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Advaita Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism share significant similarities. Those similarities have attracted Indian and Western scholars attention, and have also.
Table of contents

Shankara refused, where he considered it appropriate, to take a literal approach to scriptural statements and adoption of symbolic interpretation. In a famous passage in his commentary on the Brahmasutra's of Badarayana , Shankara writes. According to a common interpretation, Shankara emphasizes the role of personal experience anubhava in ascertaining the validity of knowledge.

Anantanand Rambachan quotes several modern interpretators in defence of this interpretation, especially Radakrishnan. Yet, according to Rambacham himself, sruti is the main source of knowledge for Shankara. According to Swami Dayananda Saraswati , anubhava has a more specific meaning than " experience ", namely " direct knowledge ". Interpreting anubahva as " experience " may lead to a misunderstanding of Advaita Vedanta , and a mistaken rejection of the study of the scriptures as mere intellectual understanding.

Stressing the meaning of anubhava as knowledge , Saraswati makes clear that liberation comes from knowledge , not from mere experience. Saraswati points out that "the experience of the self According to Hirst, anubhava is the " non-dual realisation gained from the scriptures ", which "provides the sanction and paradigm for proper reasoning ", when interpreted by a self-realized Advaitin teacher.

This " knowledge of Brahman , is identical with that self which is to be known as witness , not as object ". Davis translates anubhava as "direct intuitive understanding ". And according to Comans, Shankara uses anubhava interchangeably with pratipatta, " understanding ".


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But there are two different views on the status of the "effect", that is, the world. Most schools of Vedanta , as well as Samkhya , support Parinamavada, the idea that the world is a real transformation parinama of Brahman. According to Nicholson, "the Brahma Sutras also espouse the realist Parinamavada position, which appears to have been the view most common among early Vedantins ".

Adi Shankara and Advaita Vedanta adheres to the other view , Vivartavada, which says that the effect, the world , is merely an unreal vivarta transformation of its cause , Brahman :.

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Two sorts of causes are recognised:. Brahman is the instrumental cause of existence :.

But Brahman is also the material cause :. Thus, based on these and other statements found in the Vedas , Advaita concludes that Brahman is both the instrumental cause and the material cause. When the cause is destroyed, the effect will no longer exist.

For example, cotton cloth is the effect of the cotton threads, which is the material cause. Without threads there will be no cotton cloth. Without cotton there will be no thread.

The cause is different from the effect. For example, the reflection of the gold ornament seen in the mirror is only the form of the ornament.

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It is not the ornament itself, since the reflection itself is not the gold. This reasoning implies that the world is not different from Brahman , but Brahman is different from the world :. Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence , or reality , as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Advaita Vedanta is a so-called substance ontology , an ontology "which holds that underlying the seeming change, variety, and multiplicity of existence there are unchanging and permanent entities the so-called substances ".

In contrast, Buddhism is a process ontology , according to which "there exists nothing permanent and unchanging , within or without man". Sublation is replacement of a " truth " by a higher " truth ", until no higher truth can be found. Shankara uses sublatibility as the criterion for the ontological status of any content of consciousness :. Advaita took over from the Madhyamika the idea of levels of reality. Usually two levels are being mentioned, but Shankara uses sublation as the criterion to postulate an ontological hierarchy of three levels:.

Brahman is Paramarthika Satyam, " Absolute Truth ". It is. Other than Brahman , everything else, including the universe , material objects and individuals , are maya. Brahman is absolute reality , unborn and unchanging. According to Advaita Vedanta , consciousness is not a property of Brahman but its very nature. In this respect Advaita Vedanta differs from other Vedanta schools. Brahman is the Self-existent , the Absolute and the Imperishable.

Brahman is indescribable. Brahman is free from any kind of differences or differentiation. It has neither svagata internal differences, because Brahman is itself homogeneous. Brahman is often described as neti neti , "not this, not this" since Brahman cannot be correctly described as this or that. The actual Brahman is attributeless and formless.

Which Philosophy Personally Appeals More to You, Buddhism or Advaita Vedanta?

Brahman , the highest truth and all reality , does not really change; it is only our ignorance that gives the appearance of change. Adi Shankara based his teachings of Brahman on various arguments:. Each jiva feels as if he has his own, unique and distinct Atman , called jivatman. The concept of jiva is true only in the pragmatic level. In the transcendental level, only the one Atman , equal to Brahman , is true. The characteristics of Atman are Consciousness , Reality and Bliss. Atman , being the silent witness of all the modifications, is free and beyond sin and merit.

It does not experience happiness or pain because it is beyond the triad of Experiencer , Experienced and Experiencing. It does not do any Karma because it is Aaptakaama. It is incorporeal and independent.

Nonduality in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta

According to Advaita Vedanta the Atman is covered by five koshas, usually rendered "sheath". They are often visualised like the layers of an onion:. The five sheaths pancha-kosas are alluded to in the fourteen verse of the Atmabodha. From gross to fine they are:. According to Vedanta the wise man should discriminate between the self and the koshas, which are non-self. A fourth state is Turiya, pure consciousness. It is the background that underlies and transcends the three common states of consciousness. In this consciousness both absolute and relative , Saguna Brahman and Nirguna Brahman , are transcended.

It is the state in which ajativada, non-origination , is apprehended.

The world is both unreal and real. Adi Sankara says that the world is not real true , it is an illusion. Adi Sankara gives the following reasoning :. Adi Sankara also claims that the world is not absolutely unreal false. It appears unreal false only when compared to Brahman. At the empirical or pragmatic level, the world is completely real:. The world being both unreal and real is explained by the following. A pen is placed in front of a mirror. One can see its reflection.

To one's eyes , the image of the pen is perceived. Now, what should the image be called? It cannot be true, because it is an image. The truth is the pen. It cannot be false, because it is seen by our eyes. According to Advaita Vedanta , when man tries to know the attributeless Brahman with his mind , under the influence of Maya , Brahman becomes the Lord.

Isvara is Brahman with Maya — the manifested form of Brahman. Adi Shankara uses a metaphor that when the " reflection " of the Cosmic Spirit falls upon the mirror of Maya , it appears as the Ishvara or Supreme Lord. The Ishvara is true only in the pragmatic level. God's actual form in the transcendental level is the Cosmic Spirit.

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Ishvara is, in an ultimate sense , described as "false" because Brahman appears as Ishvara only due to the curtain of Maya. However, just as the world is true in the pragmatic level, similarly, Ishvara is also pragmatically true. Just as the world is not absolutely false, Ishvara is also not absolutely false.

Ishvara can be described as Saguna Brahman or Brahman with attributes that may be regarded to have a personality with human and Godly attributes. This concept of Ishvara is also used to visualise and worship in anthropomorphic form deities such as Shiva , Vishnu or Devi by the dvaitins which leads to immense confusion in the understanding of a monistic concept of God apart from polytheistic worship of Vishnu , Shiva and Shakti in Hinduism. Ishvara is the distributor of the fruits of one's Karma. Whenever referencing Brahman , is referencing God.