Traverses on Less Trodden Path of Indian Philosophy and Religion

Author(s): Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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Traverses on less trodden path...
the Upanisads and the Mahabharata. This statement may be an exaggerated one but it throws some light on upanişadic influence on Buddhism. Most of the Mahāyānists were learned Brahmins before conversion to Buddhism. It is, thus, not surprising, if these philosophers, viz., Madhyamikas and Vijäānavādins brought Buddhism closer to the Upanişadic thought. Buddhism undoubtedly owed a great deal to Upani şads and influenced in its turn the later Vedāntic school.
We are here, mainly concerned with Asanga's Mahāyānasūtralankära and Upanişadic influence on it. Mahāyānasūtrālankara is one of the most important works on Mahāyāna Buddhism. This work represents Vijñänavada school of thought, Here, the author has discussed almost all the topics of Buddhism. la fact this work is a landmark in the development of Mahayāna Buddhism. We can see tremendous influence of Upanişadic thought on it. We can see clearly Upanişadic influence on his conception of the Absolute and phenomena, theory of ignorance, doctrine of truth, the conception of Moksa or Nirvana ( liberation ), on the doctrine of Bodhisattva and the disciplines. When we talk of Upanișadic jofluence on Asanga, we have to keep in our mind that it is ideological influence rather than terminological. Now let us see how Upanişadic thinkers describ: the Absolute and how Asanga has been jofluenced by that conception.
We are told in the Mandukya Upanişad that the Supreme Reality is that which cannot be seen, which cannot be described, which cannot be grasped, which has po distinct marks, which cannot be thought, which cannot be designated, that of which the essence is the knowledge of the oneness of the self, that in which the world ceases to cxist, the peaceful, the benign, the non-dual.5 Katha Upanışad tells us that the Reality is neither born nor does it die. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting and primeval. 6 Again, it is said in the same Upanişad that the Reality can not be reached by speech, by mind, and by sight." This knowledge of Reality cannot be obtained simply by argument of reason.8 Brahman
4. Kbarapatādapyasmim adbikāre Buddha eva adhikah-kutah : vedāptebhyo grahitvār
tbūo yo mahābharatadapi. Viprūņām mişatāmeva krtavān koşasañcayam, Matcavila
saprahasana . ed. by T. Ganapathy Shastri (1917) p. 15. 5. Adrøyam, avyavahāryam, agrāhyam. alakşaņam. acintyam, ekātmapratyayasäram,
prapañcopaśamam, säntam, sivamadvaitam. Mänd. Up. 7. I šādi astottara atopanişad,
ed. Vasudev Sharamapanasikar, Nirnayasagar Press, Bombay, 1917. 6. Na jayate mariyate vă vipaścionāyam kutaścinda babhuva kaścit. Ajo nityah
Säśvatoyām puränah. Kațh. Up. I-II-18. 7. Naiva vaca na mapasă prăptum Sakyo na cakşusa. Kath. Up. II-VI-12, 8. Naisā tarkena matiräpaneya. Kath. Up. I-IT-9.