Soma Roy
Volume-XII, Issue-III, April 2024
Volume-XII, Issue-III, April 2024 | ||
Published Online: 30.04.2024 | Page No: 191-201 | |||
Is Śaṁkarite Crypto Buddhist or crypto Sāṁkhya? Soma Roy, Research Scholar, of Department of Philosophy, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India | |
There has been propensity among various schools of Hindu philosophy of borrowing some of the pre existing dialectical techniques and most of the doctrines of earlier school, convey new meaning or sometime explain them away ingeniously. Because Buddhism comes first in order of existence, Śaṁkara who was proponent of Advaita Vedānta could not escape from some influence on his thought by Buddhist philosophy. Impressed by Buddhist dialectics and advayavāda he has tried to present his philosophy bring Upaniṣadic and Buddhist lore together. That’s the reason Śaṁkara was sometime criticized as crypto Buddhist. Yet the notion of avidyā and its relationship to Brahma creates certainly a crucial philosophical issue within advaitic thought that seems to be the marked inclination towards the Sāṁkhya dualism and uproot his fundamental position. At one and the same time it is an attempt to antagonize the pluralism, materialism and dualism undertaking Sāṁkhya system as their main opponent. As first one is dualistic and second is monistic one, cannot be supported by Śruti. Objective of the present study is a systematic exploration of Śaṁkara’s philosophy to find, in his philosophical background what opinions were prevalent and influenced him most in shaping his philosophy. How much Śaṁkara’s philosophy has resonated with Buddhist teachings, how far Śaṁkaraites able to prove Sāṁkhya as their main antagonists or they imbibed their teaching tacitly. | |
Keywords: Sāṁkhya Darśan,Crypto-Buddhist, Brahmakāranavāda, Advaitavāda, Dehātmavāda. |