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Eastern Philosophy: the Basics Is an Essential Introduction to Major Indian and Chinese Philosophies, Both Past and Present

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Eastern Philosophy: the Basics Is an Essential Introduction to Major Indian and Chinese Philosophies, Both Past and Present Eastern Philosophy The Basics Victoria S. Harrison The Basics EASTERN PHILOSOPHY THE BASICS Eastern Philosophy: The Basics is an essential introduction to major Indian and Chinese philosophies, both past and present. Exploring familiar meta- physical and ethical questions from the perspectives of different eastern philosophies, including Confucianism, Daoism, and strands of Buddhism and Hinduism, this book covers key figures, issues, methods and concepts. Questions discussed include: What is the ‘self’? Is human nature inherently good or bad? How is the mind related to the world? How can you live an authentic life? What is the fundamental nature of reality? With timelines highlighting key figures and their contributions, a list of useful websites and further reading suggestions for each topic, this enga- ging overview of fundamental ideas in eastern philosophy is valuable reading for all students of philosophy and religion, especially those seeking to understand eastern perspectives. Victoria S. Harrison is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, UK. She has extensive experience of teaching Indian and Chinese philosophies at undergraduate level in both the UK and the USA. The Basics ACTING HUMAN GENETICS BELLA MERLIN RICKI LEWIS ANTHROPOLOGY HUMAN GEOGRAPHY PETER METCALF ANDREW JONES ARCHAEOLOGY (SECOND EDITION) INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CLIVE GAMBLE PETER SUTCH AND JUANITA ELIAS ART HISTORY ISLAM (SECOND EDITION) GRANT POOKE AND DIANA NEWALL COLIN TURNER ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE JOURNALISM STUDIES KEVIN WARWICK MARTIN CONBOY THE BIBLE JUDAISM JOHN BARTON JACOB NEUSNER BUDDHISM LANGUAGE (SECOND EDITION) CATHY CANTWELL R. L. TRASK CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE LAW SUMAN GUPTA GARY SLAPPER AND DAVID KELLY CRIMINAL LAW LITERARY THEORY (SECOND EDITION) JONATHAN HERRING HANS BERTENS CRIMINOLOGY (SECOND EDITION) LOGIC SANDRA WALKLATE J. C. BEALL DANCE STUDIES MANAGEMENT JO BUTTERWORTH MORGEN WITZEL ECONOMICS (SECOND EDITION) MARKETING (SECOND EDITION) TONY CLEAVER KARL MOORE AND NIKETH PAREEK EDUCATION MEDIA STUDIES KAY WOOD JULIAN MCDOUGALL EVOLUTION PHILOSOPHY (FOURTH EDITION) SHERRIE LYONS NIGEL WARBURTON EUROPEAN UNION (SECOND EDITION) PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY ALEX WARLEIGH-LACK JOSEPH HOLDEN FILM STUDIES POETRY (SECOND EDITION) AMY VILLAREJO JEFFREY WAINWRIGHT FINANCE (SECOND EDITION) POLITICS (FOURTH EDITION) ERIK BANKS STEPHEN TANSEY AND NIGEL JACKSON THE OLYMPICS SHAKESPEARE (THIRD EDITION) ANDY MIAH & BEATRIZ GARCIA SEAN MCEVOY THE QUR’AN SOCIOLOGY MASSIMO CAMPANINI KEN PLUMMER RACE AND ETHNICITY SOCIAL WORK PETER KIVISTO AND PAUL R. CROLL MARK DOEL RELIGION (SECOND EDITION) SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS MALORY NYE JANICE WEARMOUTH RELIGION AND SCIENCE TELEVISION STUDIES PHILIP CLAYTON TOBY MILLER RESEARCH METHODS TERRORISM NICHOLAS WALLIMAN JAMES M. LUTZ AND BRENDA J. LUTZ ROMAN CATHOLICISM THEATRE STUDIES MICHAEL WALSH ROBERT LEACH SEMIOTICS (SECOND EDITION) WORLD HISTORY DANIEL CHANDLER PETER N. STEARNS EASTERN PHILOSOPHY THE BASICS Victoria S. Harrison First published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2013 Victoria S. Harrison The right of Victoria S. Harrison to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Harrison, Victoria S. Eastern philosophy : the basics / Victoria S. Harrison. pages cm – (The basics) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Philosophy, Asian. I. Title. B121.H37 2012 181–dc23 2012005538 ISBN: 978-0-415-58732-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-58733-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-10337-1 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Taylor & Francis Books For Rhett Gayle, intrepid adventurer of the mind. CONTENTS List of figures and tables xiii Acknowledgements xiv Introduction 1 What is ‘eastern philosophy’?1 Philosophy as a cross-cultural phenomenon 4 Philosophical questions 6 Philosophy in India 6 Philosophy in China 14 Terminology and translations 19 The philosopher’s dilemma 21 What happens next? 22 References and further reading 23 1 Reason 25 Ignorance 25 Argument 27 Debate 29 Knowledge 32 Inference 35 Causation 37 x CONTENTS Scepticism 39 Perspectives 42 Logic 43 Summary of Chapter 1 47 References and further reading 47 2 Reality 49 Origins 50 Existence 55 Monism 55 Dualism 62 Pluralism 67 Experience 69 The nature of things 70 Ultimate reality 72 Summary of Chapter 2 73 References and further reading 73 3 Persons 75 Self and world 75 Self in the Upanis.ads 79 Rebirth 80 Karma 81 Freedom 85 Individuals 86 No abiding self 88 Dependent co-arising 95 Liberation 98 Summary of Chapter 3 99 References and further reading 99 4 Virtue 101 Tradition 101 The Way 105 Virtue and relationships 106 Goodness 107 Rites 108 Self-cultivation 110 CONTENTS xi Impartial care 112 Human nature 117 Altruism 123 Summary of Chapter 4 125 References and further reading 126 5 Authenticity 128 Egoism 129 Dao 131 Nature 134 Passivity 134 Opposites 135 Vice 137 Non-action 138 Ways of being 140 Exemplary persons 144 Legalism 147 Summary of Chapter 5 148 References and further reading 149 6 Mind 152 Words and things 152 Individuals and universals 155 Emptiness and insight 155 Enlightenment 163 Principles 165 The problem of the many and the one 167 Transcendence and immanence 168 Introspection 170 Universal Mind 172 Sageliness 174 Summary of Chapter 6 175 References and further reading 176 Conclusion 178 Unexplored terrain 182 Global philosophy 182 References and further reading 183 xii CONTENTS Appendix 1: timelines 185 Appendix 2: websites 188 Appendix 3: pronunciation 190 General bibliography 192 Index 194 FIGURES AND TABLES FIGURES 0.1 Where would you draw the boundary between ‘West’ and ‘East’?3 5.1 The taiji symbol 136 5.2 A mid-eighth-century painting, on silk, depicting Fu Xi and Nuwa 151 TABLES 1.1 Stances of the dars´anas on the reliability of testimony and inference 34 3.1 Some examples of the relationship between wholes and parts 93 4.1 Correlation between relationships and virtues 107 Every effort has been made to trace the owners of the copyright to the image reproduced in Figure 5.2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A book such as this one is built upon the accomplishments of others and it is impossible to acknowledge all of the debts incurred in the construction process. However, especial thanks are due to my colleague Richard E. King, whose work I have relied on extensively in Chapters 1–3. I also owe a special debt of gratitude to Philip J. Ivanhoe for his encouragement and his comments on Chapter 6; and to my husband, Rhett Gayle, for his ability to clarify an idea no matter what its original cultural home. I am grateful to each of these philosophers for saving me from stumblingly blindly into a number of conceptual pitfalls. That I have surely failed to avoid others is entirely my own responsibility. INTRODUCTION Over time and across cultures human ingenuity, combined with curiosity, has given rise to a rich array of philosophies – more or less abstract and systematic ways of understanding ourselves and the world we inhabit. Amongst this diversity a distinction is commonly made between western philosophy, which traces its pedigree to a group of ancient Greek thinkers active before the Common Era, and eastern philosophy, which does not. This book is concerned with eastern philosophy. WHAT IS ‘EASTERN PHILOSOPHY’? Although many of the ideas discussed in this book are very old, some dating back over two thousand years, the convention of classifying them together under one heading – whether ‘eastern philosophy’, ‘Asian philosophy’ or ‘oriental philosophy’–is a product of nineteenth- century western scholarship. Prior to modern times no one in India, China, Japan or Korea would have recognized any of those terms as identifying a unique object of study. Nonetheless these terms are now commonly used; although, due to increased sensit- ivity to the vice of ‘orientalism’ in the post-colonial era (Said 2003), since the late twentieth century the former two have often been preferred to ‘oriental philosophy’. 2 EASTERN PHILOSOPHY: THE BASICS Employing a term such as ‘eastern philosophy’ emphasizes a contrast between the philosophy of the European tradition (with its extensions into America and Australasia) and non-European philosophy. This way of framing the relationship between the world’s philosophies – in terms of two categories, European (western) and non-European (eastern) – gives the misleading impression that ‘eastern philosophy’ is a single homogeneous tradition. This is unhelpful because, in focusing our minds on a supposed clear-cut contrast between ‘eastern’ and ‘western’ philosophies, attention is drawn away from the details of the distinct philosophical systems of Asia. If we focus instead on these
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