have no essence,

i.e. they have no innate self-nature of their own. Self-nature means anything cannot be produced artificially and independently. The true nature of a thing is the self-nature. Those who have no self-nature of their own and dependent in origination they have the empty form. This theory of emptiness is named as doctrine of Dharmanair膩tmya.^[4] The emptiness signifies only the absence of essence. The positive side of emptiness is that anything can be possible when everything is empty. Nothing is essentially real and transmits the emptiness of everything.

狈腻驳腻谤箩耻苍补 states that all things are possible for the one whom emptiness is possible, nothing whatsoever is possible for the one for whom emptiness is not possible. He linked the idea of Emptiness with the idea of dependent origination that has been the core of Buddhism since its beginning. He defined the Emptiness as eightfold. They are: neither existence nor non-existence (neither birth nor death), neither eternal nor annihilated, neither one nor many and neither coming nor departing.^[5]

Emptiness is not an actual emptiness or nothingness, but is instead of the middle position of all stated extreme views. For the thinkers of 惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补 philosophy Emptiness (艢奴苍测补迟腻) is the ultimate truth and is beyond the reach of verbal designation (笔谤补辫补帽肠补) or conceptual construct (Vikalpa).^[6] The 惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补 negates the conceptualist tendency (Vikalpa or 顿峁涐梗峁璱); for this is what falsifies reality which is intuition (笔谤补箩帽腻); the 痴颈箩帽腻苍补v膩da negates objectivity; for this makes 痴颈箩帽腻苍补 appear infected with the duality of subject and object; the 痴别诲腻苍迟补 negates difference (Bheda); the real is universal and identical.鈥�^[7]

According to 惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补, any kind of existence is not only full of pain, but is really based on illusion and ignorance. Here Buddha鈥檚 silence has been interpreted in a novel way. They interpreted 狈颈谤惫腻峁嘺 as silence and it is beyond any thought construction and any linguistic convention. The best description for 狈颈谤惫腻峁嘺 is void and it is fully experienceable in deep 厂补尘腻诲丑颈 and in non-dual intuition (笔谤补箩帽腻).^[8] 惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补 define reality as its 厂惫补产丑腻惫补 i.e. self existent and that which is not caused by anything else and which does not depend on anything else.

惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补-办腻谤颈办腻 says:

补辫补谤补辫谤补迟测补测补峁� 艣腻苍迟补峁� praj帽膩nairaprapa帽citam |
nirvikalpaman膩n膩rtha峁� etat tattvasya lak峁�a峁嘺m || ^[9]

It resembles with the non-dual Brahman concept of 鲍辫补苍颈峁�a诲蝉. Thus it is clear that this system bears some elements of non-duality.

2. Yog膩c膩ra School of Buddhism

痴颈箩帽腻苍补v膩da of Yog膩c膩ra school of Buddhism had an earlier form which was kept in some texts like 尝补峁卥腻惫补迟腻谤补蝉奴迟谤补 and advocated by Maitreyan膩tha, 础蝉补峁単补, Vasubandhu and Sthiramati, and modified by Di峁単n膩ga, Dharmak墨rti and 艢腻苍迟补谤补办峁�i迟补 as Soutr膩ntikayog膩c膩ra or Svatantravij帽膩nav膩da. It has arisen to complement and accompaniment 惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补鈥檚 doctrine of Emptiness.

According to 尝补峁卥腻惫补迟腻谤补蝉奴迟谤补, Citta-尘腻迟谤补 or pure-痴颈箩帽腻苍补 is the ultimate reality. It is free from all dualities and also from origin, existence and disappearance. This system accepts 础惫颈诲测腻 or 痴腻蝉补苍腻, which causes duality and manifests itself as Citta or 膧layavij帽膩na. When the idea of objectivity is rooted out, there is no object to be perceived and the absence of an object, the subject also glides away and consciousness shines as pure non-dual absolute 痴颈箩帽腻苍补.^[10] It has eternal, blissful, indeterminate nature and it can be realized only through immediate spiritual experience. For attaining the non-duality of consciousness this system has its own concept of superimposition. The superimposition of subjects and objects are unreal. The consequence (Parin膩ma) is also unreal.

The idea of oneness, which might have come from Vedic or 膧gamic or Buddhist or from some other sects, has influenced and inspired the Indian society. The social and political leaders at the time of India鈥檚 renaissance movement and independence movement have made use of this ideal of non-duality in different way depending their ideologies. All social philosophies have been growing from a common seeking to make the society a better one. Dr.Sukumar Azhicode has rightly observed that all social reformers of India were singing the same old songs of oneness through their new flutes.^[11]

For Mahatma Gandhi the aim of the life is experiencing the truth. He believed in Advaita as it is the essence of all living beings. Gandhian philosophy is an experience of universal applicability. It has a capacity to liberate mankind from its twin moods and it has liberated from caste, creed, race, religion etc. It upholds a beautiful concept of unity only because of its freed nature. The theory of non-selfish action built by Gandhi, which has much relevance today, contains the Advaidic trend of Indian Philosophy.

Rabindranath Tagore has imbibed the philosophy of oneness from Indian culture with a human touch. His vision was broader discarding the limits of religion, caste, creed and national boundaries. At the same time of accepting the diversity of the nature and mankind, he propagated a universal and all inclusive philosophy of oneness through his writings and activities. The social leaders like 狈腻谤腻测补峁嘺 Guru, Cha峁�峁璦mbisv膩mikal, Nataraja Guru and Svami Agamananda also have tried for a positive and sustainable change in the society depending on the point of view of non-duality.

The non-dualistic philosophies mentioned above have one ultimate reality, which might be different in name and characters, but having some commonness in them. These had different periods of emergence, but they all enquired for the basic nature of being and struggled for their existence. Among the philosophies having non-dual elements, the 笔谤补迟测补产丑颈箩帽腻 philosophy of Kashmir or northern Advaita and the Advaita 痴别诲腻苍迟补 philosophy of 艢补峁卥补谤腻肠腻谤测补 or southern Advaita have several similarities. Both are considering the universe as manifested due to 惭腻测腻 and the ultimate goal is the liberation from the bondages. Both were influenced by Buddhistic ideals and use dialectical method to refute other thoughts filled with duality concepts together with ignorance. For analyzing the parallel aspects, it is necessary to understand the philosophical tenets of both systems minutely. In the following chapter, an attempt is made for introducing these systems emphasizing the historical and cultural backgrounds of them.

Footnotes and references:

[back to top]

[1]:

The Advaita Tradition in Indian Philosophy, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 2007, p. 2.

[2]:

Ibid., p. 16.

[3]:

Krishnan, O.N., In Search of Reality, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 2004, p. 314.

[4]:

Ibid., p. 274.

[5]:

Ibid., pp. 276-278.

[6]:

M奴lamadhyama办腻谤颈办腻 of 狈腻驳腻谤箩耻苍补, 18.9.

[7]:

Coward, Herald, G., Studies in Indian Thought, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 2004, p. 177.

[8]:

Masih, Yakob, The Hindu Religious Thought, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1983, p. 428.

[9]:

惭腻诲丑测补尘颈办补办腻谤颈办腻 18.9.

[10]:

yad膩 tu 膩lambanam 补谤迟丑补峁� nopalabhyate 箩帽腻苍补峁� 迟补诲腻 vij帽apti尘腻迟谤补vyavasthana峁� bhavati | 尝补峁卥腻惫补迟腻谤补蝉奴迟谤补, p. 169. Also vide Sarma, Chandradhar, op.cit., p. 77.

[11]:

惭补丑腻迟尘腻惫颈苍峁璭 惭腻谤驳补峁�, DC Books, Kottayam, 2005, p. 14.