bill: > > Vainashika (adjective form) is what he considered > > Buddhist teaching to be... > > Vaj: > vainAshika > perishable L. ; believing in complete annihilation... > So, what's your point?
According to Bhattacharyya, the Buddhist 'Tantras' were written on palm leaves. But, even supposing that Shankara got hold of some of Dharmakirti's written works, it is obvious that the Adi Shankaracharya got all mixed up. Apparently the Adi thought that the Buddha's teaching was the teaching of 'annihilism', but of course he was mistaken. That's one of the pitfalls of reading Tantric texts without a tantric guru, and there's no record of Shankara ever making a visit to the Tantric University at Nalanda. But in fact, the Buddhist Tantras do not teach the theory of 'annihilation' - Buddhisat Tantras, such as the Lanka Avatara Tantra, teach 'Consciousness Only'. So, Shankara has made a big mistake in equating 'Nirvana' with the 'annihilation theory'. What is really interesting, is that Shankara wanted to denigrate the Tantric Buddhism, in order to promote Vedanta, but at the same time, he wanted to co-opt the whole idea of Buddhist vijnananavada', in which the physical world is composed of many thought-instants, and the Ultimate Reality is 'Pure Consciousness', (Nirvana), and that the physical world is an appearance only (Maya). That's one of the enigmas of Indian philosophy. We do not know for sure why the Adi Shankara adopted the Tantric view and established the Sri Yantra on the altar at Sringeri. What we do know is that all of the Dasanami Sannyasins now worship the Sri Vidya, Sri Saraswati, and that Shankara composed the Saundaryalahari Tantra, with the fifteen bija mantras enumerated (Bhattacharyya pg. 79). Work cited: 'History of the Tantric Religion' A Historical, Ritualistic and Philosophical Study By Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya South Asia Books, 1982 Other references: 'The Central Philosophy of Buddhism' By T.R.V. Murti George Allen and Unwin, 1955 'The Secret of the Three Cities' An Introduction to Hindu Sakta Tantrism University Of Chicago Press, 1998
