A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy - Part One

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Item Code: IDE527
Publisher: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS PVT. LTD.
Author: Hajime Nakamura
Language: English
Edition: 1990
ISBN: 9788120806511
Pages: 585
Cover: Hardcover
Other Details 8.8" X 6.2"
Weight 780 gm
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Book Description

From the Jacket:

The history of the Vedanta school is well known since the time of Sankaracarya on, and its prehistory before Sankara is quite obscure. However, from the time of compilation of major Upanisads to Sankara there is a period of thousand years, and the tradition of Upanisads was not lost; there appeared many philosophers and dogmaticians, although their thoughts are not clearly known.

The author has made clear the details of the pre-Sankara Vedanta philosophy, utilizing not only Sanskrit materials, but also Pali, Prakrit (Jain), as well as Tibetan and Chinese sources.

In this respect this is quite a unique work. For this work the author was awarded the Imperial Prize by the Academy of Japan.

Some sections of this work were already published in Indian as well as European and American journals in English. This work is a complete English translation of the entire book. The English translation was done with the financial aid by the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and the final touch was given by Mr. Trevor Leggett, the British writer, who is well-versed in Sanskrit as well as in Japanese.

About the Author:

Professor Hajime Nakamura, D.Litt. (University of Tokyo), Honorary D.Litt. (Government of India and Nehru University) is a distinguished scholar of international repute. As a Chairman of the Department of Indian Philosophy and Literature, Director of the Eastern Institute, Tokyo and a member of several Research Institutes in India and other countries he has a brilliant career. He was awarded the honorary degree of Vidya-vacaspati by the President of the Republic of India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. He was awarded the honorary doctorate by the University of Delhi and Kuppu-Swami Research Institute, Madras. He was also awarded the honorary degree of Deshikottama by Visvabharati University, Shantiniketana. He was Visiting Professor at Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Hawaii, State University of New York.

He was Professor of Indian and Buddhist Philosophy a the University of Tokyo for thirty years. Since his retirement he has been conducting the Eastern Institute, Inc., as the Founder-Director. He is now Professor Emeritus of University of Tokyo. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and a Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Science, Vienna.

He is a versatile and striking genius. He has splendid achievement in the literary field too. Among his greatest production may be ranked History of Vedanta, 4 Volumes (in Japanese), Early Buddhism, 5 Volumes (in Japanese), Japan and Indian Asia (in English) and History of the Development of Japanese Thoughts, 2 Volumes.

 

CONTENTS

 

             
Preface vii
Abbreviations

 

xiii
Part I The Significance of Early Vedanta Philosophy
Chapter I Introduction 1
Chapter II The Chronological Division of Early Vedanta Introduction 9
  Part I The Period of the Composition of the Upanisads  
    Section I The Old Upanisads 10
      Sub-Section I The Relative Date Order of the Old Upanisads 10
      Sub-Section II Criteria for Dating 13
        I Linguistic Investigation 13
        II Relation with Other Schools of Thought 17
        III The Chronological Relation of the Early and Middle Period Upanisads 35
        IV Conclusion 42
    Section II The Dates of the Formulation of the New Upanisads 43
    Section III The Eraly Limit of the Early Vedanta School 45
  Part II The Dates of Sankara and Contemporary Philosophers 48
  A. A Critique of Past Arguments on the Dates of Sankara 48
    Section I The Traditional Theory of the Sankara School 48
    Section II The Arguments for Sankara's Dates based upon the Keralotpatti 52
    Section III The Argument for Sankara's Dates Based upon the Legends of Nepal 54
    Section IV Theories which Try to Trace Back rom the Date of the Samksepa-Sariraka 55
    Section V The Arguments for Sankara's Dates Based upon his Relation with Hinduism 57
    Section VI The Argument for the Dates of Sankara Based upon the Proper Nouns in the Brahma-sutra-bhasya 59
  B. The Determination of the Dates of Sankara and Contemporary Philosopher 65
    Section I The Relation between Sankara and the Philosophers after him 65
      (1) The Relation between Sankara and the Dates of Vacaspatimisra and Bhaskara 65
      (2) The Relation between the Dates of Suresvara and Sankara 72
    Section II The Relation between Sankara and the Philosophers Prior to him 75
      (1) The Relation between Sankara and Dharmakirti 75
      (2) The Dates of Kumarila in Conjunction with those of Bhartrharti, Santaraksita, Kamalasila, and Mandanamisra 79
      (3) The Determination of Sankara's Dates 87
    Section III Concluding Remarks 88
Chapter III The Significance of the Vedanta Philosophy 90
    Section I Definition of "Vedanta" 90
    Section II Characteristics of the Vedanta 101
    Section III The Circumstances of the Foundation of the Vedanta School 108
    Section IV Other Names of the Vedanta School 117
    Section V The Beginnings of the Vedanta School

 

126
Part II The Early-period Vedanta Philosophy as Seen by the Indian Schools
Introduction

 

