Abstract

Until recently, the religious affiliation of the major Kashmirian medieval philosopher Śaṅkaranandana was a matter of scholarly debate: he was variously suspected of being a Buddhist apostate who ended up embracing Śaivism; a Śaiva who eventually converted to Buddhism; a Buddhist who, without renouncing his faith, was profoundly influenced by Śaiva ideas and terminology; or even a Śaiva who composed some Buddhist works while remaining Śaiva. Abhinavagupta’s attitude towards Śaṅkaranandana played no small role in sparking such suspicions, since the famous Śaiva polymath, who often quotes from Śaṅkaranandana’s works, also alludes to him in a somewhat obscure passage that several modern scholars have read as praising the “intuition” that enabled Śaṅkaranandana to correctly understand the nature of consciousness as it is expounded in Śaiva nondualistic literature. Vincent Eltschinger’s recent examination of unpublished Sanskrit manuscript sources has shown that in fact Śaṅkaranandana’s known works were all unambiguously Buddhist. What of Abhinavagupta’s remark then? Was the Śaiva openly professing his admiration for the philosophical acumen of a Buddhist rival, in a striking illustration of the complex relationship – of both competition and influence – between Kashmirian Śaiva authors and their Buddhist counterparts? Or should we suspect that Abhinavagupta was being sarcastic and ironically congratulated Śaṅkaranandana on managing to see the blindly obvious despite his Buddhist faith? The present paper proposes to settle this issue by reading this much discussed statement in Abhinavagupta’s Īśvarapratyabhijñāvivṛtivimarśinī in light of another passage of the same text bearing on the Buddhist philosopher Dharmakīrti. Text available here: https://paris3.academia.edu/IsabelleRati%C3%A9.