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Eastern Philosophy 1 EASTERN PHILOSOPHY An Outline Prepared by J.S.R.L.Narayana Moorty Monterey Peninsula College 1997 2 Title page illustration: The Goddess Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) of Mahayana Buddhism. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the Governing Board and Administration of Monterey Peninsula College for the Sabbatical Leave in the Fall of 1986 which enabled me to prepare most of this syllabus. Many thanks to Gail Baker for permission to use the photographs reproduced in the text. Monterey, California Narayana Moorty July 25, 1987 4 EASTERN PHILOSOPHY Contents Page Preface 1. What is Philosophy? 2. Similarities and Differences between Eastern and Western Philosophy 3. Essential Features of Indian Philosophy 4. Historical Survey of Indian Philosophy 5. Upanishads 6. The Bhagavad Gita 7. Nyaya-Vaiseshika 8. Samkhya and Yoga 9. Vedanta 10. Early Buddhism 11. Later Buddhism 12. Essential Features of Chinese Philosophy 13. Historical Survey of Chinese Philosophy 14. Confucianism 15. Taoism (Lao Tzu) 16. Taoism (Chuang Tzu) 17. Zen Buddhism 18. J. Krishnamurti 17. A Note on Meditation 18. Conclusion 5 PREFACE This outline is intended for the students who enroll in the Eastern Philosophy course. It presents more or less faithfully the content of the course in about the same order as will be followed in the class. Brief summaries of two important schools which are not generally discussed in the class are added to the syllabus for the sake of completion-- the logical-metaphysical systems of Nyaya and Vaiseshika and Confucianism. It is not that these systems or schools are not important in the study of Eastern Philosophy, but that they don't readily fit into the central theme in Eastern Philosophy I picked for this course, i.e., the theme of man's liberation construed in terms of a `unified' experience and living. Also added for the sake of completion are a chapter each on the Essential Features of Chinese Philosophy and Historical Survey of Chinese Philosophy. We may not have time to cover these chapters during the course of a semester, but they are included just in case you are interested. The discussion of the materials is made at a very elementary level and no prior knowledge of Philosophy is presupposed from the student. The following supplemental readings are to be used in conjunction with this OUTLINE: Prabhavananda & Manchester: Upanishads, Signet. Prabhavananda & Isherwood: Bhagavadgita, Signet. Burtt: Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, Mentor. Merton, Thomas, The Book of Chuang Tzu, New Directions. Our approach to and interpretation of Eastern Philosophy will avoid the following: 1) We will avoid the assumption commonly made among adherents of Eastern disciplines that Eastern Philosophy is so esoteric that you can only learn it from a revered teacher. The teacher in this conception may be revered to the extent of thinking that he is a manifestation of the Godhead itself, and that the pupil must totally submit himself to him and accept implicitly whatever he teaches. While it is quite possible that some of the instruction for practice can only come from someone who is aware of the students' peculiar personal characteristics, we do not share the opinion that the teaching cannot be formulated in objective and universal terms which can be shared by everyone, believers and non-believers alike. This is particularly true with the essential notions of Eastern Philosophy, the notions of what constitutes bondage and liberation, and of the various means of liberation, or at least the necessary and sufficient conditions for attaining it. 6 2) We will avoid the assumption that the occult and its associated notions are essential to Eastern Philosophy. For example, we do not share the idea that the beliefs in the various other worlds, planes such as astral planes, gods, demons, other lives, astral travel, seances, visions etc. are essential to understanding the basic notions of Eastern Philosophy or to applying them to one's life. If any of the systems or schools that are presented in the text espouse such beliefs, the beliefs are reported as such. My understanding of Eastern Philosophy developed in this Outline remains uncommitted to any of these beliefs, and tries to interpret Eastern Philosophy in a "minimal" fashion, with no "supernatural" overtones as it were, a philosophy which is compatible with modern science and even with the possibility that there may be nothing more to the human being than the empirically observable human behavior and what the individual can himself experience directly within himself. For example, my conception of Philosophy is compatible with the notion that there may be no such thing as consciousness independent of the human organism which may survive its death. The simple reason for the avoidance of a belief in the occult is that there is not enough generally accepted evidence for it. Moreover, the belief in the supernatural etc. is, in my opinion, neither necessary nor sufficient to understand the basic notions of Eastern Philosophy. Here we only need to present those elements in the condition of man which everyone experiences or can experience. 