"There is no true opposition of Buddhism and Brahmanism, but from the beginning one general movement, or many closely related movements. The integrity of Indian thought, moreover, would not be broken if every specifically Buddhist element were omitted; we should only have to say that certain details had been less adequately elaborated or less emphasized. (...) [The Buddha] in a majority of fundamentals does not differ from the Atmanists, although he gives a far clearer statement of the law of causality as the essential mark of the world of Becoming. The greater part of his polemic, however, is wasted in a misunderstanding. (...) At first sight nothing can appear more definite than the opposition of the Buddhist An-atta, 'no-Atman', and the Brahman Atman, the sole reality. But in using the same term, Atta or Atman, Buddhist and Brahman are talking of different things, and when this is realized, it will be seen that the Buddhist disputations on this point lose nearly all their value."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Buddhism and Hinduism
29 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Buddhism and Hinduism →
Related Quotes
"The application of the Hindu Code to Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains was a historical development, and it would be too lat…"
"[Buddhism is] a Hindu phenomenon, a natural product, so to speak, of the age and social circle that witnessed its bir…"
"The more superficially one studies Buddhism, the more it seems to differ from the Brahmanism in which it originated; …"
"There had never existed a 'Buddhist India' that was not as much and at the same time and in the same area a Hindu India."
"It may readily be granted that Buddhist thought is far more consistent than the thought of the Upanishads. The Upanis…"
"So, in spite of an intellectual misunderstanding concerning the notion of Self, the substance of the Upanishadic and …"
"In comparing Buddhism (the teaching of Gautama, that is) with Brahmanism, we have then to understand and take into ac…"
"Ananda Coomaraswamy concedes that Buddhism developed a more satisfactory systematization of certain Upanishadic ideas…"
"When I say that Buddhism is a part of Hinduism, certain people criticize me. But if I were to say that Hinduism and B…"
"I will choose only the least harmful way for the country. And that is the greatest benefit I am conferring on the cou…"