Adi Šankaračarja (Sanskrit: आदि शङ्कराआचार्य }) bio je indijski filozof i teolog iz 8. veka[2] koji je konsolidovao doktrine Advajta Vedanta.[1][3][note 1] On je zaslužan za objedinjavanje i uspostavljanje glavnih tokova misli u hinduizmu.[5][6]Christophe Jaffrelot (1998). The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India. Columbia University Press. ISBN978-0-231-10335-0.. Quote: "The main current of Hinduism – if not the only one – which became formalized in a way that approximates to an ecclesiastical structure was that of Shankara".</ref>
Njegovi radovi na sanskrtu raspravljaju o jedinstvu atmana i Nirgune Brahmana „brahmana bez atributa”.[7] On je napisao bogate komentare o vedskom kanonu (Brahma Sutras, glavnim Upanišadima i Bhagavadgiti) u prilog svojoj tezi.[8] Njegova dela obrađuju ideje pronađene u Upanišadima. Šankarove publikacije su kritikovale ritualno orijentisanu školu hinduizma Mimamsa.[9] On je takođe objasnio ključnu razliku između hinduizma i budizma, navodeći da hinduizam tvrdi da „Atman (duša, ja) postoji”, dok budizam tvrdi da „nema duše, nema sebstva”.[10][11][12]
Šankara je putovao širom Indijskog potkontinenta kako bi propagirao svoju filozofiju kroz diskurse i debate sa drugim misliocima. On je uspostavio važnost monaškog života kakav je sankcionisan u Upanišadima i Brahma Sutri, u vremenu kada je škola Mimamsa uspostavila strogi ritual i ismejavala monaštvo. Smatra se da je on osnovao četiri matasa („manastira”), koji su pomogli u istorijskom razvoju, oživljavanju i širenju Advajta Vedante, te je poznat kao najveći revivalista.[13] Smatra se da je Adi Šankara organizator monaškog reda Dašanami i da je objedinio tradiciju Šanmata. On je poznat i kao Adi Šankaračarija, Šankara Bagavatpada, (Ādi) Śaṅkarācārya, Śaṅkara Bhagavatpāda i Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya.
Napomene
^Modern scholarship places Shankara in the earlier part of the 8th century CE (c. 700–750).[3] Earlier generations of scholars proposed 788–820 CE.[3] Other proposals are 686–718 CE, 44 BCE,[4] or as early as 509–477 BCE.
^Y. Keshava Menon, The Mind of Adi Shankaracharya 1976 pp. 108
^Johannes de Kruijf and Ajaya Sahoo (2014). Indian Transnationalism Online: New Perspectives on Diaspora. Ashgate Publishing. стр. 105. ISBN978-1-4724-1913-2.. Quote: "In other words, according to Adi Shankara's argument, the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta stood over and above all other forms of Hinduism and encapsulated them. This then united Hinduism; (...) Another of Adi Shankara's important undertakings which contributed to the unification of Hinduism was his founding of a number of monastic centers."
^Hoiberg, Dale (2000). Shankara. Popular Prakashan. стр. 379. ISBN978-0-85229-760-5.. Student's Encyclopedia Britannia – India , Volume 4, Encyclopaedia Britannica Publishing. . isbn=978-0-231-10335-0. 2000. стр. 2.Недостаје или је празан параметар |title= (помоћ)CS1 одржавање: Недостаје усправна црта (веза) , Quote: "Shankaracharya, philosopher and theologian, most renowned exponent of the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy, from whose doctrines the main currents of modern Indian thought are derived."; David Crystal (2004), The Penguin Encyclopedia, Penguin Books, pp. 1353, Quote: "[Shankara] is the most famous exponent of Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy and the source of the main currents of modern Hindu thought."
^KN Jayatilleke , Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge (2010). Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge. Motilal Banarsidass Publishe. стр. 246—249. ISBN978-81-208-0619-1.. from note 385 onwards; Steven Collins , Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State University of New York Press. {{cite book|author= |title= Religion and Practical Reason: New Essays in the Comparative Philosophy of Religions|location=Pali: anattā, Sanskrit |publisher=anātman, the opposed doctrine of year=1994 |isbn=978-0-7914-2217-5|pages=64}}. Quote: "Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self|ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence."; Edward Roer (Translator), Shankara's Introduction на сајту Гугл књиге] Katie Javanaud (2013), Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?, Philosophy Now; John C (1993). Global History of Philosophy. Plott et al. (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass. стр. 63. ISBN978-81-208-0158-5.. Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism".
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