Jane Roberts Reception and influence When was "The Nature of Personal Reality, A seth book" published? The title jacket of "The Nature of Personal Reality, A Seth Book," published in 1994 (Amber-Allen/New World Library), Which notable people had expressed the effect of seth material upon their own awakening? the most notable thinkers and writers within the movement. Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shakti Gawain, Dan Millman, Louise Hay, Who was Catherine L. Albanese? professor of religious history at the University of Chicago, What was the idea behind the central focus of the Seth material? for each individual: "you create your own reality." ( Seth filled the role of guide for what related concepts? concepts of reincarnation, karma, free will, ancient metaphysical wisdom, and "Christ consciousness."
Do similarities exist between Seth's ideas and other various eastern doctrines?
Besides concepts of reincarnation, do similarities exist between Seth's ideas and other various eastern doctrines?
Seth's effect upon New Age thinkers has been profound. The title jacket of "The Nature of Personal Reality, A Seth Book," published in 1994 (Amber-Allen/New World Library), contains testimonials from some of the most notable thinkers and writers within the movement. Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shakti Gawain, Dan Millman, Louise Hay, Richard Bach, and others express the effect the Seth Material had upon their own awakening. In words similar to Williamson's they state: "Seth was one of my first metaphysical teachers. He remains a constant source of knowledge and inspiration in my life." Catherine L. Albanese, professor of religious history at the University of Chicago, stated that in the 1970s the Seth Material "launched an era of nationwide awareness" of the channeling trend. She believes it contributed to the "self-identity of an emergent New Age movement and also augment[ed] its ranks."  John P. Newport, in his study of the impact of New Age beliefs on contemporary culture, described the central focus of the Seth material as the idea that, for each individual: "you create your own reality." (Briefly summarized, our beliefs generate emotions which trigger our memories and organize our associations. Eventually those beliefs become manifested in our physical lives and health.) Newport wrote that this foundational concept of the New Age movement was first developed in the "Seth Material." Historian Robert C. Fuller, a professor of religious studies at Bradley University, wrote that Seth filled the role of guide for what Fuller called "unchurched American spirituality," related to concepts of reincarnation, karma, free will, ancient metaphysical wisdom, and "Christ consciousness."  Some writers noted, "Husband Robert Butts stated that similarities exist between Seth's ideas and those of various religious, philosophical, and mystical doctrines from the Near, Middle, or Far East... and we've done a little reading on Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, and Taoism, for example, not to mention subjects like shamanism, voodooism, and obeah."  The late amateur physicist Michael Talbot wrote, "To my great surprise--and slight annoyance--I found that Seth eloquently and lucidly articulated a view of reality that I had arrived at only after great effort and an extensive study of both paranormal phenomena and quantum physics." CANNOTANSWER
"Husband Robert Butts stated that similarities exist between Seth's ideas and those of various religious, philosophical, and mystical doctrines from the Near, Middle, or Far East...
Dorothy Jane Roberts (May 8, 1929 – September 5, 1984) was an American author, poet, psychic, and spirit medium, who channeled an energy personality who called himself "Seth."  Her publication of the Seth texts, known as the Seth Material, established her as one of the preeminent figures in the world of paranormal phenomena.

Early life and career
Roberts was born in Albany, New York and grew up in nearby Saratoga Springs, New York. Her parents, Delmer Hubbell Roberts and Marie Burdo, divorced when she was two years old. With her only child, the young Marie then returned to her own parents, and the home that the family had rented for a number of years: half of a double dwelling in a poor neighborhood. Marie had begun experiencing the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis by 1932 but worked as much as possible. Eventually, Roberts' grandfather, Joseph Burdo, with whom she shared a deep mystical identification, was unable to support two extra people, and the family had to rely upon public assistance. Roberts' grandmother was killed in an automobile accident in 1936.

The next year, her grandfather moved out of the house. By then Marie was partially incapacitated, and the Welfare Department began to furnish mother and daughter with occasional and often unreliable domestic help. When Marie became a bedridden invalid, it was Jane's responsibility to take care of her. This included cooking, cleaning, bringing her the bedpan, and getting up in the middle of the night to refuel the stove. Her embittered mother would tell Jane she was going to turn on the gas jets in the middle of the night and kill them both. When her mother attempted suicide for about the fifth time, she took sleeping pills and was in the hospital. Jane wrote that she went to the welfare worker and said, 'I can't take it anymore. I've just got to leave.'" Over and over Marie told Jane she was no good, that the daughter's birth had caused the mother's illness, and that she was disowned and considered no longer her daughter.

The persistent psychological abuse and mistreatment by her mother resulted in the young girl's deep fear of abandonment. Such situations increased Jane's sense of not being safe, yet also reinforced feelings of independence, for she did not have to feel as dependent upon Marie as she might otherwise.

Well before she was 10 years old Jane had developed persistent symptoms of colitis. By her early teens, she had an overactive thyroid gland. Her vision was poor; she required very strong glasses (which she seldom wore). For most of 1940 and half of 1941, Jane was in a strictly-run Catholic orphanage in Troy, NY while her mother was hospitalized in another city for treatment of her arthritis. Priests came to the house regularly and support was offered to the fatherless family. Jane's initial bonding to the cultural beliefs of religion was very strong to make up for the lack of a loving, nurturing family. For a time she was left between belief systems.

