Does Western philosophy comment on Advaita specifically? If so, what is the general consensus on Advaita in Western philosophy? — Paul Michael
[My underlines]From what I understand, Advaita Vedanta is a school of Hindu philosophy which claims that all that exists is one pure consciousness, or what they call Brahman. Each individual, Atman, is identical to Brahman...
To me, Advaita seems to be a form of monistic idealism, an Rupert Spira has explicitly said as much in at least one of his YouTube videos. — Paul Michael
The essential philosophy of Advaita is an idealist monism, and is considered to be presented first in the Upaniṣads and consolidated in the Brahma Sūtra by this tradition.
According to Advaita metaphysics, Brahman—the ultimate, transcendent and immanent God of the latter Vedas—appears as the world because of its creative energy (māyā).
The world has no separate existence apart from Brahman.
The experiencing self (jīva) and the transcendental self of the Universe (ātman) are in reality identical (both are Brahman),though the individual self seems different as space within a container seems different from space as such.
These cardinal doctrines are represented in the anonymous verse “brahma satyam jagan mithya; jīvo brahmaiva na aparah” (Brahman is alone True, and this world of plurality is an error; the individual self is not different from Brahman). Plurality is experienced because of error in judgments (mithya) and ignorance (avidya). Knowledge of Brahman removes these errors and causes liberation from the cycle of transmigration and worldly bondage. — IEP: Vedanta, Advaita
Does Western philosophy comment on Advaita specifically? If so, what is the general consensus on Advaita in Western philosophy? — Paul Michael
The major metaphysical concepts in Advaita Vedānta tradition, such as māyā, mithya (error in judgment),vivarta (illusion/whirlpool), have been subjected to a variety of interpretations.
On some interpretations, Advaita Vedānta appears as a nihilistic philosophy that denounces the matters of the lived-world. — IEP: Vedanta, Advaita
The Advaita Vedānta ideas, particularly of 8th century Adi Shankara, were challenged by theistic Vedānta philosophies that emerged centuries later, such as the 11th-century Vishishtadvaita (qualified nondualism) of Ramanuja, and the 14th-century Dvaita (theistic dualism) of Madhvacharya.[293]
Advaita Vedānta and various other schools of Hindu philosophy share terminology and numerous doctrines with Mahayana Buddhism.[307][308] The similarities between Advaita and Buddhism have attracted Indian and Western scholars attention.[309][310] and have also been criticised by concurring schools. — Wiki: Advaita Vedanta
The perennial philosophy (Latin: philosophia perennis),[note 1] also referred to as perennialism and perennial wisdom, is a perspective in philosophy and spirituality that views all of the world's religious traditions as sharing a single, metaphysical truth or origin from which all esoteric and exoteric knowledge and doctrine has grown.
Perennialism has its roots in the Renaissance interest in neo-Platonism and its idea of the One, from which all existence emanates. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) sought to integrate Hermeticism with Greek and Jewish-Christian thought,[1] discerning a prisca theologia which could be found in all ages. [2]
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) suggested that truth could be found in many, rather than just two, traditions. He proposed a harmony between the thought of Plato and Aristotle, and saw aspects of the prisca theologia in Averroes (Ibn Rushd), the Quran, the Kabbalah and other sources.[3] Agostino Steuco (1497–1548) coined the term philosophia perennis.[4] — Wiki: Perennial philosophy
But learning to realise oneself as ‘pure consciousness’ takes more than grasping at the idea; probably something like, creating a mantra around it, and repeating it 10 million times, would be more like the traditionalists recommended methodology. — Wayfarer
I have the utmost respect for Advaita, but I think it’s nearly always misrepresented. (Not saying it is by Rupert Spira.) But in its original cultural context it is part of a living culture and, you might say, ‘culturally regulated’. — Wayfarer
So they’re deeply embedded in a cultural form, and trying to extract the essence and boil it down to verbal description is fraught with difficulties. — Wayfarer
Here, the experiencing self is described as different, like 'space within a container' within space itself.
So, the individual body/self is different from Brahman — Amity
'Western philosophy' like 'Eastern philosophy' covers so many different views or visions, that it is unlikely that there is a 'general consensus' on anything. — Amity
but it says that the experiencing self seems different from Brahman, when in actuality it isn’t different. The seeming difference is the misidentification that must be overcome in order to achieve moksha (liberation). — Paul Michael
How do you know that it is a misidentification ?
How do you overcome this ?
What is moksha ( liberation) ?
What is it freedom from and to where ? — Amity
Nah, not your usual 'chasing cars and catching bumpers', Fool. :joke:Something's off unless...I've got the wrong end of the stick. — TheMadFool
Not the tradition itself "specifically" but it seems a number of philosophies fall under the umbrella of a "nonduality" concept of dialectical monism.Does Western philosophy comment on Advaita specifically? — Paul Michael
I'm not aware of any if there is one. 'Duality' (dualism) predominates whether implicitly or explicitly in philosophizing (e.g. one-many, self-other, immanence-transcendence, appearance-real, existence-essence, master-slave, group-individual, sacred-profane, cultural-natural, etc).If so, what is the general consensus on Advaita in Western philosophy?
We are all connected — Niel deGrasse Tyson
We are way for the cosmos to know itself — Carl Sagan
Can you make me one with everything? — Karl Stefanovic (interviewing the Dalai Lama)
Also, I forgot to mention in my previous post that there is another school of Hindu thought called Kashmir Shaivism which is similar to Advaita in many ways, the main difference being that the phenomenal world is a direct manifestation of the divine energy of the one consciousness and not necessarily an illusion. — Paul Michael
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