[Advaita-l] Re: Buddhism Related Discussions

[Ravisankar Mayavaram]

namaste Karthik:

1.  Any discussion on this subject should be text based and it should
have prior moderator approval. The text under question should also be
quoted in the messages and possibly in the original language.

2. The prakaraNa you mention was discussed in the past and the common
background for the terminology was also discussed. There is nothing
wrong in discussing that again,  but the material posted should show
rigor. That is one of the reason, I prefer that one of the moderator
compiles these posts and sends them to list.  I specifically requested
Vidyasankar's help because of the academic nature of this discussion.

3. We don't want the discussion to derail to "what Sri Buddha taught
is same as advaita-vedAnta, it was later misunderstood .... etc.
etc.". Even this claim is OK to discuss if the there is sufficient
textual reference and discussion is based on that.


Since you are very interested in this topic, we can evolve the
modalities through a private discussion. May be you can help Vidya (if
he agrees) to compile post the material on this subject. But I
strongly believe that this discussion has to be edited. May be one of
us can create a blog (which is easy to control and moderate the
followups) and the post the compilation once a week to the list. This
compilation will also add a lot of value to the archives.

I any case, we can discuss in privately and any one who want to
participate this can post to listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org. If I do
not repsond quickly please do not mistake me. This month is an
important month (we had varalakshmi vrata last  friday, this week we
have upAkarma and gayatrI japa, later we have krishna janmAshTami and
then  ganesha chaturthi).



WIth best wishes,

Ravi





> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Wrom: YUCDDJBLVLMHAALPTCXLYRWTQTIPWIGYOKS
> To: "advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2006 08:07:38 -0700 (PDT)
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Buddhism Related Discussions
> --- Ravisankar Mayavaram <abhayambika at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Please see the following point from the list guidelines:
> >
> > 4) Discussion of nAstika philosophies such as Buddhism, Jainism,
> > etc.,
> > are outside the scope of this list. However, scholarly articles
> > comparing
> > these traditions with advaita-vedAnta are permitted. You may send
> > them to
> > the list moderators for prior approval.
> >
>
> No one violated the list policy. The policy does not imply that all
> posts SHOULD be sent to the moderators for approval.
>
> > You have just  buddhism related questions or you main interest in
> > buddhism, then those questions are not appropriate for this list.
>
> If moderation begins every time the word "Buddhism" is mentioned,
> discussions will not happen. Moderation ought not to cripple one's
> understanding.
>
> It is impossible to understand portions of advaita, especially
> Gaudapada's Karikas, without a clear understanding of Buddhism, and
> this discussion was started by Vidya for that reason. I don't see any
> reason whatsoever the questions why the posts on the questions on
> Buddhism should not be permitted.
>
> If you please, I would be interested in how you can explain the
> Alatashanti Prakarana without at least a rudimentary discussion on
> Buddhism.
>
> > But
> > if you are scholar of both the traditions (buddhism and
> > advaita-vedAnta) or at least know these reasonably well, then you
> > can
> > write a post comparing these.
> >
>
> How can one become a "scholar" of both the traditions without asking
> questions and getting answers?
>
> I don't know of a single person living in this planet who can claim
> to be a scholar of both these traditions.
>
> > Personally I do not know much about buddhism to judge the quality
> > of
> > the articles, fortunately we have Vidya in the moderators list and
> > he
> > can help moderate this discussion.   If Vidya does not have time to
> > moderate this discussion, my suggestion is, we should postpone this
> > discussion and have it at his convenience.
> >
>
> I personally feel we should have discussions on Buddhism that help us
> understand advaita. In the *rare circumstance* that a person in this
> list wants to propagate Buddhism or being Buddhism-related
> discussions for its own sake, Vidyasankar Sundaresan should exercise
> his discretion as moderator.