Gaudapada Advaita Vedanta First Philosopher Richard H Jones 9781501066191 Books
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The Gaudapada-karikas is the earliest extant Advaita Vedanta text. It is only explicitly Advaita text deemed worth saving from before Shankara’s time. Its philosophical doctrines makes it worthy of study in its own right and sets the stage for Shankara’s slightly different Advaita. The text is presented here in a plain English translation with notes. Also included are an essay on early Vedanta, who the author(s) of this text may be, and the influence of Buddhism on the text (especially Nagarjuna’s Madhyamaka tradition); an account of the basic doctrines; and a philosophical critique of those doctrines. This books makes the claim intelligible that all is consciousness, one, and unchanging and thereby removes much of the shock of Gaudapada’s Advaita Vedanta. But it also raises problems with the plausibility of the claim.
Gaudapada Advaita Vedanta First Philosopher Richard H Jones 9781501066191 Books
I got this because I wanted a short introduction to early Advaita Vedanta (AV) thought, from the source (6th century Gaudapada was the first exponent of a nondual - "advaita" - interpretation of the Upanishads), and I'd read and enjoyed some of Richard Jones' self-published translations and commentaries in the past. I think the book serves this purpose well, and has the advantage of being short while clearly presenting the main ideas of AV and some questions that might arise about them.The original text is very short - only the first 33 pages deal with Gaudapada's 4 "books", and about a third of that space is taken up by Jones' chapter notes. The next 41 pages comprises Jones' three essays covering; early AV philosophy, the philosophy of the Gauda school, and a critique of this philosophy. There is also a brief glossary of key Sanskrit terms and a list of bibliographic references and other works. Jones' essays seem well informed and are clearly written. The content is scholarly and provides useful information about Gaudapada (was he one or several authors?), AV history and the close relation of these Advaitic writings to Mahayana Buddhism (which was quite possibly written in response to Nagarjuna's Madhyamika philosophy). These two philosophies are in fact practically overlapping, with some 3rd turning-of-the-wheel schools of nondual practice within Buddhism adopting very similar points of view, and the AV adopting Madhyamika language and concepts to support an opposite conclusion!
As Jones sums it up, "In short, from the Advaita point of view, Buddhism is about what is happening within the "dream" while Advaita is about the "dreamer" and waking up to the fact that the phenomenal world and our sense of an individual self is only an illusory "dream." (p. 43). Yet ultimately Jones' critique finds AV falling short of ever rising beyond unsubstantiated metaphysical speculation, and in this regard I respectfully disagree. Within the bathwater there is a baby worth saving…
Gaudapada's writing is fairly terse and archaic sounding, but it is also easily understood (with a bit of reading between the lines). I guess that is the reason to go back to the source, to get the original feel and tenor of the discourse. We'd explain similar stuff very differently today, but we also have the benefit of 1,500+ years of history since then. However I was deeply moved by one passage in particular (really got under my calloused spiritual skin);
"Nevertheless, the Self is imagined to be the life-breath and innumerable other things. This is the illusory power of the radiant one by which it itself has been deluded. The knowers of the life-breath (as the creative force) call the Self "the life-breath." Those who know the great elements call the Self "the great elements." Those who know the qualities call the Self "the qualities." Those who know the categories call the Self "the categories." Those who know the quarters call the Self "the quarters." Those who know the sense-objects call the Self "the sense-objects." Those who know the worlds call the Self "the worlds." Those who know the gods call the Self "the gods."…… Those who know time call the Self "time."…. Those who know the mind call the Self "the mind." Those who know the intellect call the Self "the intellect." Those who know consciousness call the Self "consciousness." Those who know virtue call the Self "virtue" and those who know vice call it "vice." (p. 9)
Every so often the written word can act in an initiatory way and for me this pointing out the mirror-like nature of the Self does this very vividly.
Overall Jones' translating seems very good, and his writing in his companion essays insightful and to the point. I especially appreciate the Buddhist (Madhyamika) lens he critiques Gaudapada through, since this is my own background. I feel that for anyone familiar with the rigors of Madhyamika discourse this will be a short and simple intro (and yet perhaps easy to dismiss as misguided given that Gaudapada is attempting to establish the existence of the ultimate reality of consciousness, or the Self). To someone without this base it may seem very abstract and foreign. For someone amenable to seeing the world mystically (and poetically) like this, this will be an enjoyable peeling of the onion. To someone who is not, it will be just so much nonsense (and possibly a good time to remember the way the Self is seen by the knower of different aspects, as quoted earlier).
My only response to Jones' critical essays is that they are simply that, ideas about the ineffable reality of Life. They point out deep holes and inconsistencies in the early AV philosophy, but they also never get outside the constructs and constrains of the realm of mind, and Self and enlightenment can only exist outside that realm. In other words, I don't think either Gaudapada or Jones ever get beyond the theoretical, to the very heart of the matter (since by definition it is what is beyond words), but it doesn't hurt to try, at least as an exhaustive mental exercise. However, this same topic receives even more subtle analysis and practical application in the Dzogchen doctrines as later developed in Tibet, and it would be nice if Jones could have included this perspective in his critique. Yet we need to acknowledge that even the best and most complete explanations are only approximations of the truth, and if clung to lead to ignorance, illusion and suffering (the so-called ten thousand things of Taoism that arise once we try to give the unnamable a name….).
