BSRV 33.1-2 (2016) 65–99 Buddhist Studies Review ISSN (print) 0256-2897 doi: 10.1558/bsrv.31642 Buddhist Studies Review ISSN (online) 1747-9681 Veṅkaṭanātha’s Engagement with Buddhist Opponents in the Buddhist Texts he Reused ELISA FRESCHI INSTITUTE OF THE CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF ASIA, AUSTRIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VIENNA
[email protected] ABSTRACT Veṅkaṭanātha (1269—1370) was the most important systematiser of the Viśiṣṭādvaita school of Vedānta. This article describes his use of Buddhist sources and shows how Veṅkaṭanātha reused Buddhist texts to a much more significant extent than his predecessors Yāmuna and Rāmānuja. The reused text-passages come mostly from the epistemological school of Buddhist phi- losophy (Dignāga, Dharmakīrti and his followers) but there are important exceptions, attesting that Veṅkaṭanātha was also aware of Buddhist schools such as the Vaibhāṣikas, of whom only little is preserved today. Given that Buddhist philosophy was no longer an active presence in South India at the time of Veṅkaṭanātha, his interest in it must be due to factors other than his polemical agenda. Perhaps, his project of enlarging Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta made him confront outsiders such as Buddhist thinkers and his intellectual interest in philosophy made him engage in a genuine confrontation with them. KEYWORDS Veṅkaṭanātha/Vedānta Deśika, Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, textual reuse, Dharmakīrti, Buddhist epistemology, Vaibhāṣika, Prakrit, Sanskrit philosophy Veṅkaṭanātha (also known as Vedānta Deśika, traditional dates: 1269–13701) was a polymath who wrote philosophical as well as religious and poetical works in several languages (Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhraṃśa, Maṇipravāḷa and Tamil). He constitutes a turning point in the history of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, being an intel- lectual figure who shaped this current as well as Śrī Vaiṣṇavism in general.