OWN LYF IN B MINUS

 “There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.” ~ Rumi

KRMA FOR ANML JUSTICE

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Not being Buddha is suffering.’

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 at the present moment we are entrapped in the cycle of birth and death suffering like anything being dragged again and again through the 8,400,000 different species of life

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RUMI GAP - CANDLE IN THE HEART IN THE DARKEST NIGHT

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Each time we are aware of fear, we have a choice: we can acknowledge our problem and work with it, or we can run away from it and seek refuge elsewhere: distractions, pharmaceuticals, weekend feel-good-about-yourself workshops, whatever. 

Lama Tsony, “Facing Fear”

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BBTBR X PBC X HRHK

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EVO BENEFIT OF MT

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Turning to the system of the Mind Only tenets, the Karmapa listed the four that are key: all phenomena are mind only plus the eight consciousnesses, the three characteristics, and self-awareness. Among these, the most important is the first: all phenomena are merely mind. If we search for the source of all possible phenomena, we will find that the mind alone is their cause. This is the school’s main feature and the reason why the school is called Mind Only.

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Buddha preached that there is no real 'self ' (Anatta doctrine) and the apparent self is just an illusion of the mind. Suffering (dukkha) is caused by clinging to the 'self ' . He prescribed an eight-fold noble path to help yourself out of this illusion and thus, cease the suffering. The Buddhists call this state of no suffering as 'Nirvana'.

Advaita also preaches that the apparent self (also an illusion caused by 'Maya') is not the real self. The real self or Brahman is the absolute conciousness or awareness which dwells in every being. Also, there is an Advaita version of Dukkha , which is called 'Samsara'. Advaitins follow the path of renunciation and meditation to achieve their goal of uniting with the real self or Brahman. This state is called 'Moksha'.

It is interesting to note that though anatta doctrine is one of the defining doctrines of Buddhism, the Buddhists (and even Buddha ) do not believe that you cease to exist completely after Nirvana. The state was described as indescribable by Goutama Buddha where normal words like existence and non-existence do not apply. Similar dilemma was faced by Advaita scholars when they tried to describe Moksha in words.

The eight-fold path of Buddhists include morally right behaviour and meditation. The Advaitin's path is similar - renunciation and meditation.

Moksha was characterised by 'Sat-Chit-Anand' (Truth-Conciousness-Bliss). Buddhists (most, if not all) believe that Nirvana is a state of profound happiness and pure bliss. Both Moksha and Nirvana put an end to the cycle of birth and death and rebirth.

Moksha=Nirvana
Samsara=Dukkha
Brahman=Void , etc,.

Hence, I believe that the gist of both the philosophies is essentially the same. While Advaita is somewhat a 'scholarly' description of reality, Buddhism is for the common man.

EDIT :
How can I forget reincarnation ? Surely, both Advaita and Buddhism support re-incarnation theory. Right?
Wait...
When Buddhists believe that there is no soul, then what re-incarnates ?
Similarly, when there is a single (real) soul (or conciousness) dwelling in every being, then it must be like "all beings are incarnations of same soul ". Now, how does reincarnation of individual souls takes place?
In short, in both the philosophies, there is no concept of individual souls. But both support reincarnation theory . How is it possible?

The answer seems to be that both the philosophies support the theory of rebirth, not the theory of reincarnation.
Reincarnation is one soul migrating from one body to other body.
Rebirth is of a thought process, not of a soul.
This is too complicated to think and digest, but it seems to be logical.
Nirvana is believed to be achieved with the annihilation of all your desires (in a sense, annihilation of thoughts).
In Advaita, realisation of self (Moksha) is when you stop responding to the environment and your mind is at complete peace (again, in a sense, thoughtless state).
This seems to be logical, since, when there are no thoughts, then there is no thought process to take rebirth.

The more I read of these two philosophies, the more I get convinced that they both are different expressions of the same reality.

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