[Advaita-l] Budha & Advaita

[murali mohan]

Could Buddhism have been a preclude to Advaita which rouse to prominence after Buddha's time ? How about this stream of thought :-
Buddhism was a revivalist movement that came about to remove some the malpractices and misconceptions prevalent at that time in India. Evils such as rampant sacrificies for material gains, casteism, untouchability etc were prime at that time and it required a cultural shock to shake up the people. The common man had nowhere to turn to as they were kept away from true knowledge by the elite class. Buddha mainly had the welfare of the common folk (the man on the street) in mind and wanted to elevate him to the next level of evolution without confusing him with lots of rules and regulations. Hence he advocated the  middle path as the commmon man had no capacity to perform tough austerities reqd for moksha. But using the middle path one can go only half way and hence he took them beyond the mind till shoonya. What is beyond shoonya is a mystery which will be discovered  by the seeker himself. No point in confusing him with theory about the indescribable at the beginning itself. 


		
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