Tradition · philosophical school

Advaita Vedānta

Also known as Advaita, Kevaladvaita, Non-dualism, Smarta Vedanta

Date

from about the eighth century

Function

Learning & scholarship

Tradition

Brahmasūtra Bhāshya; Upadeśasāhasrī

Confidence

Established / referenced

Worth knowing

Its argument is with the other Vedāntas as much as with Buddhism: Rāmānuja objected that a self with no qualities is a self with no one to love, and Madhva that difference is simply what we observe. All three read the same three texts and reached three positions.

Connections (3)

• Pilgrimage order ofShringeri Śāradā Pīṭham

  The four maṭhas divide the daśanāmi renunciant orders between them — Shringeri takes Sarasvatī, Bhāratī and Purī, and the others their own three or four. A sannyāsi's name therefore says which quarter of the country his order answers to, which is how a philosophical school became an administrative map. Only Shringeri's succession can be checked against inscriptions; the northern seat at Jyotirmath stood vacant for about a hundred and sixty-five years and its succession has been litigated since 1953.

• Teaching lineageRamanujacharya

  Viśishtādvaita is Advaita answered rather than ignored: Rāmānuja accepts that Brahman is one and denies that its qualities are unreal, so souls and world are Brahman's body rather than an appearance over it. His objection is moral as much as metaphysical — a self with no qualities leaves nobody to love.

• Canonised by textAdi Shankaracharya

  Shankara's Brahma Sūtra commentary is what made Advaita the Vedānta every later school had to answer, and Kālaḍi is where the tradition begins his life. The three Vedāntas read the same three texts — Upanishads, Gītā, Brahma Sūtras — and reach three incompatible conclusions, which is the argument the seats record.

Sources

Wikipedia, “Advaita Vedanta”. Sangeet Natak Akademi and Ministry of Textiles documentation, and the standard field studies.

• Wikipedia — Advaita Vedanta