[Advaita-l] Re: Buddhism Related Discussions

[S Jayanarayanan]

namaste Ravi,

1) If you go back to the first posting that began these series of
posts, you will find Vidya's posting that said:

"A search of our list archives for threads on Buddhism and Advaita
should pull up all the relevant older material. Our list has a much
wider membership base now, so rather than revisit an old discussion
with a former member of this list, I WOULD LOOK FORWARD TO READING
FRESH PERSPECTIVES FROM SOME OF OUR NEWER LIST MEMBERS {emphases
mine}."

If the above statements by Vidya do not constitute "approval" for the
discussion, I don't know what does! Did Vidya mean that one ought to
send every single posting on the subject to the moderators for
approval? I doubt it, because that is one way to ensure that the
topic is never really discussed, for such "extreme moderation" would
only unnecessarily impede the discussion. Although I'm not a new list
member, I thought I did give a list of questions that need to be
answered to enable a "fresh perspective" on the subject.

If every post on the subject should be sent to the moderators for
approval, it is a sure way to throw cold water on a lot of questions
and posts by several list members. This is taking moderation to such
an extent as to create a barrier in understanding advaita. This
doesn't doesn't do good to any of us in the long run.

2) I would gladly post relevant textual references when required, but
my posting did not offer any answers -- it merely raised some
questions. These questions are so general that simply asking them
does not require quoting texts. Unfortunately, these questions are
not answered in any of the 20+ books on Gaudapada and/or Buddhism
that I've read so far, nor in the 100+ postings on the subject in
this list. I strongly believe that answering these questions will
help compare advaita and Buddhism. In fact, without answering the
questions, I feel that trying to compare advaita and Buddhism is
futile.

3) Your point that discussions on this subject can degenerate to
"Buddhism is exactly the same as advaita" is well taken. I will spend
some time in compiling a collection of points that should NOT be made
on this subject. Vidya can take a look at the points and if it's all
right, post it to the list after making requisite modifications. The
collection will include the following unacceptable points (along with
reasons and textual references as to why they are wrong):

     (i) Buddhism = advaita.
     (ii) Gaudapada was a Buddhist.
     (iii) Madhyamika is absolutist.
     (iv) Shunyata = Brahman.
     (v) ...

Only if a person can make points that do not fall in the above
collection of "unacceptable points" can he/she post on the subject of
advaita and Buddhism. Would that be OK?

4) I believe that moderation of postings on advaita and Buddhism can
be done by Vidyasankar, who has a much better grasp of the material,
and can judge these posts and decide whether or not they are
appropriate for this list. This is especially since you have already
confessed your inability to judge the quality of the postings on the
subject of advaita and Buddhism.

In the worst-case scenario that such posts are not helpful for
understanding, but are straying too far away from the list's
direction, Vidyasankar can always step in for moderation.

5) If perhaps there is a way of automatically filtering out those
postings that contain the word "Buddhism" and then placing it in the
loop for moderation by Vidya, that will help much more than
list-members sending the posts to the moderators every time they
think it should be sent there.

Regards,
Kartik

--- Ravisankar Mayavaram <abhayambika at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> 

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