How are Buddhism and Jainism different from Mayavada?
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How are Buddhism and Jainism different from Mayavad? Answer? I think that’s a question that needs some broader context to be answered.
Mayavad is broadly a Vedic philosophy in the sense that at least the Mayavadis accept the authority of the Vedas. Though, of course, they interpret the Vedas in their own way. Buddhists and Jains they are they reject the authority of the Vedas and that’s why they are within the Vedic context which is considered an Atheist.
So, the entire body of Vedic literature is not accepted. They have different historical founders. Buddhism and Jainism are both much older at least in terms of the prominent expression of those philosophies and prominent exponents of those philosophies.
Mayavad of course, Mayavad does not claim that it is a teaching of the Vedas. It is the actual or essential teaching of the Vedas but it is primarily propagated by Shankaracharya who came in almost a thousand years after Buddhism and Jainism or more than a thousand years. So, in terms of their source of references in terms of their teachers, they are different.
In terms of their teachings they all have some similarities in terms of that they are all world negating or world rejecting philosophies wherein they state that we need to go beyond this world. Now, what exists beyond this world? That with regards to that they have various differences of opinion and that will take us into the domain of quite technical analysis of the philosophies. Now, Nirvisesha and Shunyavadi these are the two words used to describe these philosophies.
Nirvisesha, let’s refer to Mayavad, they accept the idea that there is Brahman but they say the Brahman which is the ultimate reality, which is the spiritual reality it has no discernible attributes, it has no Vishesha. Whereas Shunyavadi refers broadly to the idea that beyond our material existence there is a void and it is within that void that we can attain relief from distress. So, in terms of their conception of the ultimate destination there is also a huge amount of difference.