The Buddhist scriptures were completely distorted by the time of Sage Sankara.+

Buddhists and Jains did not believe in the Vedic positions, did not accept the scriptures. Hence, Sage Sankara had to meet their objections also.  Biographical anecdotes about his persecution of Jains and Buddhists or of his challenges to self-immolation for the loser of a debate are all foolish tales fabricated after his lifetime either by his own followers who took him to be a religious propagator but not as a  philosopher or by the dualistic cult. 

The religious pundits of the Adavitic sect relate boastfully pseudo-historical stories of how Sage Sankara's school put down, persecuted end exterminated the Buddhists, as though this was something to be proud of. However, these stories are either exaggerations or false stories fabricated by pundits or priestcraft. The religious pundits are mere followers of the religion, never having understood the depth of Advaitic philosophy. Sage  Sankara gave religion and scholasticism and yoga no less than philosophy, to the world. 

His commentary on Manduka Upanishad is pure philosophy, but many of his other books are presented from a religious standpoint to help those who cannot rise up to philosophy.  North India is the home of mysticism and deification and South India of keen rational truth.

Sage Sankara had only four fully trained disciples, although he advised some kings. His doctrines spread after his lifetime. His books were dictated to assistants as he traveled. So, only a few were capable of understanding his philosophy. 

Sage Sankara always traveled and he never lived in a monastery. He simply instructed his disciples to build one here and there " and then left because he was busy spreading his doctrines. 

Religious people who followed  Sage Sankara are mere followers of the orthodoxy, never having understood the Advaitic Gnana are religious scholars, not Gnanis, and they are unable to grasp the Advaitic wisdom. 

Sage Sankara says the seeker must first know what is before him. If he cannot know that, what else can he know or understand? If he gives up the external world in his inquiry, he cannot get the whole truth. 

Some thinkers hold views of Maya which are entirely incorrect and untenable. They do not know Sankara's Upanishad Bashyas, but only the Brahma Sutra Bashya.  The followers of Sri Sankara have constituted a religious sect. Thus, all movements ultimately degenerate. 

In the commentary to "Brahma Sutras Sage Sankara says ~ ." "The highest beatitude is not to be attained by Yoga." (Sacred Books of East Series page 298 Vol.1) 

  And he also says Samadhi is the same as sleep (p.312).

~ This clearly indicates that yoga is not the means to self-realization.  And yogis Samadhi is not nondualistic wisdom.

Sage Sankara's commentary to Brahma Sutras (Chap.3.4.50) shows that the Gnani "should pass through life", not run away from life, and should take a middle course between seeking worldly honor and worldly abasement. 

Sage Sankara varied his practical advice and doctrinal teaching according to the people he was amongst. He never advised them to give up their particular religion or beliefs or metaphysics completely; he only told them to give up the worst features of abuse: at the same time, he showed just one step forward towards the truth.  Sage Sankara was extremely precise and careful in his choice of words. 

Sage Sankara did more than write books or initiate Sanyasins: He brought India into unity as a nation. He advised the mass: Worship what they wish, remain in their particular religion but remember they are also part of a larger whole. 

Few Pundits have caught the spirit; they are merely fond of his words.  Sage  Sankara’s spirit is that of an appeal to reason, with scripture dragged in as second and lesser support afterward. 

Sage Sankara gave religious, rituals, and dogmatic instruction to the mass but pure philosophy only to the few who could rise to it. Hence, the interpretation of his writings by commentators is often confusing because they mix up the two viewpoints. Thus, they may assert that ritual is a means of realizing Brahman, which is absurd. 

Centuries have passed since  Sage Sankara appeared, yet it is very hard to find his wisdom understood anywhere in the world today. It is because so few could rise to his level. Hence, dualistic cults and devotional sects came into existence prospered. 

It may not have been possible for him to have written so many books during such a short term of existence of 32 years. The truth is that he wrote very few books. Those actually written by him were Commentaries on Brahma Sutras and the Upanishads and on the Gita. All other books ascribed to him were not written down by his own hand. They are merely collections of notes recorded by his disciples from his sayings, talk, and discussions. 

Sage Sankara wrote his commentaries on Manduka Upanishad first, and then as this revealed that he thoroughly understood the subject, his gurus requested him to write the commentary on Badarayana's Brahma Sutras, which was a popular theological work universally studied by Advaitins. That is why his commentary is written from a lower dualistic point, for those who cannot rise higher, save that here and there Sage  Sankara occasionally has strewn a few truly Advaitic sentences. 

Since, Hinduism is the mixer of many ideologies one gets confused which is true philosophy because the dual, non-dual and qualified non-dual philosophies all claim that they are based on Vedas.  And many believe the inherited beliefs of their forefathers are pure and sacred without verifying the facts. All rituals and individualized gods are added from time to time.  Only when one tries to go deeper into the annals of history one will be able to find that all the present days’ beliefs and rituals are not part of the Santana Dharma or Vedic religion. 

 It is necessary for the seeker to do his homework, and verify the validity of all the claims, rather than blindly believe, what others expound as knowledge, till, the uncontradicted truth is obtained.

The seeker must have the courage of Buddha to accept the truth and reject the untruth. Since Buddha rejected religion, the idea of god, and scriptures, therefore, it is evident that he has gone through every aspect and verified and found them to be inadequate and useless for the pursuit of truth.

Even Buddhism is mixed up with regional culture and traditions of the local religion, wherever it existed. Thus to get the full essence of Buddhism is very difficult.

The Buddhist scriptures were completely distorted by the time of Sage  Sankara. Sage  Sankara had to criticize the Buddhist literature prevailing then as the Buddhists themselves were confused as to what Shunyata is. Vasubandhu and his disciple Dignaga (the latter lived about a couple of centuries before Sage Sankara) could not retain the original teachings of the Bhagvan  Buddha.

At first, Vasubandhu did not agree with his half-brother Asanga and wrote one book on Abhidharma and, later on, he went to the side of Asanga and wrote a second book, where? he opposed his own earlier views on Abhidharma. Sage Sri, Sankara? had to criticize Buddhist knowledge? and literature of his time as he wanted to bring to us back the Pure Vedantic knowledge through his work on the Prasthanatraya. That is why there is a reference to the writing of Dharmakirti in Sutrabashya.

There is another aspect that in -  Vishnu Purana also says that Lord Buddha created confusion. In Sarnath, he first taught about the basic Moral code. He talked about Anatma. Then? two decades later he taught the concept of Shunyata and? the tenets of Mahayana Buddhism.? Despite Nagarjuna's telling that Shunyata is not Nihilism and that Parajanaparamita also mentioning about the Shunyata after one leaves? The five? skandhas, there are and there will always be people who will go on calling Buddha's philosophy as Nihilism. About the origin of Tantric Buddhism also? there are controversies.

Hindus hold Bhagvan Buddha being an Avatara of Lord Vishnu. It seems that in many Buddha viharas, probably more in Sri Lanka, there are statues of Lord Vishnu, which are looked at reverentially. by the Buddhists. Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa also says that there is no doubt about Bhagavan  Buddha being an Avatara of Lord Vishnu. Swami Vivekananda tells us about him very superlatively. Dr. Radhakrishnan says that he was a reformer of Hinduism. Personally, I worship him as the Avatara of Lord Vishnu.

Religion, yoga, and scriptures are for the ignorant masses, who wholly accept the material world as it presents itself. Wisdom is for those who have begun to realize that things are not what they seem.:~Santthosh Kumaar 

Remember:~

Once Buddha died, great philosophical schools arose. It had never happened in the whole world as it happened in India after Buddha. The man who for his whole life was against philosophy and philosophizing became the source of the greatest philosophical endeavor ever. Thirty-six schools of philosophy were born when Buddha died. And the people that he had always condemned all gathered together to philosophize about him.

And see the beauty, the irony of it all! They started philosophizing about why Buddha kept silent.

Why he did not say anything about the beyond: that became their philosophy! They started talking about why he kept silent about the beyond. And there were as many answers as possible.

Somebody said, "Because there is no beyond." Now one philosophy has taken roots. Another said, "The beyond is, but it is inexpressible. That's why he kept silent." Now another school, and so on and so forth.

Even the silence of Buddha became a problem, and people started discussing the silence. Nobody tried to become silent; people started talking ABOUT the silence.

Beware of this trap, the mind is very cunning. If I say something about meditation, I am saying it so that you can meditate. But you start thinking about meditation, what meditation is. "How many kinds of meditation are there in existence? What is the difference between them? Why are they antagonistic to each other?

And then you can go on ad infinitum, and there will not be any time when you will ever meditate.

You will become more and more confused. You will become so confused finally that you will not know how to start meditation. because there are so many directions opening. Where to go? What to choose? You will simply be paralyzed.

The mind always does that. And only a few people who are really alert are capable of getting out of these traps of the mind. The mind is a great philosopher. And life is not a philosophy, life is a reality.

Philosophy is an escape from reality; philosophy means thinking. Life is - there is no question of thought. You can simply jump into it.

OSHO

Unio Mystica Volume 1,

chapter 3: Crying For The Light