“Desire for sense objects is the root of suffering, and the wise abandon it through discrimination.”
— Adi Shankara[commonly attributed] Vivekachudamani, discourse on dispassion (vairagya), verses cited in later Advaita manuals; standard formulation
Commentary
This teaching identifies craving for sensory objects as the root of suffering and recommends discrimination, viveka, as the means of overcoming it. The sequence of desire, attachment, and sorrow reflects a widely shared Indian analysis of suffering, which Shankara integrated into his account of ignorance and renunciation. Sengaku Mayeda's study of the Vivekachudamani connects the discourse on dispassion with the disciplinary life of the monastic community. Eliot Deutsch argues that discrimination between the real and the apparent is the cognitive basis of renunciation in Advaita, so that the abandonment of desire follows from knowledge. Richard King notes the affinity with Buddhist analyses of craving, which Shankara's school both borrowed from and opposed. Paul Hacker observes that the ethical vocabulary of these passages is closer to the moral literature of the Dharma tradition than to the metaphysical treatises. The teaching is a clear expression of the school's ascetic ethic and is attributed to Shankara through the Vivekachudamani.
Commentary
This teaching identifies craving for sensory objects as the root of suffering and recommends discrimination, viveka, as the means of overcoming it. The sequence of desire, attachment, and sorrow reflects a widely shared Indian analysis of suffering, which Shankara integrated into his account of ignorance and renunciation. Sengaku Mayeda's study of the Vivekachudamani connects the discourse on dispassion with the disciplinary life of the monastic community. Eliot Deutsch argues that discrimination between the real and the apparent is the cognitive basis of renunciation in Advaita, so that the abandonment of desire follows from knowledge. Richard King notes the affinity with Buddhist analyses of craving, which Shankara's school both borrowed from and opposed. Paul Hacker observes that the ethical vocabulary of these passages is closer to the moral literature of the Dharma tradition than to the metaphysical treatises. The teaching is a clear expression of the school's ascetic ethic and is attributed to Shankara through the Vivekachudamani.