emptybill: > This clearly predates Gautama Shakyamuni > by a good 150-200 years... > Maybe you should state the actual dates of the historical Buddha.
One famous Upanishad is traditionally assigned to the keeping of the Jyotirmath, one of the four mathas established by the Adi Shankara in 812 A.D. Since the time of the first Shankaracahraya, Trotaka Saraswati, this scripture has been recited on a daily basis at the Badrika Ashram, Himalayas. The Mandukhya Upanishad is the keystone in the arch of Shankara's Adwaita Vedanta. The scripture was made famous by Gaudapadacharya, the teacher of the teacher of Shankara. Gaudapada composed a famous Karika on Mundakhya, and Shankara composed a commentary on both. > and belies the claim that the whispered > wisdom lineage of Upanishad Jñana was > just dressed up Buddhism... > Well, I guess if there were Upanishads that mentioned 'Pure Consciousness' as the Ultimate Reality the historical Buddha would have mentioned them, since he pretty accurately deliniated all the philisopical schools prevalent in his day, such as the Ajivikas and the nihilist Carvaka. It is a fact that there is a profound similarity between the philosophies of Gaudapada and Nagarjuna. Gaudapada says: "There are some (shunyavadins) who uphold non-dualism (advayavada) and reject both the extreme views of being and non-being, of production and destruction and thus emphatically proclaim the doctrine of no-origination. We approve", says Gaudapada, "of the doctrine of no-origination proclaimed by them." Gaudapada: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaudapada
