The other Vedāntas
Bhedābheda
An older position that Śaṅkara argues against directly: the self is both one with Brahman and genuinely distinct.
c. 9th–10th century · Bhāskara and the earlier tradition
- When
- c. 9th–10th century
- Behind it
- Bhāskara and the earlier tradition
- Where it sits
- The other Vedāntas
- School
- Bhedābheda — difference and non-difference
Reading the opponents Śaṅkara actually had, rather than the ones later textbooks invented.
The full-length study of this text is still being written. The summary above is complete, and the originals below are the whole thing rather than a description of it.
The text itself
Complete originals, in free copies wherever one exists.
Commentaries worth trusting
Read by teachers within the tradition, not summaries of it.
- Śaṅkara's own summary of the rival positions, Brahma Sūtra Bhāṣya — Ādi Śaṅkara Śaṅkara states bhedābheda fairly before answering it — the best short route into it.
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