129
Chapter IV Vedanta Philosophy as Seen by the Buddhists 131
    Section I Introduction 131
    Section II Early Buddhism and Upanisadic Thought 133
    Section III Sectarian Buddhism and the Upanisads 140
    Section IV The Mahayana Sutras and Vedanta Thought 152
    Section V The Early Madhyamikas and the Upanisads 158
      1. Nagarjuna and the Upanisads 158
      2. Orthodox Brahmanical Thought Mentioned in Aryadeva's Sastra on Heretic and Hinayanist Nirvana 165
    Section VI References to Upanisadic Ideas in the early Yogacara School
Maitreya-natha and Vasubandhu
180
    Section VII The Vedanta Philosophy Known to Bhavya and Dharmapala 182
      Sub-Section 1 Introduction 182
      Sub-Section 2 The Vedanta Chapter of Bhavya's Madhyamaka-hrdaya 184
      Sub-Section 3 The Vedanta as Presented by Bhavya in his Madhyamaka-hrdaya and Tarka-jvala 206
      Sub-Section 4 The Vedanta Thought as Referred to in Other Texts of Bhavya 217
      Sub-Section 5 The Vedanta Thought Mentioned by Dharmapala 219
    Section VIII The Vedanta Philosophy Reported by Santaraksita and Kamalasila 221
      Introduction 221
      Sub-Section I An Examination of Purusa (Purusa-pariksa) 230
        A. Translation  
        B. Remarks  
      Sub-Section II An Examination of Atman falsely constructed by the Aupanisadas (Aupanisadakalpitatmapariksa) 245
        A. Translation  
        B. Remarks  
    Section IX Vedanta Philosophy and Buddhism after Santaraksita and Kamalasila 257
      1. Remarks 257
      2. Bhaskara the Vedantin in Buddhist Literature 260
Chapter V Vedanta Philosophy as Seen from the Scriptures of Early Jainism 266
    Section I Introduction 266
    Section II Vedanta Thought Described in the early Jain Scriptures 268
    Section III Yajnavalkya and Other Upanisadic Thinkers in a Jain Tradition 274
    Section IV The Vedanta as Noticed in Mediaeval Jain Literature 282
    Section V Conclusion 294
Chapter VI Vedanta as it Appears in the Orthodox Brahmanical Literature 296
    Section I The Brahmin as Transmitter of Indian Culture 296
    Section II Vedanta Philosophy in the Epic Poems 298
    Section III Vedanta Thought in the Dharmasastras 305
    Section IV Vedanta in the Arthasastra 319
    Section V Works on Natural Science and the Connection with Vedanta 323
    Section VI Vedanta Philosophy in Philosophical and Religious Works 330
    Section VII Vednata in Purely Literary Works 345
Chapter VII (Supplement). Vedanta Thought Handed down by the Greeks

 

359
Part III Scholars Before the Brahma-sutra
Chapter VIII The Character and Thought of the Scholars prior to the Brahma-sutra 369
    Section I Karsnajini 366
    Section II Kasakrtsna 372
    Section III Atreya 380
    Section IV Audulomi 382
    Section V Asmarathya 384
    Section VI Badari 386
    Section VII Jaimini 390
      I. His Works 390
        1 Mimamsa-sutra 390
        2 Devata-kanda and the Samkarsana-Kanda 392
        3 Sariraka-sutra 396
      II. His Personality and Dates 399
      III. His Vedanta Thought 401
    Section VIII Badarayana 404
Chapter IX The Separation of the Two Mimamsas 409
    Section I The Relation Between the Two Mimamsas 409
    Section II The Ideological Confrontation of Jaimini and Badarayana

 

414
Part IV The Brahma-sutra
Chapter X Introduction 425
    Section I Other Names of the Brahma-sutra 425
    Section II The Circumstances under which the Brahma-sutra came into being 429
    Section III The Date of the Compilation of the Brahma-sutra 435
    Section IV Prestige of the Brahma-sutra is later Centuries 438
    Section V The Style of the Brahma-sutra and the need for a Re-examination of the Original Meaning of the Sutras 439
Chapter XI Explanatory Notes on the Brahma-sutra 448
  (Appendix) Results of the Comparative Study of the Three Ancient Commentaries 451
    Section I The Historico-Social Attitude of the Brahma-sutras 470
    Section II Problem of Knowledge 475
    Section III The Absolute and World-Creation 484
      (1) Brahman in Itself 484
      (2) Brahman as the World-Cause 486
      (3) Rationality of World Emanation 492
      (4) The Emanation and Dissolution of the World 497
    Section IV The Individual Self 500
      (1) The Relationship Between the individual Self and Brahman 500
      (2) The Various Characteristics of the Individual Self 504
      (3) The Structure of Individual Existence 507
        1 The Various organs 507
        2 Chief Vital Breath 508
        3 Body 509
        4 Conclusion 511
      (4) Types of Individual Existences 512
      (5) Consciousness 514
    Section V Practical Affairs 515
      1. Practical Life 515
      2. Meditation 519
    Section VI Transmigration and Release 524
      1. The Soul after Death 524
      2. The Realm of Spiritual Liberation 529
Index 533
Errata 563

 











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