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BTW, just a nitpick; this does not represent the philosophy of Buddhism. Buddhism is derived from the "adwaita" philosophy of Hinduism. Hinduism has two philoso

by _448 4y ago

BTW, just a nitpick; this does not represent the philosophy of Buddhism. Buddhism is derived from the "adwaita" philosophy of Hinduism. Hinduism has two philosophical strands, "dwaita" i.e. dualism, (which is what Christianity, Islam and Judaism follow too), and "adwaita" i.e. non-dualism (which is what Buddhism and some section of Hinduism follow). Dwaita stipulates that God is out there, separate from humans. Where as adwaita stipulates that there is no external "God"; instead of searching for God elsewhere one should look within oneself to attain Moksha(in Hinduism) or Nirvana(in Buddhism). So it is odd that the Tibetan monks in the movie will print names of "God". The philosophy of dwaita and adwaita originates from the Hindu Vedic text. Anyone who does Yoga and chants OM(AUM_, to be precise) during meditation is actually practising the adwaita philosophy to attain Moksha/Nirvana.

pmoriarty 4y ago
There are far more than two strands of Hinduism, and "Hinduism" itself is an artificial construct that homegenizes under one name what are actually hundreds of different religions, many of which are widely different from each other. For instance, there are atheist strands of "Hinduism"[1], which reject gods of any sort. I also fail to see what the various Hindu religions' views on god or duality/non-duality have to do with Buddhism. [1] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_atheism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_atheism
- _448 4y ago
  > I also fail to see what the various Hindu religions' views on god or duality/non-duality have to do with Buddhism. Because Buddhism is derived from the Vedic text on adwaita.
  - pmoriarty 4y ago
    So? Are you just mentioning this as a historical curiosity, or are you trying to make some point?
quadrifoliate 4y ago
While your Dwaita/Adwaita dichotomy makes sense in terms of general concepts, it's too clear-cut, and ignores some intersections between Hinduism and Buddhism. > So it is odd that the Tibetan monks in the movie will print names of "God". As you pointed out, some sections of Hinduism follow Adwaita philosophy. In the same vein, even though Buddhism doesn't have a pantheon like mainstream Hinduism, it still retains lists of named Buddhas [1]. These lists are common in Buddhism (see also the list of bodhisattavas [2]) as well as the related and older Jainism [3]. I believe that the core of the Clarke story is based on the overall concept of these lists, probably simplifying the concept of a Buddha to "God" for Western audiences. The closest related concept I can think of is the Holy Trinity, and most people in the Western world would struggle to explain the difference between Unitarianism and Trinitarianism. The filmmaker had a chance to correct Clarke's simplification, but probably hasn't studied the source material in enough detail to know or care. ---------------------------------------- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_named_Buddhas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_named_Buddhas [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bodhisattvas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bodhisattvas [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tirthankaras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tirthankaras
- _448 4y ago
  > some intersections between Hinduism and Buddhism. Instead of intersection, it is derivation of a specific strand of Hinduism, the adwait philosophy. It was extended further by Buddhism and more literature was added. > In the same vein, even though Buddhism doesn't have a pantheon like mainstream Hinduism, it still retains lists of named Buddhas But this is very different from the concept of "God". The list maintains names of people who were enlightened rather than "God" as envisioned in Dwaita.

by _448 4y ago

pmoriarty 4y ago

There are far more than two strands of Hinduism, and "Hinduism" itself is an artificial construct that homegenizes under one name what are actually hundreds of different religions, many of which are widely different from each other. For instance, there are atheist strands of "Hinduism"[1], which reject gods of any sort. I also fail to see what the various Hindu religions' views on god or duality/non-duality have to do with Buddhism. [1] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_atheism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_atheism

_448 4y ago
> I also fail to see what the various Hindu religions' views on god or duality/non-duality have to do with Buddhism. Because Buddhism is derived from the Vedic text on adwaita.
- pmoriarty 4y ago
  So? Are you just mentioning this as a historical curiosity, or are you trying to make some point?

quadrifoliate 4y ago

While your Dwaita/Adwaita dichotomy makes sense in terms of general concepts, it's too clear-cut, and ignores some intersections between Hinduism and Buddhism. > So it is odd that the Tibetan monks in the movie will print names of "God". As you pointed out, some sections of Hinduism follow Adwaita philosophy. In the same vein, even though Buddhism doesn't have a pantheon like mainstream Hinduism, it still retains lists of named Buddhas [1]. These lists are common in Buddhism (see also the list of bodhisattavas [2]) as well as the related and older Jainism [3]. I believe that the core of the Clarke story is based on the overall concept of these lists, probably simplifying the concept of a Buddha to "God" for Western audiences. The closest related concept I can think of is the Holy Trinity, and most people in the Western world would struggle to explain the difference between Unitarianism and Trinitarianism. The filmmaker had a chance to correct Clarke's simplification, but probably hasn't studied the source material in enough detail to know or care. ---------------------------------------- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_named_Buddhas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_named_Buddhas [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bodhisattvas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bodhisattvas [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tirthankaras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tirthankaras

_448 4y ago
> some intersections between Hinduism and Buddhism. Instead of intersection, it is derivation of a specific strand of Hinduism, the adwait philosophy. It was extended further by Buddhism and more literature was added. > In the same vein, even though Buddhism doesn't have a pantheon like mainstream Hinduism, it still retains lists of named Buddhas But this is very different from the concept of "God". The list maintains names of people who were enlightened rather than "God" as envisioned in Dwaita.