Buddhism vs Advaita Vedanta
Years before landing on Advaita Vedanta, I studied Buddhism. I never fully committed to Buddhism; rather, I approached it as sort of a dilettante. Still, it was a very important early exposure in my spiritual journey. In fact, one of the first texts I ever read was Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki.
Recently, I reconnected with a friend from college—really, a former professor of mine—who, in the 25 years since we lost touch, went on his own spiritual journey which took him from Judaism, to Buddhism, to Christianity, and finally back to Buddhism. (Admittedly, this is a gross oversimplification of his story.) Talking with him about his spiritual evolution, I was forced to think about the differences between Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta. On the whole, I find these two great traditions more similar than different. Nevertheless, there are some important differences. The video embedded below will serve as a great explanation of the intersections and divergences between these two traditions, but I will do my best to summarize the contents.
Both Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta hold that the root cause of suffering is false identification with the body/mind complex. This false identification leads to much suffering in life. Both traditions offer strategies for negating that false identification. Where the two spiritual paths diverge is in the degree to which a positive identity can be asserted once the false identification is removed.
Buddhism holds that an individual is nothing more than a confluence of five factors: body, sensations, emotions, thoughts, and consciousness. There is no independent self that is seperate from the confluence of the five aforementioned factors. In other words, persons are merely aggregates.
Advaita Vedanta, on the other hand, does posit that there is a self separate from the confluence of various factors, which self is called Atman (the eternal Self). The goal of life is to discover the true, divine nature of the eternal Self. This goal is more than merely the complete cessation of suffering; it is the additional step of discovering the Self. One of the ways of accomplishing this additional step is through self-enquiry as prescribed by Sri Ramana Maharshi. For more information on self-enquiry, check out suggested reading.
