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Advaita Vedanta and Buddhist Sunyavada
According to Advaita Vedanta, meaning the school of nondualism, there is only one eternal reality, and it is Brahman, or the Supreme Self. He alone is real and the rest is just a formation, projection, imagination, or dream that appears on the Self like a movie on a silver screen. Whatever duality, division or diversity that you perceive in the world is a mere appearance. In reality there is no knower and the known, or subject and object. Everything is the same supreme Self, who is untouched by any of his creations, just as the movie screen is untouched by the images that appear on it. If the Self is an ocean, the worlds and beings are like the waves that appear in it due to the winds of modifications that arise in pure consciousness (chitta vatha). Creation continues as long as the Self keeps projecting it, and it disappears when the Self withdraws it into itself.
Just as your dream is unreal, creation is also unreal, although it may last longer and give you the impression of being real. Because of the impurities of Nature, beings remain deluded and ignorant of the true nature of creation and of their own existence. Due to their deluding influence, they identify themselves with their minds and bodies, rather than with the Self and become subject to duality and individuality. As they engage in desire-ridden actions, they incur karma and become bound to the cycle of births and deaths. They remain in this deluded state until they overcome their ignorance and achieve liberation. When they attain liberation, they become completely dissolved in the oceanic self. They become empty and cease to exist as beings, while the Self that projected them until then remains as the eternal reality.
The Sunyavada school agrees with Advaita with regard to the illusory nature of the worlds and beings. However, it finds nothing eternal about them. They appear in the backdrop of emptiness or nothingness. There is no single cause or cause of causes which is responsible for them. When they cease to exist, it is forever, without leaving behind any residual reality such as an eternal Self or pure consciousness. Things emerge from emptiness and disappear into emptiness like bubbles of air that float in the midair.
The school acknowledges neither God nor Self and assigns no role to them in the appearance or disappearance of the worlds and beings. Creation happens on its own due to the aggregation of things and parts. They come together to create names, and forms and duality and diversity. The whole existence is a temporary phenomenon. When it ceases to exist, nothing remains except vast, endless, indeterminate emptiness. So are all the worlds and jivas. They are mere formations or aggregates that appear as in a dream and disappear.
However, like Advaita, Sunyavada also affirms that because of desires, ignorance, and egoism, beings are subject to karma, suffering and bondage. They can achieve liberation or Nirvana by knowing the Four Noble Truths and following the Eightfold Path. Upon liberation, they cease to exist, leaving no trace whatsoever. For the school, nirvana is a state of annihilation, not self-realization, or eternal freedom. A liberated being becomes empty and enters an indeterminate state. Nothing can be said about it, whether it is or it is not, or what it is.
Liberation, the common goal and ultimate solution
Thus, we can see that both schools view liberation as a solution to human suffering through a process of unwinding, deconstructing, and transcending ignorance and delusion. If we leave aside the universal Self, both schools agree that the worlds and beings are illusions and temporary formations, that jivas do not possess eternal souls of their own, and that they are subject to duality, delusion, ignorance and bondage. Both affirm that beings are mere phenomena, who appear and disappear like waves upon a sea of existence and subside into it leaving no trace of themselves. When they achieve liberation, they cease to exist forever, leaving no trace whatsoever of their individuality or beingness.
However, they mainly differ with regard to the supreme Self. For the Advaita the Self is everything, the center and circumstance of all. It is what is and what will remain forever, untouched, undisturbed, and untainted, whereas for the Sunyavada it does not exist at all. It goes purely by what is visible and knowable, with little reliance upon speculation or scriptural authority. Advaita Vedanta goes by the transcendental reality of self-absorption, whereas Sunyavada goes by the perceptible reality of mindfulness awareness. What is one vast, indeterminate, emptiness for a Shunyavadin, is an eternal, infinite, indestructible Supreme Self of pure consciousness for the follower of Advaita. Some say that Adi Shankara was influenced by the teachings of Acharya Nagarjuna, a great proponent of the Buddhist Sunyavada. However, we have no historical evidence.
According to Advaita Vedanta, meaning the school of nondualism, there is only one eternal reality, and it is Brahman, or the Supreme Self. He alone is real and the rest is just a formation, projection, imagination, or dream that appears on the Self like a movie on a silver screen. Whatever duality, division or diversity that you perceive in the world is a mere appearance. In reality there is no knower and the known, or subject and object. Everything is the same supreme Self, who is untouched by any of his creations, just as the movie screen is untouched by the images that appear on it. If the Self is an ocean, the worlds and beings are like the waves that appear in it due to the winds of modifications that arise in pure consciousness (chitta vatha). Creation continues as long as the Self keeps projecting it, and it disappears when the Self withdraws it into itself.
Just as your dream is unreal, creation is also unreal, although it may last longer and give you the impression of being real. Because of the impurities of Nature, beings remain deluded and ignorant of the true nature of creation and of their own existence. Due to their deluding influence, they identify themselves with their minds and bodies, rather than with the Self and become subject to duality and individuality. As they engage in desire-ridden actions, they incur karma and become bound to the cycle of births and deaths. They remain in this deluded state until they overcome their ignorance and achieve liberation. When they attain liberation, they become completely dissolved in the oceanic self. They become empty and cease to exist as beings, while the Self that projected them until then remains as the eternal reality.
The Sunyavada school agrees with Advaita with regard to the illusory nature of the worlds and beings. However, it finds nothing eternal about them. They appear in the backdrop of emptiness or nothingness. There is no single cause or cause of causes which is responsible for them. When they cease to exist, it is forever, without leaving behind any residual reality such as an eternal Self or pure consciousness. Things emerge from emptiness and disappear into emptiness like bubbles of air that float in the midair.
The school acknowledges neither God nor Self and assigns no role to them in the appearance or disappearance of the worlds and beings. Creation happens on its own due to the aggregation of things and parts. They come together to create names, and forms and duality and diversity. The whole existence is a temporary phenomenon. When it ceases to exist, nothing remains except vast, endless, indeterminate emptiness. So are all the worlds and jivas. They are mere formations or aggregates that appear as in a dream and disappear.
However, like Advaita, Sunyavada also affirms that because of desires, ignorance, and egoism, beings are subject to karma, suffering and bondage. They can achieve liberation or Nirvana by knowing the Four Noble Truths and following the Eightfold Path. Upon liberation, they cease to exist, leaving no trace whatsoever. For the school, nirvana is a state of annihilation, not self-realization, or eternal freedom. A liberated being becomes empty and enters an indeterminate state. Nothing can be said about it, whether it is or it is not, or what it is.
Liberation, the common goal and ultimate solution
Thus, we can see that both schools view liberation as a solution to human suffering through a process of unwinding, deconstructing, and transcending ignorance and delusion. If we leave aside the universal Self, both schools agree that the worlds and beings are illusions and temporary formations, that jivas do not possess eternal souls of their own, and that they are subject to duality, delusion, ignorance and bondage. Both affirm that beings are mere phenomena, who appear and disappear like waves upon a sea of existence and subside into it leaving no trace of themselves. When they achieve liberation, they cease to exist forever, leaving no trace whatsoever of their individuality or beingness.
However, they mainly differ with regard to the supreme Self. For the Advaita the Self is everything, the center and circumstance of all. It is what is and what will remain forever, untouched, undisturbed, and untainted, whereas for the Sunyavada it does not exist at all. It goes purely by what is visible and knowable, with little reliance upon speculation or scriptural authority. Advaita Vedanta goes by the transcendental reality of self-absorption, whereas Sunyavada goes by the perceptible reality of mindfulness awareness. What is one vast, indeterminate, emptiness for a Shunyavadin, is an eternal, infinite, indestructible Supreme Self of pure consciousness for the follower of Advaita. Some say that Adi Shankara was influenced by the teachings of Acharya Nagarjuna, a great proponent of the Buddhist Sunyavada. However, we have no historical evidence.