In the summer of 1945, when she was 16 years old, Jane began working at a variety store. It was her first job. That fall she continued on the job after school hours and on an occasional Saturday. After attending public schools she went to Skidmore College from 1947 to 1950 on a poetry scholarship. Roberts' grandfather died when she was age 19. It was a time of severe shock for her. She began to substitute scientific world view for religious belief.

At that time Jane was dating Walt Zeh, a long-time Saratoga Springs friend. Together they went to the west coast by motorcycle to see Jane's father who had also come from a broken home. Jane then married Walt and continued to write while taking a variety of other jobs, including society editor for the Saratoga newspaper, and as a supervisor in a radio factory. Walt and Jane lived together for three years. It was then in February 1954 while "cutting up, dancing, and raisin' hell at a party," that Jane first met the former commercial artist Robert Fabian Butts, Jr. (June 20, 1919 - May 26, 2008).  The fourth time they met at another party and Jane 'just looked at him and said, "Look, I'm leaving Walt, and I'm going to live by myself or I'm going to live with you, so just let me know."'" Eventually the two left town together and Jane filed for divorce. Jane and Rob married on December 27, 1954 at the home of his parents in Sayre, PA.

Roberts wrote in a variety of genres: poetry, short stories, children's literature, nonfiction, science fiction, and fantasy, and novels. She was the only woman invited to the first science-fiction writer's conference in 1956 in Milford, PA.

The couple moved to Elmira, NY, in 1960, to find steady part-time work – Rob in the local greeting card company, Jane in an art gallery. Now in her 30s, she and her husband began to record what she said were messages from a personality named "Seth," and she wrote several books about the experience.

Seth Material

On a September evening in 1963, Roberts sat down at her table to work on poetry; Butts was in his back-room studio, painting. "It was very domestic, very normal, very unpsychedelic," she would later remember. And then "Between one normal minute and the next, a fantastic avalanche of radical, new ideas burst into my head with tremendous force ... It was as if the physical world were really tissue-paper-thin, hiding infinite dimensions of reality, and I was flung through the tissue paper with a huge ripping sound." When she "came to," Roberts found herself scrawling the title of this batch of notes: The Physical Universe as Idea Construction.

Before this, though her fiction typically dealt with such themes as clairvoyance and reincarnation, intellectually neither she nor Butts believed in extrasensory abilities. Yet soon after this episode, Roberts suddenly began recalling her dreams, including two that were precognitive. Their curiosity piqued, the couple decided to investigate further, and she managed to land a contract with a New York publisher for a do-it-yourself book on extra-sensory perception.

In late 1963, Roberts and Butts started experimenting with a Ouija board as part of Roberts' research for the book. According to Roberts and Butts, on December 2, 1963, they began to receive coherent messages from a male personality who eventually identified himself as Seth.  Soon after, Roberts reported that she was hearing the messages in her head. The first seven sessions were entirely with the Ouija board. The three-hour session on the evening of  Jan. 2, 1964 was the first where she began to dictate the messages instead of using the Ouija board.  For a while, she still opened her sessions with the board, but finally abandoned it after the 27th session on Feb. 19, 1964.

Roberts described the process of writing the Seth books as entering a trance state. She said Seth would assume control of her body and speak through her, while her husband wrote down the words she spoke.  They referred to such episodes as "readings" or "sessions."  The 26th session on Feb. 18, 1964, was the first held in the presence of another person—a friend.

On Jan. 17, 1964, Roberts channeled an allegedly recently deceased woman who told Butts that his and his wife's work with Seth was a life-time project, that they would publish his manuscripts, and help spread his ideas. At the 27th session Seth also told the couple how to rearrange the furniture in their apartment which would better suit their energies. Despite feelings of disbelief toward both messages, the couple somewhat reluctantly agreed.  Two days afterward they heard from a psychologist interested in reincarnation to whom they had written three weeks earlier with some session copies enclosed.   The psychologist told them that the very fluency of the material suggested that it might come from Roberts' subconscious, though it was impossible to tell.  He also cautioned that in some circumstances, amateur mediumship could lead to mental problems.

The letter upset her but helped her deal with her doubts. She felt there were no "alarming changes" in her personality.  "I was doing twice the creative work I had done earlier.  I was satisfied with the quality of the Seth Material; it was far superior to anything I could do on my own.  If nothing else, I thought the sessions presented a way of making deeply unconscious knowledge available on a consistent basis."
"Because we were so innocent about psychic literature, we weren't hampered by superstitious fears about such [psychic] phenomena.  I didn't believe in gods or demons, so I didn't fear them.  I wanted to learn.  Rob and I had discovered a whole new world together, and we were going to explore it."

Roberts assumed Seth was a subconscious fantasy, personified because she did not believe in spirits or life after death.  She monitored her personality characteristics and went to a psychologist. But she felt that "Seth seemed far more mature and well-balanced than the psychologist, so finally I stopped worrying. This is not to say the experience did not cause certain strains and stresses that could accompany any worthwhile venture in an entirely new field."

Roberts also purportedly channeled the world views of several other people, including the philosopher William James, Rembrandt, and the Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne, through a process she described as using a typewriter to write "automatically."

For 21 years until Roberts' death in 1984 (with a one-year hiatus due to her final illness), Roberts held more than 1500 regular or private "ESP class" trance sessions in which she spoke on behalf of Seth. Butts served as the stenographer, taking the messages down in shorthand he had made up,  having others on occasion make recording of some sessions. The messages from Seth channeled through Roberts consisted mostly of monologues on a wide variety of topics. They were published by Prentice-Hall under the collective title Seth Material.

Over the years, hundreds of people witnessed Roberts channeling "Seth". Some went to the ESP classes Roberts held (Tuesday and some Thursday nights,  Sept. 1967 – Feb. 1975) for an evening, others attended for longer periods. (By this time Jane had given up her gallery work, and was teaching nursery school during part of this time.) Outside of the ESP class structure, Roberts gave many personal Seth sessions to various individuals who had written her, asking for help. She never charged for those sessions; however, at some point, she did charge $2.50 to $3.50 per ESP class of 5 to 40 people. When the books began to sell in sufficient numbers, she dropped that fee.  Book sessions were almost always private, held on Monday and Wednesday evenings without witnesses from 1967 through 1982 (except for Tues and Thurs from Aug. to Nov. 1981).

The material through 1969 was published in summary form in The Seth Material, written by Roberts from the output of the channeling sessions. Beginning in January 1970, Roberts wrote books which she described as dictated by Seth.  Roberts claimed no authorship of these books beyond her role as a medium. This series of "Seth books" totaled ten volumes.  The last two books appear to be incomplete due to Roberts' illness.  Butts contributed extensive footnotes, appendices, and other comments to all the Seth books, and thus was a co-author on all of them.  These additions describe what was going on in Roberts' and his life at the time of the various sessions, annotated in light of contemporary beliefs and materials he and Roberts were reading, described excerpts from some fan mail and letters from professionals commenting on Seth's material about their fields, and, especially later, provided insight as to the many steps of production of multiple books with the publisher. By February 1982 they were still receiving "from 30 to 50 letters and packages a week" from readers of their various books.

Some of Roberts' earlier and later poetry was occasionally included to show how she had touched upon some of Seth's concepts. Roberts also wrote The Oversoul Seven trilogy to explore via fiction some of Seth's teachings on the concepts of reincarnation and oversouls.

According to Roberts, Seth described himself as an "energy personality essence no longer focused in physical matter," and was independent of Roberts' subconscious.  Roberts initially expressed skepticism as to Seth's origins, wondering if he was a part of her own personality. While speaking as Seth, Roberts at times appeared stern, jovial, or professorial. "His" voice was deeper and more masculine sounding than Jane's and was possessed of a distinct, although not identifiable, accent. Unlike the psychic Edgar Cayce, whose syntax when speaking in trance was antiquated and convoluted, Roberts' syntax and sentence structures were modern and clear when speaking as Seth. Later books continued to develop but did not contradict the material introduced in earlier works.  Some "Practice Elements" were even included on how a  few of the concepts could be practically experienced.

A few contemporary world events were commented upon, such as the Jonestown Guyana deaths and the Three Mile Island accident.

Seth also provided an alternative creation myth to that of the Big Bang or Intelligent Design.

Roberts' father died in November 1971 at the age of 68; her mother died six months later at the same age. In early 1982 Roberts spent a month in the hospital for severely underactive thyroid gland, protruding eyes and double vision, an almost total hearing loss, a slight anemia, budding bedsores—and a hospital-caused staph infection.  She recovered to an extent, but died two and a half years later in 1984, having been bedridden with severe arthritis-like her mother—for the final year and a half of her life. Roberts had spent 504 consecutive days in a hospital in Elmira, N.Y. The immediate causes of her death were a combination of protein depletion, osteomyelitis, and soft-tissue infections.  These conditions arose out of her long-standing rheumatoid arthritis. (Butts believed for some 15 years that in Roberts' case, at least, the young girl's psychological conditioning was far more important—far more damaging, in those terms—than any physical tendency to inherit the disease.) Roberts was cremated the next day, in a process, she and Butts had agreed upon several years earlier.

After Roberts' death, recorded in The Way Toward Health (1997), Butts continued his work as a guardian of the Seth texts and continued to supervise the publication of some of the remaining material, including The Early Sessions, making sure all of the recordings, manuscripts, notes, and drawings would be given to the Yale Library. Butts remarried, and his second wife, Laurel Lee Davies, supported his work during the more than 20 years they were together and helped answer mail and proofread manuscripts. Butts died of cancer on May 26, 2008. Jane Roberts Butts and Robert F. Butts Jr. are interred together in the Wayne County, NY Furnaceville cemetery; however, there is another gravestone with their names on it in the Sunnyside cemetery in Tunkhannock, PA. A number of groups have compiled anthologies of quotes from Seth, summarized sections of his teachings, issued copies of Seth sessions on audio tape, and further relayed the material via classes and conventions.

Reception and influence
Seth's effect upon New Age thinkers has been profound. The title jacket of "The Nature of Personal Reality, A Seth Book," republished in 1994 (Amber-Allen/New World Library), contains testimonials from some of the most notable thinkers and writers within the movement. Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Shakti Gawain, Dan Millman, Louise Hay, Richard Bach, and others express the effect the Seth Material had upon their own awakening. In words similar to Williamson's they state: "Seth was one of my first metaphysical teachers. He remains a constant source of knowledge and inspiration in my life." Catherine L. Albanese, professor of religious history at the University of Chicago, stated that in the 1970s the Seth Material "launched an era of nationwide awareness" of the channeling trend.  She believes it contributed to the "self-identity of an emergent New Age movement and also augment[ed] its ranks."

John P. Newport, in his study of the impact of New Age beliefs on contemporary culture, described the central focus of the Seth material as the idea that for each individual: "you create your own reality." (Briefly summarized, our beliefs generate emotions that trigger our memories and organize our associations.  Eventually, those beliefs become manifested in our physical lives and health.) Newport wrote that this foundational concept of the New Age movement was first developed in the "Seth Material." Historian Robert C. Fuller, a professor of religious studies at Bradley University, wrote that Seth filled the role of guide for what Fuller called "unchurched American spirituality," related to concepts of reincarnation, karma, free will, ancient metaphysical wisdom, and "Christ consciousness."

Some writers noted, "Husband Robert Butts stated that similarities exist between Seth's ideas and those of various religious, philosophical, and mystical doctrines from the Near, Middle, or Far East… and we've done a little reading on Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen, and Taoism, for example, not to mention subjects like shamanism, voodooism, and obeah."

New Age writer Michael Talbot wrote, "To my great surprise—and slight annoyance—I found that Seth eloquently and lucidly articulated a view of reality that I had arrived at only after great effort and an extensive study of both paranormal phenomena and quantum physics."

The Yale University Library Manuscripts and Archives maintains a collection entitled Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090), which documents the career and personal life of Jane Roberts, including journals, poetry, correspondence, audio, and video recordings, and other materials donated after her death by Roberts' husband and other individuals and organizations. Yale University's collection entitled "Jane Roberts papers" occupies 164.08 linear feet of shelf space and is contained in 498 boxes.

Criticism
Roberts and the Seth Material have attracted critiques from outside the paranormal community. The poet Charles Upton, in his collection of essays titled The System of Antichrist, posited that Roberts multiplied the self due to a fear of death.  His opinion was that the Seth texts are based on a misunderstanding of both Christianity and of Eastern religions.

Professor of psychology and noted critic of parapsychology James E. Alcock opined, "In light of all this, the Seth materials must surely be viewed as less than ordinary. There certainly was the time and talent for fraud to play a role, but we cannot discriminate between that possibility and the possibility of unconscious production—at any rate, given these circumstances, there seems little need to consider the involvement of any supernatural agency."

Some religious groups have warned their members about the dangers and deceptions of reading channeled messages from Roberts and others. John MacArthur, host of a syndicated Christian talk show, considers The Seth Material to be "a book entirely written by a demon.", while the New Age Urantia Foundation considers the book evidence for "Devil possession." Videos such as Jane Roberts' Seth Speaks is Anti-Catholic Hate Books – Allowed By The Media claimed that Seth was "a demon from hell contacted through a ouija board."

Science writer Karen Stollznow has written that much of Roberts work was "criticized for being a rip-off of Christian and
Eastern philosophy. It comes as no surprise that Seth influenced such authors as Deepak Chopra and Louise Hay."

Since Roberts' death, others have claimed to channel Seth. In the introduction to Seth's first dictated book, Seth Speaks, "he" says, "communications will come exclusively through Ruburt [Seth's name for Jane] at all times, to protect the integrity of the material." In The Seth Material, Jane Roberts wrote: "Several people have told me that Seth communicated with them through automatic writing, but Seth denies any such contacts." At least one person has claimed more recently to channel Roberts.

Complete writings 

Books:

 Roberts, Jane (1966).  How To Develop Your ESP Power.  Publisher:  Federick Fell.  (Later retitled and reprinted as The Coming of Seth.)  .
 Roberts, Jane (1970). The Seth Material. Reprinted, 2001 by New Awareness Network.   .
 Roberts, Jane (1972).  Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul. Reprinted 1994 by Amber-Allen Publishing.  .
 Roberts, Jane (1974). The Nature of Personal Reality.  Prentice-Hall.  Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing. .
 Roberts, Jane (1975).  Adventures in Consciousness:  An Introduction to Aspect Psychology.  Prentice-Hall.  .
 Roberts, Jane (1975).  Dialogues of the Soul and Mortal Self in Time.  Prentice-Hall.  .  Poetry.
 Roberts, Jane (1976).  Psychic Politics:  An Aspect Psychology Book.  Prentice-Hall.  .
 Roberts, Jane (1977). The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 1. Prentice-Hall.  Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing.  . 
 Roberts, Jane (1979). The "Unknown" Reality Vol. 2. Prentice-Hall.  Reprinted 1997, Amber-Allen Publishing.   .
 Roberts, Jane (1977).  The World View of Paul Cézanne:  A Psychic Interpretation.  Prentice-Hall.  .
 Roberts, Jane (1978).  The Afterdeath Journal of An American Philosopher:  The World View of William James.  Prentice-Hall.  .
Roberts, Jane  (1979).  Emir's Education in the Proper Use of Magical Powers.  Prentice-Hall.  .  Children's literature.
 Roberts, Jane (1979). The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression.  Prentice-Hall. Reprinted 1996, Amber-Allen Publishing.   .
 Roberts, Jane (1981). The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events.  Prentice-Hall, .  Reprinted 1994, Amber-Allen Publishing, .
Roberts, Jane (1995). The Oversoul Seven Trilogy.  Amber-Allen Publishing.  .  Edition: Paperback; May 1, 1995 (originally published as three separate books: The Education of Oversoul 7 (1973); The Further Education of Oversoul Seven (1979); Oversoul Seven and the Museum of Time (1984)).
Roberts, Jane (1981). The God of Jane: A Psychic Manifesto.  Prentice-Hall.  .  Reprinted 2000, Moment Point Press.  .
 Roberts, Jane (1982).  If We Live Again, Or, Public Magic and Private Love.  Prentice-Hall.  .  Poetry.
 Roberts, Jane (1986).  Dreams, Evolution and Value Fulfillment.  Prentice-Hall, two volumes,  and .
 Roberts, Jane (1986).  Seth, Dreams and Projections of Consciousness.  Stillpoint Publishing.
 (1993).  A Seth Reader.  Vernal Equinox Press.  Compendium edited by Richard Roberts.  .
 Roberts, Jane (1995).  The Magical Approach : Seth Speaks About the Art of Creative Living.  Amber-Allen Publishing.  .
Roberts, Jane (1997).  The Way Toward Health.  Robert F. Butts (Foreword), Amber-Allen Publishing.  .
 Roberts, Jane (2006).  The World View of Rembrandt.  New Awareness Network.  .
 Roberts, Jane (1997 and after).  The Early Sessions (Sessions 1 through 510 of the Seth Material).  New Awareness Network.  Edited by Robert Butts.  Nine volumes.  .
 Roberts, Jane (2003).  The Personal Sessions.  New Awareness Network.  Deleted session material.  Seven volumes.  .
Roberts. Jane.  The Early Class Sessions.  New Awareness Network.  Four volumes.

