Tag: Eknath
The Catholic Pauls against nondualism
by Amod Lele on Aug.04, 2010, under Bhakti Poets, Foundations of Ethics, French Tradition, Judaism, M.T.S.R., Mahāyāna, Modern Hinduism, Morality, Roman Catholicism, Self, Sufism, Vedānta, Yavanayāna
A curious phenomenon in the study of South Asian and especially Buddhist traditions is the number of Catholic scholars named Paul who have approached these traditions – and especially what Skholiast has called their ātmanism – with a critical eye. The two thinkers I have primarily in mind are the late Paul Hacker (whom I discussed last time, and the living Paul Williams. (The thought of Paul J. Griffiths, who moved in his writings from Buddhology to Catholic theology, bears a strong resemblances to these other Pauls, though I have less to say about him today.) That these men are all named Paul can only be a coincidence. That they are all Catholic is less so; for there are striking affinities in the ways that they (in many respects independently of one another) approach South Asian and Buddhist tradition, affinities that are far less coincidental.
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