Advaita Vedanta

=====Systematizer of Advaita thought=====
Shankara was a scholar who synthesized and systematized ''Advaita-vāda'' thought which already existed at his lifetime.{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=678}} According to Nakamura, comparison of the known teachings of the early Vedantins and Shankara's thought shows that most of the characteristics of Shankara's thought "were advocated by someone before Śankara".{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=678}} According to Nakamura, after the growing influence of Buddhism on Vedānta, culminating in the works of Gauḍapāda, Adi Shankara gave a Vedantic character to the Buddhistic elements in these works,{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|p=13}} synthesising and rejuvenating the doctrine of Advaita.{{sfn|Nakamura|2004|p=679}} According to Koller, using ideas in ancient Indian texts, Shankara systematized the foundation for Advaita [[Vedanta|Vedānta]] in the 8th century, reforming [[Badarayana]]'s Vedānta tradition.<ref name=johnkoller/> According to Mayeda, Shankara represents a turning point in the development of Vedānta,{{sfn|Mayeda|2006|p=13}} yet he also notices that it is only since Deussens's praise that Shankara "has usually been regarded as the greatest philosopher of India."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=XV}} Mayeda further notes that Shankara was primarily concerned with ''moksha'', "and not with the establishment of a complete system of philosophy or theology,"{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=XV}} following Potter, who qualifies Shankara as a "speculative philosopher."{{sfn|Mayeda|1992|p=XVIII, note 3}} Lipner notes that Shankara's "main literary approach was commentarial and hence perforce disjointed rather than procedurally systematic [...] though a systematic philosophy can be derived from Samkara's thought."{{sfn|Lipner|2000|p=56, incl. note 12}}