Short Stories and novellas:
Roberts, Jane. "Prayer of a Wiser People" in Profile, 1950. 
Roberts, Jane. "The Red Wagon" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1956 (republished 1993, Reality Change Magazine; anthologized in 1975, Ladies of Fantasy).
Roberts, Jane. "The Canvas Pyramid" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1957 (French edition, 1958).
Roberts, Jane. "First Communion" in Fantastic Universe, 1957. 
Roberts, Jane. "The Chestnut Beads" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1957 (French edition, 1958; anthologized in Triple W: Witches, Warlocks and Werewolves, 1963).
Roberts, Jane. "The Bundu" (novella, sequel to "The Chestnut Beads") in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958. 
Roberts, Jane. "A Demon at Devotions" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1958 (reprinted in Reality Change Magazine, Winter 1994).
Roberts, Jane. "Nightmare" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1959. 
Roberts, Jane. "Impasse" in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1959 (Spanish anthology edition ca. 1960).
Roberts, Jane. "Three Times Around" in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1964 (anthologized in Earth Invaded, 1982). 
Roberts, Jane. "The Big Freeze" in Dude, 1965 (reprinted in Reality Change Magazine, Summer 1994).
Roberts, Jane. "The Mission," purchased by Topper magazine in August 1965.  (Publication not yet confirmed.)

Poetry Submissions:

"Time" in The Saratogian [Saratoga Springs, NY], 1947 Mar 19.
"Enigma" in The Saratogian, 1947 Mar 19.
"Spring Gaiety" in The Saratogian, 1947 Apr 26.
"Rain" in Profile [Skidmore College literary magazine], December, 1947.
"Pretense" in Profile, December, 1947.
"Code" in Profile, December, 1947.
"Skyscrapers" in Profile, December, 1947.
"Introvert" in Profile, May, 1948.
"Poem" in Profile, May, 1948.
"How Public Like a Frog" in Profile, Fall, 1948.
"Motorcycle Ride" in Profile, Fall, 1948.
"Echo" in Profile, May, 1949.
"Death Stood at the Door" in Profile, May, 1949.
"Compromise" in Profile, May, 1949.
"I Shall Die in the Springtime." Patterns. v.1, n.1, October 1954.
"Lyric" Patterns. v.1, n.1, October 1954. 
"Matilda" in Quicksilver, Spring, 1960. 
"It is Springtime, Grandfather." Epos., v.12, n.3, Spring 1961. 
"The Familiar." Bitterroot. v.1, n.2, Winter 1962. 
"I Saw a Hand" in Treasures of Parnassus: Best Poems of 1962, Young Publications, 1962 (reprinted in The Elmira Star-Gazette, 1962).
"My Grandfather's World." Epos. v.14, n.3, Spring 1963. 
"Lullaby." Epos. v.14, n.3, Spring 1963. 
"Beware, October." Epos. v.16, n.1, Fall 1964. 
"This Wrist, This Hand." Epos. v.16, n.4, Summer 1965. 
"The Game." New Lantern Club Review. n.2, Summer 1965. 
"The Flowers." Steppenwolf. n.1, Winter 1965–1966. 
"Vision." Dust/9. v.3, n.1, Fall 1966. 
"Who Whispers Yes." Dust/12. v.3, n.4, Spring 1969.
"Hi, Low, and Psycho."  Excerpts published in Reality Change, Third Quarter, 1996.

See also 

 Stewart Edward White
 Modal realism
 Counterpart theory
 Eternalism
 New Thought

References

External links

 
 Jane Roberts Papers (MS 1090). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. Includes both published and unpublished materials
 Seth Center Index to the Early Sessions
 Seth Learning Center An overview of titles and related audio clips, New Awareness Network
 Nirvikalpa Archive of over 1500 quotations and excerpts from the Seth Material
 'The Problem of Seth's Origin: A Case Study of the Trance-Possession Mediumship of Jane Roberts' by Paul Cunningham
 List of Seth Sessions by Mary Dillman
 Index of Eleven Seth Books by Sue R. Williams
 Seth Talk - by Lynda Madden Dahl

 
1929 births
1984 deaths
20th-century American poets
American children's writers
American motivational writers
Women motivational writers
American psychics
American spiritual mediums
American women poets
Channellers
Consciousness researchers and theorists
Deaths from arthritis
New Age writers
People from Saratoga Springs, New York
Skidmore College alumni
American women children's writers
20th-century American women writers
American women non-fiction writers
Women's page journalists
Advaita Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism share significant similarities. Those similarities have attracted Indian and Western scholars attention, and have also been criticised by concurring schools. The similarities have been interpreted as Buddhist influences on Advaita Vedanta, though some deny such influences, or see them as expressions of the same eternal truth.

Advaita Vedanta (IAST, ; ; literally, not-two) is the oldest extant sub-school of Vedanta – an orthodox (āstika) school of Hindu philosophy and religious practice. Advaita  (philosophies, world views, teachings) is one of the classic Indian paths to spiritual realization. It took shape with the writings of Gaudapada in the 6th century CE.

Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices based on teachings attributed to the Buddha (5th century BCE), but diversified since then in a wide variety of practices and traditions. Buddhism originated in India, from where it spread through much of Asia. It declined in India during the middle ages, after the rise of new forms of Hinduism, including Advaita Vedanta.

Buddhist influences
Advaita Vedānta and various other schools of Hindu philosophy share terminology and numerous doctrines with Mahayana Buddhism. The similarities between Advaita and Buddhism have attracted Indian and Western scholars attention. and have also been criticised by concurring schools. Scholarly views have historically and in modern times ranged from "Advaita and Buddhism are very different", to "Advaita and Buddhism absolutely coincide in their main tenets", to "after purifying Buddhism and Advaita of accidental or historically conditioned accretions, both systems can be safely regarded as an expression of one and the same eternal absolute truth."

Similarities
Advaita Vedānta and various other schools of Hindu philosophy share numerous terminology, doctrines and dialectical techniques with Buddhism. According to a 1918 paper by the Buddhism scholar O. Rozenberg, "a precise differentiation between Brahmanism and Buddhism is impossible to draw." Murti notices that "the ultimate goal" of Vedanta, Samkhya and Mahayana Buddhism is "remarkably similar"; while Advaita Vedanta postulates a "foundational self," "Mahayana Buddhism implicitly affirms the existence of a deep underlying reality behind all empirical manifestations in its conception of sunyata (the indeterminate, the void), or vijnapti-matrata (consciousness only), or tathata (thatness), or dharmata (noumenal reality)."

Both traditions hold that "the empirical world is transitory, a show of appearances", and both admit "degrees of truth or existence". Both traditions emphasize the human need for spiritual liberation (moksha, nirvana, kaivalya), however with different assumptions. According to Frank Whaling, the similarities between Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism are not limited to the terminology and some doctrines, but also includes practice. The monastic practices and monk tradition in Advaita are similar to those found in Buddhism.

Mahayana influences
The influence of Mahayana Buddhism on Advaita Vedānta has been significant. Sharma points out that the early commentators on the Brahma Sutras were all realists, or pantheist realists. He states that they were influenced by Buddhism much like how Upanishadic dialectical techniques significantly influenced Buddhists, particularly during the 5th-6th centuries CE when Buddhist thought developing in the Yogacara school. Eliot Deutsch and Rohit Dalvi state:

Von Glasenap states that there was a mutual influence between Vedanta and Buddhism. Dasgupta and Mohanta suggest that Buddhism and Shankara's Advaita Vedānta represent "different phases of development of the same non-dualistic metaphysics from the Upanishadic period to the time of Sankara."

The influence of Mahayana Buddhism on other religions and philosophies was not limited to Vedānta. Kalupahana notes that the Visuddhimagga of Theravada Buddhism tradition contains "some metaphysical speculations, such as those of the Sarvastivadins, the Sautrantikas, and even the Yogacarins".

Gauḍapāda 
According to Sarma, "to mistake him [Gauḍapāda] to be a hidden or open Buddhist is absurd". The doctrines of Gauḍapāda and Buddhism are totally opposed, states Murti:

Advaitins have traditionally challenged the Buddhist influence thesis.
The influence of Buddhist doctrines on Gauḍapāda has been a vexed question. Modern scholarship generally accepts that Gauḍapāda was influenced by Buddhism, at least in terms of using Buddhist terminology to explain his ideas, but adds that Gauḍapāda was a Vedantin and not a Buddhist. Gauḍapāda adopted some Buddhist terminology and borrowed its doctrines to his Vedantic goals, much like early Buddhism adopted Upanishadic terminology and borrowed its doctrines to Buddhist goals; both used pre-existing concepts and ideas to convey new meanings. While there is shared terminology, the Advaita doctrines of Gaudapada and Buddhism also show differences.

The influence of Mahayana on Advaita Vedanta, states Deutsch, goes back at least to Gauḍapāda, where he "clearly draws from Buddhist philosophical sources for many of his arguments and distinctions and even for the forms and imagery in which these arguments are cast much like how Buddhists had borrowed Vedic terminology.

According to Plott, the influence of Buddhism on Gauḍapāda is undeniable and to be expected. Gauḍapāda, in his Karikas text, uses the leading concepts and wording of Mahayana Buddhist school but, states John Plott, he reformulated them to the Upanishadic themes. Yet, according to Plott, this influence is to be expected:

According to Mahadevan, Gauḍapāda adopted Buddhist terminology and borrowed its doctrines to his Vedantic goals, much like early Buddhism adopted Upanishadic terminology and borrowed its doctrines to Buddhist goals; both used pre-existing concepts and ideas to convey new meanings. Gauḍapāda took over the Buddhist doctrines that ultimate reality is pure consciousness (vijñapti-mātra) and "that the nature of the world is the four-cornered negation, which is the structure of Māyā". Gauḍapāda also took over the Buddhist concept of ajāta from Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka philosophy, which uses the term anutpāda.

Michael Comans states Gauḍapāda, an early Vedantin, utilised some arguments and reasoning from Madhyamaka Buddhist texts by quoting them almost verbatim. However, Comans adds there is a fundamental difference between Buddhist thought and that of Gauḍapāda, in that Buddhism has as its philosophical basis the doctrine of Dependent Origination according to which "everything is without an essential nature (nissvabhava), and everything is empty of essential nature (svabhava-sunya)", while Gauḍapāda does not rely upon this central teaching of Buddhism at all, and therefore should not be considered a Buddhist. Gauḍapāda's Ajātivāda (doctrine of no-origination or non -creation) is an outcome of reasoning applied to an unchanging nondual reality according to which "there exists a Reality (sat) that is unborn (aja)" that has essential nature (svabhava) and this is the "eternal, undecaying Self, Brahman (Atman)". Thus, Gauḍapāda differs from Buddhist scholars such as Nagarjuna, states Comans, by accepting the premises and relying on the fundamental teaching of the Upanishads.

Gauḍapāda, states Raju, "wove Buddhist doctrines into a philosophy of the Māṇḍukya Upanisad, which was further developed by Shankara". Of particular interest is Chapter Four of Gauḍapāda's text Karika, in which according to Bhattacharya, two karikas refer to the Buddha and the term Asparśayoga is borrowed from Buddhism. According to Murti, "the conclusion is irresistible that Gauḍapāda, a Vedānta philosopher, is attempting an Advaitic interpretation of Vedānta in the light of the Madhyamika and Yogacara doctrines. He even freely quotes and appeals to them." However, adds Murti, the doctrines are unlike Buddhism. Chapter One, Two and Three are entirely Vedantin and founded on the Upanishads, with little Buddhist flavor. Further, state both Murti and King, no Vedānta scholars who followed Gauḍapāda ever quoted from Chapter Four, they only quote from the first three.

Shankara
Given the principal role attributed to Shankara in Advaita tradition, his works have been examined by scholars for similarities with Buddhism. Buddhism supporters have targeted Shankara, states Biderman, while his Hindu supporters state that "accusations" concerning explicit or implicit Buddhist influence are not relevant. Adi Shankara, states Natalia Isaeva, incorporated "into his own system a Buddhist notion of maya which had not been minutely elaborated in the Upanishads". According to Mudgal, Shankara's Advaita and the Buddhist Madhyamaka view of ultimate reality are compatible because they are both transcendental, indescribable, non-dual and only arrived at through a via negativa (neti neti). Mudgal concludes therefore that "the difference between Sunyavada (Mahayana) philosophy of Buddhism and Advaita philosophy of Hinduism may be a matter of emphasis, not of kind.

Similarly, there are many points of contact between Buddhism's Vijnanavada and Shankara's Advaita. According to Marxist historian S.N. Dasgupta,

Daniel Ingalls writes, "If we are to adopt a metaphysical and static view of philosophy there is little difference between Shankara and Vijnanavada Buddhism, so little, in fact that the whole discussion is fairly pointless. But if we try to think our way back into minds of philosophers whose works we read, there is a very real difference between the antagonists".

Mudgal additionally states that the Upanishadic and Buddhist currents of thought "developed separately and independently, opposed to one another, as the orthodox and heterodox, the thesis and antithesis, and a synthesis was attempted by the Advaitin Shankara".

According to Daniel Ingalls, the Japanese Buddhist scholarship has argued that Adi Shankara did not understand Buddhism.

Criticisms of concurring Hindu schools
Some Hindu scholars criticized Advaita for its Maya and non-theistic doctrinal similarities with Buddhism. Ramanuja, the founder of Vishishtadvaita Vedānta, accused Adi Shankara of being a Prachanna Bauddha, that is, a "crypto-Buddhist", and someone who was undermining theistic Bhakti devotionalism. The non-Advaita scholar Bhaskara of the Bhedabheda Vedānta tradition, similarly around 800 CE, accused Shankara's Advaita as "this despicable broken down Mayavada that has been chanted by the Mahayana Buddhists", and a school that is undermining the ritual duties set in Vedic orthodoxy.

Differences from Buddhism

Atman and anatta
The Advaita Vedānta tradition has historically rejected accusations of crypto-Buddhism highlighting their respective views on Atman, Anatta and Brahman.

Advaita Vedānta holds the premise, "Soul exists, and Soul (or self, Atman) is a self evident truth". Buddhism, in contrast, holds the premise, "Atman does not exist, and An-atman (or Anatta, non-self) is self evident". Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad gives a more nuanced view, stating that the Advaitins "assert a stable subjectivity, or a unity of consciousness through all the specific states of indivuated consciousness, but not an individual subject of consciousness [...] the Advaitins split immanent reflexivity from 'mineness'."

In Buddhism, Anatta (Pali, Sanskrit cognate An-atman) is the concept that in human beings and living creatures, there is no "eternal, essential and absolute something called a soul, self or atman". Buddhist philosophy rejects the concept and all doctrines associated with atman, call atman as illusion (maya), asserting instead the theory of "no-self" and "no-soul." Most schools of Buddhism, from its earliest days, have denied the existence of the "self, soul" in its core philosophical and ontological texts. In contrast to Advaita, which describes knowing one's own soul as identical with Brahman as the path to nirvana, in its soteriological themes Buddhism has defined nirvana as the state of a person who knows that he or she has "no self, no soul".

The Upanishadic inquiry fails to find an empirical correlate of the assumed Atman, but nevertheless assumes its existence, and Advaitins "reify consciousness as an eternal self." In contrast, the Buddhist inquiry "is satisfied with the empirical investigation which shows that no such Atman exists because there is no evidence" states Jayatilleke.

Yet, some Buddhist texts chronologically placed in the 1st millennium of common era, such as the Mahayana tradition's Tathāgatagarbha sūtras suggest self-like concepts, variously called Tathagatagarbha or Buddha nature. In modern era studies, scholars such as Wayman and Wayman state that these "self-like" concepts are neither self nor sentient being, nor soul, nor personality. Some scholars posit that the Tathagatagarbha Sutras were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists.

Epistemology
The epistemological foundations of Buddhism and Advaita Vedānta are different. Buddhism accepts two valid means to reliable and correct knowledge – perception and inference, while Advaita Vedānta accepts six (described elsewhere in this article). However, some Buddhists in history, have argued that Buddhist scriptures are a reliable source of spiritual knowledge, corresponding to Advaita's Śabda pramana, however Buddhists have treated their scriptures as a form of inference method.

Ontology
Advaita Vedānta posits a substance ontology, an ontology which holds that underlying the change and impermanence of empirical reality is an unchanging and permanent absolute reality, like an eternal substance it calls Atman-Brahman. In its substance ontology, as like other philosophies, there exist a universal, particulars and specific properties and it is the interaction of particulars that create events and processes.

In contrast, Buddhism posits a process ontology, also called as "event ontology". According to the Buddhist thought, particularly after the rise of ancient Mahayana Buddhism scholarship, there is neither empirical nor absolute permanent reality and ontology can be explained as a process. There is a system of relations and interdependent phenomena (pratitya samutpada) in Buddhist ontology, but no stable persistent identities, no eternal universals nor particulars. Thought and memories are mental constructions and fluid processes without a real observer, personal agency or cognizer in Buddhism. In contrast, in Advaita Vedānta, like other schools of Hinduism, the concept of self (atman) is the real on-looker, personal agent and cognizer.

The Pali Abdhidhamma and Theravada Buddhism considered all existence as dhamma, and left the ontological questions about reality and the nature of dhamma unexplained.

According to Renard, Advaita's theory of three levels of reality is built on the two levels of reality found in the Madhyamika.

Shankara on Buddhism
A central concern for Shankara, in his objections against Buddhism, is what he perceives as nihilism of the Buddhists. Shankara states that there "must be something beyond cognition, namely a cognizer," which he asserts is the self-evident Atman or witness. Buddhism, according to Shankara, denies the cognizer. He also considers the notion of Brahman as pure knowledge and "the quintessence of positive reality."

The teachings in Brahma Sutras, states Shankara, differ from both the Buddhist realists and the Buddhist idealists. Shankara elaborates on these arguments against various schools of Buddhism, partly presenting refutations which were already standard in his time, and partly offering his own objections. Shankara's original contribution in explaining the difference between Advaita and Buddhism was his "argument for identity" and the "argument for the witness". In Shankara's view, the Buddhist are internally inconsistent in their theories, because "the reservoir-consciousness that [they] set up, being momentary, is no better than ordinary consciousness. Or, if [they] allow the reservoir-consciousness to be lasting, [they] destroy [their] theory of momentariness." In response to the idealists, he notes that their alaya-vijnana, or store-house consciousness, runs counter to the Buddhist theory of momentariness. With regard to the Sunyavada (Madhyamaka), Shankara states that "being contradictory to all valid means of knowledge, we have not thought worth while to refute" and "common sense (loka-vyavahara) cannot be denied without the discovery of some other truth".

Buddhist criticisms
A few Buddhist scholars made the opposite criticism in the medieval era toward their Buddhist opponents. In the sixth century AD, for example, the Mahayana Buddhist scholar Bhaviveka redefined Vedantic concepts to show how they fit into Madhyamaka concepts, and "equate[d] the Buddha's Dharma body with Brahman, the ultimate reality of the Upanishads." In his Madhyamakahṛdayakārikaḥ, Bhaviveka stages a Hinayana (Theravada) interlocutor, who accuses Mahayana Buddhists of being "crypto-Vedantins". Medieval era Tibetan Gelugpa scholars accused the Jonang school of being "crypto-Vedantist." Contemporary scholar David Kalupahana called the seventh century Buddhist scholar Chandrakirti a "crypto-Vedantist", a view rejected by scholars of Madhayamika Buddhism.

Notes

References

Sources

Printed sources

Web-sources

Advaita Vedanta
Buddhism and Hinduism
Āstika
Nāstika
Nondualism The Sanskrit play  (अागमडम्बर) satirizes various religions in Kashmir and their place in the politics of King Shankaravarman (883–902).

Bhatta Jayanta’s strategy is to take a characteristic figure of the target religion and show that he is a rogue, using reasoning or some fundamental ideas connected with the doctrines of that very religion. This way he makes a laughingstock of both its followers and their tenets. The leading character, Sankarshana, is a young and dynamic orthodox graduate of Vedic studies, whose career starts as a glorious campaign against the heretic Buddhists, Jains and other heterodox sects. By the end of the play he realizes that the interests of the monarch do not encourage such inquisitional rigor and the story ends in a great festival of tolerance and compromise.

English translations 
Much Ado about Religion by Csaba Dezső, Clay Sanskrit Library, 2005.

Indian philosophy
Sanskrit plays