[Advaita-l] Fwd: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Aum in Buddhism

[Venkatraghavan S]

Dear Subbuji,

The quote below from a message posted 2 years ago in BVP. Some of the
commentary around the quote may not be pertinent to the current discussion,
but is being included here for the sake of completeness.

#quote#
An interesting counterpoint can be found in the work mAdhyamakahridaya by
Bhavya, a sixth century mAdhyamaka buddhist. Prof VV Gokhale in a paper
titled "The Vedanta-Philosophy described by Bhavya in his Madhyamakahrdaya"
(Indo-Iranian Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1958) presents a description of
Vedanta (pre-Sankaran) that was available during Bhavya's time. He also
refers to a situation where the mahAyAna school is criticised as being
similar to vedAnta. In reply, Bhavya generously says that whatever is good
in the upaniShads has also been taught by the Buddha.

In one of the chapters of the Madhyamakahridaya dealing with the hInayAna
objections to mahAyAna, the hInayAna-buddhist criticises the mahAyAna
buddhist saying;
न बुद्धोक्तिर्महायानं सूत्रान्तादावसंग्रहात् |
मार्गान्तरोपदेषात् वा यथा वेदान्तदर्शनम् ||
The mAhAyAna teaching was not spoken of by the Buddha, either because it is
not included in the sUtrAntas, or because like the vedAnta darshana, it
teaches heretic paths to salvation.

To this attack, the mahAyAnist replies
वेदान्ते च हि यत् सूक्तम् तत् सर्वं बुद्धभाषितम् |
दृष्टान्तन्यूनता तस्मात् संदिग्धं वा परीक्ष्यताम् ||
Whatever is well said in the vedAnta (upaniShads) has been taught by the
Buddha. The various examples cited by the hInayAna are faulty and what is
doubtful must be examined.

Here is an example of pre-Sankaran Buddhist work where the opponent
criticises the mahAyAna school as being similar to vedAnta! The reply of
the mahAyAna buddhist is even more remarkable - there is a concession that
the best elements of the upaniShads have been taught by the Buddha himself.

To argue that advaita borrowed from Buddhism, or Buddhism borrowed from
advaita is missing the larger point - the two schools are similar in many
respects, but different too. Similarity does not imply that one created and
the other borrowed, nor does difference imply the absolute absence of
common ground.
#end of quote#

Regards,
Venkatraghavan

On Wed, 29 Apr 2020, 08:59 V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> On Wed, Apr 29, 2020 at 1:02 PM Jaldhar H. Vyas via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 27 Apr 2020, V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l wrote:
> >
> > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> > > From: Krishna Kashyap <kkashyap2011 at gmail.com>
> > >
> > > My Buddhist friend Dhammaputta wrote to me regarding this:
> > > Prof. Deshpande is right.
> > > There is no reference to  "Om"  in  Pali  Buddhism.
> > >
> > > Mahayana  Sutras  &  Vajrayana  Tantras,  yes  indeed
> > > Theravada  says  Mahayana  is  Hinduism  in  the  guise  of  Buddhism
> > > The irony is  that  non-Advaita  Hindus  say  Advaita  is  Mahayana
> > > Buddhism  in  the  guise  of  Hinduism
> > >
> >
> > Some time back on this list we discussed the Buddhist scholar Bhavya, who
> > is one of the earliest writers of any school to mention Vedanta.  While
> > the bulk of his works refute "heretic" (from his point of view)
> darshanas,
> > one part defends his brand of Mahayana from other Buddhists.  One of
> their
> > criticisms he says is that Mahayana is "prachanna Vedanta"!
> >
>
> This is interesting Jaldhar ji, if you could give the reference for such a
> saying by him.
>
> regards
>
>
> >
> > --
> > Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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