Clearly it isn't enough to think/dream we are enlightened, nor even to have a vivid lucid waking/dreaming experience of our existence. Enlightenment is something altogether more primordial, immediate, direct and absent of qualities (so they say). And yet here we have a book discussing those qualities, which makes for a good opportunity to challenge and refine our concepts, about the concept-less…
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Tags : Gaudapada: Advaita Vedanta's First Philosopher [Richard H. Jones] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Gaudapada-karikas is the earliest extant Advaita Vedanta text. It is only explicitly Advaita text deemed worth saving from before Shankara’s time. Its philosophical doctrines makes it worthy of study in its own right and sets the stage for Shankara’s slightly different Advaita. The text is presented here in a plain English translation with notes. Also included are an essay on early Vedanta,Richard H. Jones,Gaudapada: Advaita Vedanta's First Philosopher,CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1501066196,Eastern,Oriental & Indian philosophy,PHILOSOPHY Eastern,Philosophy
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Gaudapada Advaita Vedanta First Philosopher Richard H Jones 9781501066191 Books Reviews
This work is especially valuable for the absence of later Vedanta redactions or interpretations, so that it represents Advaita Vedanta in a purer form. This work does not have as many grammatical errors as the author's work called, "Early Advaita Vedanta Philosophy, Part 1," but the latter has more material. I am looking forward to more works on Advaita Vedanta by this author.
I got this because I wanted a short introduction to early Advaita Vedanta (AV) thought, from the source (6th century Gaudapada was the first exponent of a nondual - "advaita" - interpretation of the Upanishads), and I'd read and enjoyed some of Richard Jones' self-published translations and commentaries in the past. I think the book serves this purpose well, and has the advantage of being short while clearly presenting the main ideas of AV and some questions that might arise about them.
The original text is very short - only the first 33 pages deal with Gaudapada's 4 "books", and about a third of that space is taken up by Jones' chapter notes. The next 41 pages comprises Jones' three essays covering; early AV philosophy, the philosophy of the Gauda school, and a critique of this philosophy. There is also a brief glossary of key Sanskrit terms and a list of bibliographic references and other works. Jones' essays seem well informed and are clearly written. The content is scholarly and provides useful information about Gaudapada (was he one or several authors?), AV history and the close relation of these Advaitic writings to Mahayana Buddhism (which was quite possibly written in response to Nagarjuna's Madhyamika philosophy). These two philosophies are in fact practically overlapping, with some 3rd turning-of-the-wheel schools of nondual practice within Buddhism adopting very similar points of view, and the AV adopting Madhyamika language and concepts to support an opposite conclusion!
As Jones sums it up, "In short, from the Advaita point of view, Buddhism is about what is happening within the "dream" while Advaita is about the "dreamer" and waking up to the fact that the phenomenal world and our sense of an individual self is only an illusory "dream." (p. 43). Yet ultimately Jones' critique finds AV falling short of ever rising beyond unsubstantiated metaphysical speculation, and in this regard I respectfully disagree. Within the bathwater there is a baby worth saving…
Gaudapada's writing is fairly terse and archaic sounding, but it is also easily understood (with a bit of reading between the lines). I guess that is the reason to go back to the source, to get the original feel and tenor of the discourse. We'd explain similar stuff very differently today, but we also have the benefit of 1,500+ years of history since then. However I was deeply moved by one passage in particular (really got under my calloused spiritual skin);
"Nevertheless, the Self is imagined to be the life-breath and innumerable other things. This is the illusory power of the radiant one by which it itself has been deluded. The knowers of the life-breath (as the creative force) call the Self "the life-breath." Those who know the great elements call the Self "the great elements." Those who know the qualities call the Self "the qualities." Those who know the categories call the Self "the categories." Those who know the quarters call the Self "the quarters." Those who know the sense-objects call the Self "the sense-objects." Those who know the worlds call the Self "the worlds." Those who know the gods call the Self "the gods."…… Those who know time call the Self "time."…. Those who know the mind call the Self "the mind." Those who know the intellect call the Self "the intellect." Those who know consciousness call the Self "consciousness." Those who know virtue call the Self "virtue" and those who know vice call it "vice." (p. 9)
Every so often the written word can act in an initiatory way and for me this pointing out the mirror-like nature of the Self does this very vividly.
Overall Jones' translating seems very good, and his writing in his companion essays insightful and to the point. I especially appreciate the Buddhist (Madhyamika) lens he critiques Gaudapada through, since this is my own background. I feel that for anyone familiar with the rigors of Madhyamika discourse this will be a short and simple intro (and yet perhaps easy to dismiss as misguided given that Gaudapada is attempting to establish the existence of the ultimate reality of consciousness, or the Self). To someone without this base it may seem very abstract and foreign. For someone amenable to seeing the world mystically (and poetically) like this, this will be an enjoyable peeling of the onion. To someone who is not, it will be just so much nonsense (and possibly a good time to remember the way the Self is seen by the knower of different aspects, as quoted earlier).
My only response to Jones' critical essays is that they are simply that, ideas about the ineffable reality of Life. They point out deep holes and inconsistencies in the early AV philosophy, but they also never get outside the constructs and constrains of the realm of mind, and Self and enlightenment can only exist outside that realm. In other words, I don't think either Gaudapada or Jones ever get beyond the theoretical, to the very heart of the matter (since by definition it is what is beyond words), but it doesn't hurt to try, at least as an exhaustive mental exercise. However, this same topic receives even more subtle analysis and practical application in the Dzogchen doctrines as later developed in Tibet, and it would be nice if Jones could have included this perspective in his critique. Yet we need to acknowledge that even the best and most complete explanations are only approximations of the truth, and if clung to lead to ignorance, illusion and suffering (the so-called ten thousand things of Taoism that arise once we try to give the unnamable a name….).
Clearly it isn't enough to think/dream we are enlightened, nor even to have a vivid lucid waking/dreaming experience of our existence. Enlightenment is something altogether more primordial, immediate, direct and absent of qualities (so they say). And yet here we have a book discussing those qualities, which makes for a good opportunity to challenge and refine our concepts, about the concept-less…
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