What did Rāmakaṇṭha Contribute to the Buddhist-Brāhmaṇical Ātman Debate?

18.11.2005 15:00 - 17:00

Alex Watson | Wolfson College, Oxford

In attempting to refute the Buddhist doctrine of no-Self, Rāmakaṇṭha absorbed many features of Buddhism. He sided with Buddhism, for example, against Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika in denying the existence of property-possessors (dharmins) over and above properties (dharmas), and in denying a Self as something that exists over and above cognition. For him the Self simply is cognition (jñāna, prakāśa, saṃvit) and so he has to prove that cognition is constant and unchanging. I will present those arguments of Rāmakaṇṭha's that strike me as his strongest and most original.

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