3) Although we will be discussing the essential elements of meditation and the necessary conditions for it, we will not place any emphasis on the actual practice of it, since such a practice is outside the purview of this course. It does not mean that the ideas developed here cannot be applied to one's life. Part of the conception of Eastern Philosophy we are developing here is that these ideas cannot be separated from actual, personal living. Only we won't have recourse to a "guru-pupil" relationship (where a guru supposedly takes personal responsibility of the pupil), nor will we explicitly practice any particular method of meditation (although the whole course is in a sense a meditation), or yoga, including Pranayama or Kundalini, worship or practice any cult or religious activities. Understood thus, this course falls in the general category of a Western academic course in which everyone can freely discuss all views presented and publicly examine them. At the end of each chapter a list of questions is supplied which will help you bring to focus in your mind the salient points of the chapter. There is a also a list of vocabulary which you may not normally confront in other courses. Please familiarize yourself with the meaning of the words in the list, if necessary by using a dictionary. At the end of each chapter I have also provided a glossary of technical terms used in it for your ready reference. If you have any comments or suggestions to improve this syllabus please don't hesitate to write them on a piece of paper and hand them to me. I will note them and if I find them helpful I will incorporate them the next time I revise the syllabus. 7 * * * * Questions: What are the three assumptions concerning Eastern Philosophy that we avoid in this course? Why? Vocabulary: Organism; bondage; liberation; meditation; supernatural; esoteric; astral; seances; occult. Glossary: Yoga: (Lit. Yoking, Union). In general, any path to liberation. In particular a system of body control and meditation, founded by Patanjali. Pranayama: A system of breath control as an aid to meditation, as part of Yoga. Kundalini: A practice which involves arousing the "Serpent" power (Kundalini) in oneself by various postures (called asanas) and making it pass, with the help of pranayama, through one's spinal cord, via the various chakras (nerve plexuses) and finally via a point in the skull in a place called sahasrara chakra, and uniting it with universal energy. 8 CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? l. What is Philosophy? Philosophy is an inquiry into the most fundamental and ultimate questions which concern man. The word `philosophy' means `love of wisdom' (Greek, `philo' = love, `sophia' = wisdom) in Western Philosophy. A parallel expression in Eastern Philosophy, for instance in Indian Philosophy, is Darshana Shastra (Sanskrit, ‘darshana’ = vision, ‘shastra’ = discipline) and it means the discipline which deals with the vision (of Reality). Whatever may be the terms that are used to refer to Philosophy, both in the West and in the East philosophy deals with the fundamental and ultimate questions about the universe and man, such as what is the ultimate nature of the universe, what is the ultimate reality in myself and how are these two related. Many other questions, perhaps less basic than the above, that Philosophy deals with are like the following: What are the means through which I know myself or the world? What are right and wrong? What is the nature of the good or authentic life? What remains in myself, if anything, after I die? Why should I be moral? What is the nature of beauty? How Philosophy answers these questions, and whether these questions can be answered at all, and how disputes between different answers are settled are themselves matters of controversy in Philosophy: Do we use sense observation or reason to know about the truths in Philosophy or is there a higher, more immediate way of knowing Reality? Even the aim or purpose of philosophizing is also a matter of dispute: Do we do Philosophy to understand and know the nature of existence, or is the purpose of Philosophy to deliver us from the trammels of existence, or is it to merely clarify our thinking about various questions? One conception of Philosophy is that the enterprise of Philosophy, inasmuch as it represents an attempt to know and understand the world around us is itself a disease, for such an urge to understand is based on a prior alienation of ourselves from the world. According to this conception, the only business of Philosophy, if there is such a thing as Philosophy, is to free us from the very urge to understand the universe or ourselves.
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