“The Diamond Needle”: The Buddhist Roots of a Brāhmaṇic Text

The similarity between the contents of the “Vajrasūcika-upaniṣad” and the “Āpta-vajrasūcī-upaniṣad” (both ascribed to Śaṃkara, 9th century) and that of the “Vajrasūcī” (ascribed to the Buddhist thinker Aśvaghoṣa, 2nd century) demonstrates that the dividing line between the Buddhist and Brāhmaṇic written cultures were not entirely impermeable. These texts describe what makes one a true brāhmaṇa. Aśvaghoṣa’s authorship of the “Vajrasūcī” is proved by three facts: (1) tradition unambiguously ascribing its authorship to him, (2) the worship formula in the maṅgala-śloka is addressed to Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī and (3) some stylistic features bring this treatise together with the style of early Mahāyāna texts (Madhyamaka school). At the same time, the treatise is composed within pure Brāhmaṇic conceptual field, it contains neither mentions nor allusions to Buddhist notions, but its main thesis is that the concept of brahminhood is internally contradictory. Besides, different authoritative texts give conflicting expositions of qualities that make one a brāhmaṇa. Nevertheless, this text was accepted by Brāhmaṇic school of Advaita Vedānta and ascribed to Śaṃkara, and its main thesis was reformulated as the idea that it is only knowledge of Ātman that makes one a true brāhmaṇa.