Why Spirituality Should Welcome Intellectuals, Philosophers and Radicals ?
Abstract: The general belief is that there is no space for Intellectuals, Philosophers or Radicals to express themselves, their revolutionary ideas in a religious arena. However certain religious traditions welcome such people. i.e. Buddhism has produced such extraordinary philosophers in the past. And they represent themselves as free thinkers within this tradition. The freedom and the depth they held attracted both wise as well as enemies. Even today, Hinayana Buddhists do not accept the teachings of great philosophers such as Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu and Asanga. This story is about the greatest non-dualist who ever appeared on the earth, Nagarjunapada. Mahayanists (and the practitioners of this lineage) consider Nagarjunapada as the second Buddha whose wisdom and intellect is more or less comparable to Gautham Buddha's. In my opinion, Gautham Buddha cannot be understood without studying all three yanas in Buddhism. In Hinayana , Buddha is venerated as a supreme ...