History of Eastern Philosophy - Report Example

History of Eastern Philosophy Introduction The difference between philosophy and religion is an ongoing debate for many centuries. For many, religion and philosophy are the same since both are looking for the ultimate truth. For many others, religion and philosophy are interdependent or interrelated with each other. For example, there are many concepts in philosophy, which have their basis in religion. However, for many people, the differences between religion and philosophy are much more prominent then their few similarities. They believe that religion and philosophy are mutually exclusive and drastically different (Carr, pp. 241-243). They have various arguments in this regard. First, the most important difference between these two is the fact that philosophy aims at uncovering the truth about the universe through a systematic and logical process of rational inquiry and even if any knowledge obtained from some other source or object cannot meet the rational requirements would be discarded. On the other hand, religion promotes rationality to the extent to which it does not collide or negate the existence of a supernatural force or its Holy books. Furthermore, the “knowledge” gained through the holy books or prophets, is also a consideration as the ultimate truth without testing it through any rational or logical means. Second, religion is not complete in the absence of rituals (Ram-Prasad, pp. 85-89). Every religion requires its followers to follow some practices, norms, ceremonies and others, which complete his followership. However, a philosopher can endorse philosophy without having to practice any ceremonies. Third, a closer look would reveal that philosophy is a thinking, which has a beginning but no end. Despite the fact that the whole premise has its basis on awareness the problem, that outweighs the search of a final answer (Bretzke, pp. 141-145). In fact, every answer in philosophy gives rise to new problems and questions. On the other hand, religion takes an approach, which aims at finding a specific answer that puts a full stop to all the discussion. This paper is an attempt to look at the various eastern philosophies such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. The paper will explore these religions and the link with the philosophies, which they have founded over the period. Discussion Taoism, also known as “Daoism, is an eastern religion and philosophy” (Bretzke, pp. 141-145), which is more than two millenniums old. Statistics reveal that there are more than 225 million followers of this religion; however, the numbers is doubtful since many of its followers accept it as a philosophy and associate himself or herself with Confucianism or Buddhism as well at the same time. The founder of this school of thought, Loa Tzu lived a few years before Confucius (Bretzke, pp. 141-145). A comparison of Confucianism and Taoism would reveal that Confucius has actually build upon many of the teachings of Lao Tzu has many of his teachings are an evolved form of Taoists ideals. Loa Tzu believed that the best way of achieving happiness is to stop complaining about the way thing are going, sit back and let nature take care of things (Bretzke, pp. 141-145). His way of doing things is not by doing anything. He believed that everything in the nature has a life and shared a force in the total universal force. Therefore, humans should align their forces and power with that of the universe to achieve satisfaction. Taoism believes that every person has a Yin (the dark side) and Yang (the light side). The best way is to keep them balanced in order to lead the best life. Furthermore, Taoism also appears to be in line with anarchism which believes that there should be no rules or regulations formed by the government. Some Taoists have gone to say that there should be no governments at all since it is against the principle of “doing by doing nothing” (Leaman, p. 74-76). People should have the right to decide everything for themselves. Taoism also traces its roots in three treasures of three jewels, which are compassion, moderation, and unity, which also have the meaning as kindness, simplicity, and modesty (Billington, pp. 36-39). Confucianism is one of the most influential religions and philosophies in East Asia with more than 1.5 billion followers alone in that region (Billington, pp. 36-39). Founded by Master Kong or Confucius during the 6th and 7th century, Confucianism believes in the internal power of strength of the people. Rather than controlling people like animals or objects, he believed that humans should be proactive rather than reactive. Respect (face) should mean a lot for anyone and people should refrain from bad deeds due to the same reason (Ram-Prasad, pp. 85-89). Like Taoists, Confucius believed that a king should have lesser power or exercise lesser power and instead, he should become a role model for others and spread his message by doing first himself what he wants others to do (Bretzke, pp. 141-145). That explains why Confucius spent his entire life preaching his ideals by his actions as well as words. Confucianism revolves mainly around seven principles that are of “Li, Hsiao, Yi, Xin, Jen, and Chung” (Leaman, p. 74-76). Li refers to rituals and etiquette. Hsiao refers to the concept of loving parents and family. Yi refers to righteousness, whereas, Xin refers to the concept of being trustworthy ad honesty. Jen refers to the highest Confucian value of humanness or loving others and Chung refers to the concept of being dedicated and loyal to the state of the time (Leaman, p. 74-76). Unlike many other philosophical approaches, which view humans as evil, aggressive and ruthless, Confucian principles, seem to be taking a lot more optimistic view of humans where they believe that with self-control and self-cultivation any human being can climb up the stages of human existence and live a life, which others would envy. Like Buddhism, Confucius believed that people should give up their life and its pleasures to taste the eternal or biggest pleasures of spirituality (Billington, pp. 36-39). Despite the fact that more than 80 percent of the Indian populations and millions of other people in East and South Asia follow Hinduism, it is still very difficult for observers to explicitly define Hinduism or trace its founder (Morgan, pp. 82-89). This is one of the world oldest living religions. Most Hindus believe in reincarnation and karma. Combined with each other, these concepts refer to the process of people getting punishment for their deeds in life for in other life through an automatic process (Bretzke, pp. 141-145). If you have done anything evil, the punishment would come to you in your life or may be in other life when you would be created as an inferior or poor creature. Therefore, the concept is of “what goes around comes around” (Carr, pp. 241-243). Hindus believe that there are four basic objectives of life, which are “Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksa” (Carr, pp. 241-243). These refer to righteousness, wealth, sensual pleasure, and liberty. Important here to note is that Hinduism, in its basic form, does not believe that in the existence of many Gods but one omnipotent God (Bhagwan). However, Hinduism does believe that God has taken many forms to come on earth and spread the message of truth. The forms may have been different but their essence remains the sense (Ram-Prasad, pp. 85-89). Buddhists, like Taoists, look at life as the process of suffering and the only way to get rid of this suffering is to stop caring about the same. They believe that human pleasure and lust is the source of all evils, and thus it must be controlled to death. Buddhists also agree to the Hindu concept of Karma and reincarnation but they believe that with rebirth people do not transmigrate into new bodies but with a new soul as well (Morgan, pp. 302-309). More than 350 Buddhists around the world do not have strong concept for the existence of a creator or God, although they do not disagree to the same; however, the focus remains on uncovering the hidden potential and achieving the state of external happiness and comfort (nirvana) through meditation (Morgan, pp. 302-309). According to history, Buddhism was actually a rebellion movement against Hinduism and called for a complete reform within Hindu ideas, however, it is ironic, that both these philosophies share many of the concepts. In with the virtue ethics given by Aristotle, Gautama Buddha also believed in the middle way that the extreme or deficiency of anything would lead to evil, thus, balance is important. One of the most important concepts in the Buddhist metaphysical philosophy is the concept of “Pratītyasamutpāda”, which also have the same meaning as the concept of dependent origination or dependent arising” (Billington, pp. 267-271). It refers to the phenomenon of butterfly effect or the coexistence of interdependence of all the actions that take place around us. Since all of these actions combined lead to human suffering, therefore, the state of nirvana cannot be achieved until and unless a person takes himself or herself out of this vicious cycle, which would lead to suffering. Non-violence, peace, tolerance remains at the core of Buddhist ethics (Bretzke, pp. 141-145). Works Cited Billington, Ray. Understanding Eastern philosophy. Routledge, 1997. Bretzke, James T. Bibliography on East Asian religion and philosophy. Edwin Mellen Press, 2001. Carr, Brian. Companion encyclopedia of Asian philosophy. Taylor & Francis, 1997. Leaman, Oliver. Key concepts in Eastern philosophy. Routledge, 1999. Morgan, Diane. The Best Guide to Eastern Philosophy and Religion. St. Martins Press, 2001. Ram-Prasad, Chakravarthi. Eastern philosophy. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005. Read More