[Y-Indology] caste/varna

[Guest guest]

Dear Indology:

 

 

In response to the post on Asvaghosa -

 

 

>Traditionally in Buddhist literature it has been held that Ashvaghosha

>was a braahmana from Eastern India - Bengal or Orissa. DT Suzuki in

>his translation of the Shraadothpaadashaastram even asserts that

>Ashvaghosa was of the Vedaanta school who was converted to Buddhism -

>his metaphysics does bear close resemblence to the Upanishads and

>later Advaita. That he heaps abuse on the caste system in the

>Vajrasoochi itself need not be taken as proof that he was not a

>braahmana, because throughout history there've been a lot of

>braahmanas who've done the same - Baasava, Bhaarathiar etc

 

 

If we base our ideas upon the Buddhacarita and the Saundarananda,

Asvaghosa's metaphysics fall firmly within the bounds of Buddhist dogma. The

difficulty lies in exactly where one would place him in Buddhism. There are

a lot of very devotional verses in the Saundarananda, for example. These

verses do not sound much like the material in the Pali Canon, at least in

the way that they depict the Buddha.

 

Lynken Ghose

 

 

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[Guest guest]

I think that the Buddhacharitam will find a comfortable place in the

Sarvaastivaada literature. And the Mahaayaana refers to the

Sarvaastivaada - the Vaibhaashika and the Sautraantika - when they

refer to "Hinayaana". Mahaayaanists hardly seem to have been aware of

the Paali tradition which Sri Lanka has long been trying to portray as

THE Hinayaana tradition.

 

> If we base our ideas upon the Buddhacarita and the Saundarananda,

> Asvaghosa's metaphysics fall firmly within the bounds of Buddhist

dogma. The

> difficulty lies in exactly where one would place him in Buddhism.

There are

> a lot of very devotional verses in the Saundarananda, for example.

These

> verses do not sound much like the material in the Pali Canon, at

least in

> the way that they depict the Buddha.

>

> Lynken Ghose

>

>

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> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at

http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp