Friday, October 17, 2014

Veda and Buddhism

I feel that the definition of words is very different between Veda terms and Buddhist terms. For example, the followings are my guess.

                 <Veda terms>       <Buddhist terms>

God                Atman                   no God  
                   (Absolute)            (no Absolute) 

Awakening Universal Consciousness non-separate self 
                          (Absolute)                   (non-Absolute)

Ego              I-thought              separate self
               (non-Absolute)             (Absolute) 

Conscious   Consciousness     Mind consciousness
mind                (Being)               (Gross mind)

Subconscious   Awareness        Store consciousness
mind              (Non-Being)      (Subtle consciousness)
                    (Absolute)
                    (Noumenon)
                    (Whole Mind)
Reasoning from above, Vedaic Universal Consciousness (Manifestation of Non-Being) is equal to Buddhist non-separate self even though Vedaic Non-Being means Absolute and Buddhist non-separate self means non-Absolute. I guess these difference comes from the definition of Absolute based on whether theistic or non-theistic. However, I am quite sure the meaning is the same because the common key is Subconscious.

As for Self-Inquiry, my own method of "Unconditional self-acceptance" is based on Self-Inquiry. So, it is different from today's Buddhism which is based on Meditation. However, I strongly feel that original Buddhism which Buddha actually preached was based on Self-Inquiry. That's because many of his quotes are based on self-love and he couldn't attain enlightenment through severe meditation practice. 

Red Carpet Photo by Ria Oh