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PHILOSOPHY OF THE ANCIENT EAST

Dipa Chakraborty

P.N.Das College

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PLAN

  •   Origin of philosophical thought. Eastern and western types of cultural development.
  • Philosophy of Ancient India (Vedantic philosophy, Buddhism).
  • Philosophical conceptions of Ancient China (Confucianism, Taoism).

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PHILOSOPHY VERSUS MYTHS

  • Mythological thinking was based on reflection of nature and man in the light of the tribal relations.

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  • Philosophy introduces the system of knowledge that is based on reason.

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PHILOSOPHY ORIGIN

  • Philosophy originated in the following three centers of the ancient civilization: in ancient Greece, India and China, what happened almost simultaneously in the middle of the 1st millennium BC.

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Specific features of reference to nature

Western cultural tradition

  • active transformation and mastering of nature by man
  • Achievements in the realms of techniques, technologies and science

Eastern cultural tradition

  • careful and religious reference to nature and everything alive
  • development of the very nature of man
  • the moral-spiritual improvement of a personality

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Social life and Social values

Western cultural tradition

  • the idea of historical progress, development of society in the line of ascent
  • the values of democracy, legal state, freedom and sovereignty of an individual

Eastern cultural tradition

  • no intention of progress
  • preserving the culture as it is
  • the values of a community and limitation of the individual freedom

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Spiritual psychological features of man

Western cultural tradition

  • logical style of thinking, cold mind, sober pragmatism and practicism
  • "divide and rule"
  • Rational thinking
  • Philosophical treatises

Eastern cultural tradition

  • feelings, emotions, elements of the religious and artistic world-perception
  • unity and indivisibility of everything
  • Intuitive and mystical thinking
  • Philosophical parables, aphorisms, and instructions

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Indian philosophy

  • Ancient Indian philosophy includes the mystical treatises known as Upanishads (700 – 100 BC), early Buddhist writings (300 BC – 500 AD) and the Sanskrit poem Bhagavad-Gita (Song of God, about 200 BC). Classical Indian philosophy is less concerned with spirituality than ancient thought

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Outlook ideas of Indian philosophy

  • ultimate reality is one-eternal and impersonal Absolute
  • the variety of apprehensions, which comes to us through the senses is illusory and is called mãyã
  • Man must rid himself of his illusion if he is to become aware of reality (brahma)
  • This "knowing" is not a mere intellectual knowledge, but an enlightenment of one's whole being
  • If one fails to find this "release" (moksa), one is bound by the law of punishment and reward (karma) to return to this world in a further incarnation, still tied to the wheel of rebirth (samsara)

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REINCARNATION

Reincarnation, the view that after death human beings live again in other forms

Bhagavad-Gita:

"We have all been for all time: I, and thou, and those king of men. And we shall be for all time, we all for ever and ever"

"As a man leaves an old garment and puts on the one that is new, the Spirit leaves his mortal body and then puts on one that is new"

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KARMA

  • the sum total of the acts done in one stage of person's existence, which determines his destiny in the next stage
  • a form of matter, which can contaminate a soul and postpone its attaining Nirvana
  • the doctrine that whatsoever a man sows, whether in action or thought, the fruits will eventually be reaped by him – if not in this life, then in the next

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Caste division of Indian society

  • - Brahmin caste – the first or the highest caste, comprising the priests (fr. Sanskrit Brahman – worship);
  • -   Kshatriya caste – the second caste, comprising warriors and rulers (fr. Sanskrit kshatra – rule);
  • -   Vaisya caste – the third caste, comprising farmers and merchants (fr. Sanskrit – peasant);
  • Sudra caste – the fourth and the lowest caste, comprising manual workers (fr. Sanskrit sudra

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Three groups of yoga steps

  • 1) Moral discipline – against killing, lying, stealing, sexual impurity and possessiveness, and towards purity, contentment, study and God – centeredness.
  • 2)       Physical disciplines – control over bodily posture, breathing and excitation of the senses.
  • 3)       Stages of meditation – concentration, contemplation and ecstasy (unity).

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FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

1) Sorrow is the universal experience of mankind.

2)       The cause of sorrow is desire, and the cycle of rebirths is perpetuated by desire for existence.

3)       The removal of sorrow can only come from the removal of desire.

4)       The desire can be systematically abandoned by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which is the basis of the disciplines of Buddhism and finds its origin in the corresponding yoga system.

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