Eastern Philosophy For Beginners

Jim Powell, Joe Lee

• Publisher: For Beginners
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN:
  9781934389072
• eBook ISBN:
  9781939994066
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

The spiritual rewards and intellectual challenges of Eastern Philosophy are revealed in this visually stunning book, illustrated by Joe Lee and with 19th Century engravings.

Eastern Philosophy is not an intellectual pursuit, but one that involves one’s entire being. Much of it is so deeply entwined with the non-intellectual art of meditation, that the two are impossible to separate. In this accessible survey of the major philosophies of India, China, Tibet, and Japan, Jim Powell draws upon his knowledge of Sanskrit and Chinese, as well as decades of meditation. Whether tackling Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Dogen, the Dali Lama or Pantajal – Powell’s insights are deeply illuminating. All the major philosophies of India, China, Tibet and Japan are explained and everyone – from beginner to expert – will find Eastern Philosophy For Beginners a beautiful and insightful overview.

THE PHILOSOPHIES & RELIGIONS OF INDIA

ndia. The very name conjures up images of snowy Himalayan peaks that seem to rise even higher than the moon’s orbit, of icy waters tumbling swiftly over dizzying precipices, of deep, thunder-voiced waterfalls blending in with the growling of young bears in their caves, of breezes bellowing through stands of bamboo, of the drone of bees intoxicated with sips of sweet mango blossoms, and of the resonant mantras of yogis chanting in their caves.

Just as the Himalayan summits rise up as the measure of all mountains, for many Western thinkers, Indian spirituality—exemplified by the meditations of yogis in their caves—has come to represent the peak of Indian culture. Yet there is a problem with these kinds of images. For Westerners have thought of India as a land of Gods sitting serenely atop pink lotuses floating on the cosmic waters; of Gods who have magically sprouted 3 heads and 5,000 arms; of naked fakirs sleeping on beds of nails; of snake charmers mesmerizing dark-hooded cobras; of elephants bathing in the moonlight; of turbaned rajas twiddling their dark, ornate mustaches while entwined with their lovers in impossible knots of flesh; of swarms of sagacious sahibs, worshippers, and sadhus swallowing sweetmeats.

The problem is that these are all Hindu images. And although introductions to Indian philosophy tend to center on Hinduism, India is far from being all Hindu. Verily, Hindus make up only about 60 percent of a diverse population of over 400 distinct religious communities. The waters flowing down from those Himalayan peaks quench the thirst not only of Hindus, but of Jews, Parsis, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims—to name just a few.

And just as the United States, Australia, and New Zealand harbor native populations celebrating their own religions and philosophies, and speaking their own languages, India teems with a million tribal peoples speaking their own unique tongues and worshipping in distinct ways. India’s population speaks 325 languages, representing 12 language families. India, in other words, is so ragtag, so multiform, that one does it violence by attempting to reduce it to a single, Hindu culture.

Geography has been a major force in the shaping of Indian religion and philosophy. For the subcontinent of India hangs like a giant triangle from the underbelly of Asia: To the north and northwest tower some of the world’s highest mountains, the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, and the Sulaiman ranges. East-ward, dense tracts of jungle present an impenetrable barrier. A coastline humming with breakers pulsing in from the vast expanses of the Indian Ocean embraces the remainder of the subcontinent. For thousands of years these natural barriers discouraged foreign invaders from all but one direction: the West. Kipling’s famous line “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” was possible only because a great Western power—the British Empire—did meet India, and conquered her. And similar meetings have been taking place for thousands of years. As each wave of Western invaders entered the subcontinent, Indian religion and philosophy changed.

Indian philosophy, is something like a banyan tree. Called “The Many-footed,” banyans, for thousands of years, have provided shade, forming natural outdoor meeting rooms that have acted as schools, temples, and marketplaces.

The banyan begins its life as a single trunk that rises from a tiny seed. Yet its widespreading branches eventually form a vast canopy, spreading out to shade an entire acre. As these branches expand outward, they send down aerial roots that reach the ground, penetrate it, and become secondary trunks, often rivaling the original trunk in size. So substantial are these aerial root-trunks, that often one cannot distinguish them from the original.

The six trunks forming the basis of Indian religious and philosophical thought are, in historical order, as follows:

The Indus Valley Trunk (c. 3000-1500 B.C.)
The Indo-Brahmanical Trunk (c. 1500-600 B.C.)
The Indo-Shramanical Trunk (c. 600 B.C.-300 A.D.)
The Indic (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain) Trunk (c. 300-1200 A.D.)
The Indo-Islamic Trunk (c. 1200-1757 A.D.)
The Indo-Anglican Trunk (c. 1757-present)

The entire lush, tangled canopy of Indian religious and philosophical systems with all its Gods and Goddesses, images, and symbols, rests atop these major trunks. What’s more, this banyan tree of Indian religions and philosophies is a talking tree. It talks to itself, and has been doing so for thousands of years. For religion and philosophy, in India, have never been a single, unified tree. This talking tree sounds and resounds with the ongoing conversations, snippets of gossip, polemics, arguments, criticisms, and plagiarisms each trunk has exchanged with all the others, down through the ages.

THE INDUS VALLEY TRUNK (c. 3000-1500 B.C.)

INDUS VALLEY, INC.

The word “Hindu” was originally a Persian term for the area of the Indus River. Then, Alexander the Great called the people who lived on the banks of the Indus Hindus.

However, long before Alexander the Great came to India—long before Hinduism existed—an ancient civilization thrived on the banks of the Indus. Scholars know very little about this ancient Indus Valley civilization. They do know that, like the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the settlement flourished because it lay in a great river valley. From about 3000 B.C. to about 1500 B.C, it covered 750,000 square miles. Then, suddenly, it disappeared.

Its two largest cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harrapa, sheltered some 80,000 inhabitants in orderly, streets laid out in an east-west/north-south grid. The citizens enjoyed the benefits of a public drainage system, municipal wells, and even public garbage collection. Everything was so uniform that even the size of the bricks from which the houses were built were the same.

HARAPPA’S BAZAAR

Fortified citadels, sitting atop raised mounds, crowned both Mohenjo-Daro and Harrapa. Surrounding these were government halls and temples. The view from these raised citadels took in streets teeming with shoppers. In fact, the great bazaars of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, seemed to have served the same function in th...

Table of contents

• Coverpage
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• The Philosophies & Religions of India
• The Philosophies & Religions of China
• The Philosophies & Religions of Japan
• The Philosophies & Religions of Tibet
• Index
• Bibliography
• The Authors