Buddhism & Sanatan Dharma?

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
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Gronkle
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed May 04, 2011 7:02 pm

Buddhism & Sanatan Dharma?

Post by Gronkle »

Hi, this is my first post so I hope it's in the right place!
I have little knowledge on the subject but from what I've learned, I see so many recurring themes between these great traditions. Whether it's Dzogchen & Advaita or Kundalini & Tummo. Obviously Buddhism originated in India but it seems to me these traditions have more in common than differences. Truth will always be truth & culture will play it's part but I can't help seeing the essence as pretty much the same.

I'm intersted in hearing your views on the following quotes from two traditions which hold opposite positions on atman - anatman.

The Ashtavakra Gita
You are the Solitary Witness
of All That Is,
forever free.
Your only bondage is not seeing This.

Attachment and aversion
are attributes of the mind.
You are not the mind.
You are Consciousness itself--
changeless, undivided, free.
Go in happiness.

Guru Rinpoche
Since the mind-streams of sentient beings are not made into something that is
divided into two, the unmodified uncorrected nature of the mind is liberated by
its being allowed simply to remain in its own (original) natural condition.

Dudjom Rinpoche
In thinking, the thinker is empty in essence.
In stillness, the place of stillness has no root or ground.
What arises occurs within the continuity of naked empty awareness.
Never separated from this in primordial purity how joyful!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
To be a living being is not the ultimate state; there is something beyond, much more wonderful, which is neither being nor non-being, neither living nor notliving. It is a state of pure awareness, beyond the limitations of space and time. Once the illusion that the body-mind is oneself is abandoned, death loses its terror, it becomes a part of living.

Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda belonged to that branch of Vedanta that held that no one can be truly free until all of us are. Even the desire for personal salvation has to be given up, and only tireless work for the salvation of others is the true mark of the enlightened person.
I wish I had one infinitesimal part of Buddha's heart.

:namaste:
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Astus
Former staff member
Posts: 8883
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2010 11:22 pm
Location: Budapest

Re: Buddhism & Sanatan Dharma?

Post by Astus »

1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?

2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.

3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.

4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.


1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
DGA
Former staff member
Posts: 9466
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2010 5:04 pm

Re: Buddhism & Sanatan Dharma?

Post by DGA »

There are recurring themes, and significant differences. Really, there are significant differences within the traditions you cite: Vivekananda, for instance, famously repudiated the Vedic cultural norms of his time for a Brahmin and advocated eating beef in the English style. :shrug:
xabir
Posts: 207
Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2010 4:14 pm

Re: Buddhism & Sanatan Dharma?

Post by xabir »

Gronkle wrote:Hi, this is my first post so I hope it's in the right place!
I have little knowledge on the subject but from what I've learned, I see so many recurring themes between these great traditions. Whether it's Dzogchen & Advaita or Kundalini & Tummo. Obviously Buddhism originated in India but it seems to me these traditions have more in common than differences. Truth will always be truth & culture will play it's part but I can't help seeing the essence as pretty much the same.

I'm intersted in hearing your views on the following quotes from two traditions which hold opposite positions on atman - anatman.

The Ashtavakra Gita
You are the Solitary Witness
of All That Is,
forever free.
Your only bondage is not seeing This.

Attachment and aversion
are attributes of the mind.
You are not the mind.
You are Consciousness itself--
changeless, undivided, free.
Go in happiness.

Guru Rinpoche
Since the mind-streams of sentient beings are not made into something that is
divided into two, the unmodified uncorrected nature of the mind is liberated by
its being allowed simply to remain in its own (original) natural condition.

Dudjom Rinpoche
In thinking, the thinker is empty in essence.
In stillness, the place of stillness has no root or ground.
What arises occurs within the continuity of naked empty awareness.
Never separated from this in primordial purity how joyful!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
To be a living being is not the ultimate state; there is something beyond, much more wonderful, which is neither being nor non-being, neither living nor notliving. It is a state of pure awareness, beyond the limitations of space and time. Once the illusion that the body-mind is oneself is abandoned, death loses its terror, it becomes a part of living.

Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda belonged to that branch of Vedanta that held that no one can be truly free until all of us are. Even the desire for personal salvation has to be given up, and only tireless work for the salvation of others is the true mark of the enlightened person.
I wish I had one infinitesimal part of Buddha's heart.

:namaste:
Advaita stops at Substantialist Non-dualism and fails to realise Anatta, and Shunyata.

You can read these articles which should explain things:

http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/ ... ience.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(my e-book and e-journal:) http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/ ... urnal.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Madhyamika Buddhism Vis-a-vis Hindu Vedanta - http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/ ... hindu.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The very pulsing of dependent origination
Is the primordial face of the Tathāgata.
Like blood and veins and heart
- The two truths meet everywhere.

- André A. Pais
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