Buddha - a nAstika?

[Ravi Mayavaram]

I dont know about you. But most vedantins will agree that
buddhism is nAstika school. It does not accept the authority of vedas.

This forum was not set up for debates. Except for few scholars like
Vidyasankar how many know enough to go in for such debates between
different schools.

This forum was started to discuss advaita vedanta as taught by
shankara. When it was started, they were very few like minded
individuals, all had a reverential attitude towards shankara. The
purpose was to discuss and learn more about it. Given the setup now,
I would have named it shankara-L.

If you are keen on debates with advaitins, you are free to do it
elsewhere, and definitely not here.

I have not read brahmasutra or the bhashhya or shankara on it. So I
can not comment where in it and why (if at all), badarayaNa calls
saMkhya as a nAstika school. I do not want refute or agree on it after
reading one page of a translation and jumping on it.

About buddha as one of the avatars of vishhNu, I think it is very
debatable. I have a book on thiruviLaiyaDal purAnam, which refers only
to balarama, in the place of buddha. But I agree that many sources
claim that buddha as an avatar of vishhNu.  Even if buddha is one of
the avatars, it does not matter, this forum is not for discussion
about buddhism.

I would like to stop the discussion on what this forum is for. It is
for discussing advaita as taught by shankara and his disciples. If you
feel it should not be so. Please feel free to unsubscribe. I am not
open on this issue. Even if only one remains back under this
restriction that is enough.

The purpose with which I started the list was out of love and
reverence towards shankara and advaitam. I dont mind even pulling down
the list, if it goes against the original cause.  I think I should be
more clear. I thought people will understand that the very word
advaita-vedanta refers to what shankara taught. Today I receive a mail
stating that advaita is about anything and everything.  I am simple
mortal with poor management skills. I cannot take this kind of stuff
anymore. There is a limit to politeness.

The list is for discussing advaita-vedanta as taught by shankara and
his disciples. This is not a forum for debate. This is a forum for
like minded people to learn about advaita-vedanta and shankara's
works. If you think these goals are wrong, please send a mail
to listserv at listserv.tamu.edu, with subject line blank and body of the
message stating,

SIGNOFF ADVAITA-L


Ravi

bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam