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UNITY IN DIFFERENCE.
Vijnânvâdi Buddhists hold; nor is it different from the sum of its determinations as the Vedantins try to explain. It is a unity of all its determinations. It is an ideal unity which realises itself through these particular determinations.
So the partial phases of the Absolute are phenomena and these are related to the Absolute as the members of a living body are related to the body itself. The particular lute. things of experience are aspects of the Absolute which is the all inclusive unity expressing itself through particular determinations. It is the subject; but not as correlative of the object; rather a unity. implied in the correlation.
Phenome n a are but parphases of the abso
tial
The Absolute is thus the ultimate Unity. But here again the familiar conception gives us trouble. If the Absolute is One, then the Absolute is not Many. If it is unity then it is not a Plurality. The Vedantins of the type of Shankar hold that the absolute is the Unity. It is not a plurality therefore. But Plurality is a stupendous fact which cannot be denied. So plurality, according to those Vedântins, is but an illusion-Mâyâ (Ir) and not a reality.
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Supposed difficulty in the acceptation of the
two concep
tion of the
absolute.
