Advaita and MAdhyamaka

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

nanda chandran <vpcnk at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>>says samsAra = nirvANa, I will think about discussing it with
>>you.
>
>If it were as simple as that we wouldn't be having an argument
>about it, would we? The reason why you'll not find such a
>statement in Advaita texts is the difference in the angle
>from which the problem is approached by both schools.

This is nirarthaka, and the rest of your mail is punarukti.
If you know your nyAya, you will know that these are two ways
of losing an argument.

......

>So why isn't Shankara saying the samsara is nirvAna?

Because he keeps saying that samsAra is not nirvANa. You had
better make an attempt to read Sankara properly. Let me give
you a specific case - commentary on bhagavad gIta, 13. 2. It
goes without saying that you need to read nAgArjuna properly
too.

>Let us take this argument further. If according to you in Advaita
>the samsara = nirvAna + avidhya, equation doesn't work, then :

This is not according to me, so the question does not arise. A
small tip - for Advaita, samsAra = avidyA, plain and simple.

For the rest, I would second Ulrich Kragh's suggestion. There
is madhyamaka, there is advaita, there is your understanding
of the two and there is my understanding of the two. I am
prepared to substantiate my understanding with primary
quotations from nAgArjuna, gauDapAda and Sankara, and have
done that elsewhere already. I haven't found you backing up
your understanding with primary textual evidence. Till such
time as you do find anything, I won't discuss this any further.
I am tired of discussing with you whether it is right or wrong
to read any sort of absolutist implications into nAgArjuna's
arguments.

In any case, you haven't given me the advaita quote I asked
for, although you have provided a big essay why you cannot find
such a quote. So let us close this right here. Nothing further
from me.

Vidyasankar
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