on-going discussions on Buddhism

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

I came across some references to Buddhism in the ongoing discussions

members have had on

"tirumAlai".

They seemed to me to imply that Buddhism ceased to flourish and prosper in

India because it came under doughty attack from Sankara and the

post-Sankara Vedantins.

 

While discussing this same topic in a different context some time ago with

a scholar-friend of

mine here in Madras I learnt that this historical view is incorrect.

 

It is held that Vedantins in and around the time of the Vedantic

renaissance (variously dated by historians between 3 B.C. and 5 A.D)

directed their attack more against the doctrines of Sankhya and MimAmsa

than against Buddhism! And this in spite of the fact that Buddhism rejected

Vedic authority out of hand while both Sankhya and MimAmsa were an integral

part of the Vedic tradition!

 

I learn that the "real warriors" against Buddhism were not Vedantins but

"tArkikA-s" --- those adept in "tarka-sAstrA" (formal and symbolic logic)

known to be a branch of "nyAya" --- one of the 14 "angA/upanga-s" or

accessories

of Vedic curriculum.

 

The real heroes of the battle-royale were not Sankara Bhagavatpada or the

Azhwars or Sri.Ramanujacharya but UdayanAchArya ( a "tArkika-n") and

Kumarilabhatta (a "mImAmsaka-n").

 

To the "mImAmsakA-s" the Buddhist's summary rejection of Vedic ritualism

was the proverbial red rag waved under the nose of a raging bull !

Kumarilabhatta, it can be seen, has written copiously criticising the

Buddhist's distaste for Vedic ritualism. He and UdayanAchArya were chiefly

responsible for the failure of Buddhism to acquire a large following in

the country.(Scholars mention here the texts of "tarkapAdam" of

Kumarilabhatta and

the "bauddhadhikAram" by UdayanAchAryA).

 

The Vedantins came much later and there was no need for them to launch

another assault on Buddhism whose influence on the common people of India

was already waning.

 

On the contrary the Vedantins were actually more keen to expose the flaws

in the

systems upheld by the opponents of Buddhism viz. the Vedic "mImAmsakA-s".

 

(Which leaves one wondering what might have happened if the Buddhists, the

MimAmsakas and the Vedantins had all been contemporaneous! Would the

Vedantins have then joined forces with the Buddhists against the MimAmsakas

or

vice versa ? Interesting question of history, isn't it? Someone could

possibly take it up for a PhD thesis!)

 

So please make no mistake about this singular fact of the history of our

philosophy

: Vedanta had more scores to settle with "mImAmsam" than with Buddhism. The

decline of Buddhism in India was caused more by "mImAmsam" and "tarkA"

rather than by Vedanta. (By implication, Buddhism as a philosophical system

was (and perhaps still is) not very robust in its logical premises.)

 

Now Saint Tondar-adi-podi too, by all accounts, lived somewhere between the

6th and 7th century. He must have been a thorough Vedantin in outlook

judging by all those fine and liberal sentiments he expresses with such

exquisite felicity in his "tirumAlai". I am therefore tempted to conclude

that he had more against the "mImAmsaka/sankhyA" ethos of his times than

against the un-Vedic philosophy of Buddhism. He was not so much the

crusader against an alien faith such as Buddhism as he was the

"anti-establishmentarian" trying to expose the moral and social rot of his

age. He was an "insider-rebel" trying to cleanse his own house. He was'nt

one of those religious rabble-rousers spitting fire and hatred at faiths

coming in from "outside".

 

Although it would be downright unfair to stereotype the mystic "AzhwAr", I

dare say he was more of religious "reformer" than "fundamentalist".

 

This fact must be kept in mind, please, whenever we venture to discuss

Buddhism, Vedanta and the periods antedating and post-dating them.

 

I only bring it up here for the information of members who I thought might

be

interested to know about the genealogy of various ideas, doctrines and

literature in the Vedic mould.

 

adiyEn,

sudarshan