[Buddha-l] samkhya, vedanta and buddhism

[S.A. Feite]

On Aug 28, 2007, at 2:57 AM, Joy Vriens wrote:

> F. K. Lehman  wrote:
>
>> And Budhist monks from one sect studied in
>> schools of other sects and, no doubt, heard Jains and Hindu Vedantist
>> and so on.
>
> Yes, I even wonder if they thought in terms of schools at all. I  
> don't know whether the phrasing of the suttas is something to  
> follow in that aspect, but people coming to see the Buddha don't  
> ask after the teachings of his school, they don't seem to be  
> bothered by the notion of a school or even a transmission. They are  
> looking for the (path to the) absolute and for people reputed to  
> having found it, like the two brahmins in the Tevijja sutta. I may  
> be idealising things, but I have the impression they looked  
> directly at what was being said rather than at whom it was said by.  
> If something was well said in their eyes, they would adopt, adapt  
> and improve it. I recently read a small (tibetan) text by  
> Avadhutipa (Advayavajra) almost litterally "stolen" from the  
> Mahabharata, only the title was Buddhist. No mention of any source.  
> And perhaps there was no need, because many of those having studied  
> the Mahabharata must have recognised it anyway. But that doesn't  
> seem to be a problem. !


And never mind that large chunks of the Mahabharata were lifted from  
the Parameshvara agama by the Vaishnavites.

I think if we really want to see where the most "borrowing" (if one  
choses to see this as a cultural diffusion rather than a phenomenon  
of consciousness) came from, we can't ignore the Shaivites. I also  
think that one should expect to find little Buddhist interest in  
Samkhya simply because of the wide disparity in View (drsti) between  
dualistic Samkhya and the unity of Buddha-dharma. Alexis Sanderson  
has done a wonderful job of demonstrating what he believes is  
borrowing between the yogini-tantras and Tibetan Buddhist tantra (see  
his web site for these papers in PDF). However, to be fair, Dzogchen  
and Buddhist scholars with a interest in Zhang Zhung also pose a  
similar sharing, but in the opposite direction. The extinct kingdom  
of Zhang Zhung, centered around Mt. Kailash, sacred to the Shaivites  
as their land of origin, may be the origin of the Shaivite gnosis and  
possibly derived from ancient Bon and Kazig sources.

One does find an interesting reaction however in the arising of  
Advaita Vedanta and the gnosis of Nagarjuna. For an intro. to this  
POV, check out ADVAITA TRADITION IN INDIAN PHILOSOPHY: A Study of  
Advaita in Buddhism, Vedanta & Kashmir Shaivism by Chandradhar Sharma.

ISBN: 812081312X

Steve