Is eastern philosophy overrated?
>>7475964
it's a narrow field
but no
uh no, in fact it shits all over western rationalism that has been obsoleted by science.
>Eastern """"""""""""""""""""philosophy""""""""""""""""""""
>>7475979
Say that again without spitting rice all over the keys Charlie
>>7475964
Everything worth reading has already been written over there.So I don't know.
>eastern
>philosophy
pick one
"Eastern philosophy" is a western concept
>>7476274
op btfo
How do you rate it? Being a drunk trying to make life harder for myself everyday I especially liked Tao te ching, but then again it's all dependent on how you rate that shit.
What is widely attributed as Eastern Philosophy has to be interpreted through some amalgamated asian psyche, a yellow milieu, a rice tableu if you will.
A man walks into a paper store, that sells various inks quills and paper. As he is completing his purchase, he bestows great veneration to the owner by asking this:
"Should one dip his quill twice then shake off the excess, or once?"
The owner opines for a long and tense moment before replying:
"Once."
The man, deeply offended hides his anger under a mask of servile platitude:
"Respectfully I disagree, for I think one should only dip his quill once."
The owner furious at this break in tradition and custom spends the next 900 years passively aggressively attacking the man in all things.
The man bends gently under this tempestuous gaze, he flows like water around this rock never wavering in his original beliefs.
They raise competing schools, The school of once. The school of also once. Their schools branch off into The school of the school of once, and the school of the school of also once. Wars are fought in their name, empires raised and toppled, great poems and songs are written, culture and civilization is born.
Who rates it particularly highly though? Your average Joe who fetishizes how "with nature" the "Oriental sages" are? Because it doesn't get a ton of love in philosophy departments.
>>7476274
So what?
>>7476411
kek
Most people only think of the Tao Te Ching, Confucious, and some bearded guys making Facebook quotes when they think of Eastern philosophy, and write it off as silly nature fetishism, ignoring the extensive tradition of works exploring many of the questions us in the West have asked.
They are plebs.
>>7476520
you have no power here jew.
Has anybody in this thread actually read any eastern philosophy/religion?
The vast majority of chinese philosophers which had a lasting impact on china are not concerned with being 'with nature' and instead are focused on humanity in law and ethics.
>>7476411
What is this from?
I love it
>>7476520
In the midst of that night, in my darkness,
I saw the awesome sight of Christ
opening the heavens for me.
And he bent down to me and showed himself to me
with the Father and the Holy Spirit
in the thrice holy light --
a single light in three, and a threefold light in one,
for they are altogether light,
and the three are but one light,.
And he illumined my soul
more radiantly than the sun,
and he lit up my mind,
which had until then been in darkness.
Never before had my mind seen such things.
I was blind, you should know it, and I saw nothing.
That was why this strange wonder
was so astonishing to me,
when Christ, as it were, opened the eye of my mind,
when he gave me sight, as it were,
and it was him that I saw.
He is Light within Light, who appears
to those who contemplate him,
and contemplatives see him in light --
see him, that is, in the light of the Spirit...
And now, as if from far off,
I still see that unseeable beauty,
that unapproachable light, that unbearable glory.
My mind is completely astounded.
I tremble with fear.
Is this a small taste from the abyss,
which like a drop of water
serves to make all water known
in all its qualities and aspects?...
I found him, the One whom I had seen from afar,
the one whom Stephen saw
when the heavens opened,
and later whose vision blinded Paul.
Truly, he was as a fire in the center of my heart.
I was outside myself, broken down, lost to myself,
and unable to bear the unendurable brightness of that glory.
And so, I turned
and fled into the night of the senses.
>>7476546
It's not from anything anon I just wrote it.
>>7476411
TSE-CHAN was Minister in Cheng, and governed for three years, and governed well.
The good people complied with his injunctions, and the bad were in awe of his prohibitory laws.
So Cheng was governed, and the princes were afraid of it.
Tse-Chan had an elder brother, Kung-Sun-Chow, and a younger, Kung-Sun-Mu. The former was fond of feasting and the latter of gallantry.
In the house of Kung-Sun-Chow a thousand barrels of wine were stored, and yeast in piled-up heaps.
Within a hundred paces from the door the smell of drugs and liquor offended people's noses.
He was so much under the influence of wine that he ignored the feeling of remorse, was unconscious of the safe and dangerous parts of the path of life; what was present or wanting in his p. 46 house, the near or remote degrees of relationship,1 the various degrees of relationship, the joy of living and the sadness of death.
Water, fire and swords might almost touch his person, and he would be unaware of it.
Within the house of Kung-Sun-Mu there was a compound of about thirty or forty houses, which he filled with damsels of exquisite beauty. So much was he captivated by their charms, that he neglected his relatives and friends, broke off all family intercourse, and retiring into his inner court turned night into day.
Within three months he only came forth once and yet he still did not feel contented.
Was there a pretty girl in the neighbourhood, he would try to win her with bribes or allurements, and only desisted with the impossibility of obtaining his desires.
Tse-Chan pondering over these things, stealthily betook himself to Teng-hsi to consult him, and said:
"I have heard that the care for one's own person has its influence on the family, and the care taken of a family influences the state. That is to say, starting from the nearest one reaches to what is distant. I have taken care of my kingdom, but my own family is in disorder. Perhaps this way is not the right one. What am I p. 47 to do? what measures am I to take to save these two men?"
Teng-hsi replied:
"I have wondered for a long while at you. But I did not dare to speak to you first. Why do you not always control them? Administer exhortations based on the importance of life and nature, or admonitions regarding the sublimity of righteousness and proper conduct."
Tse-Chan did as Teng-hsi had advised, and taking an opportunity of seeing his brothers said to them:
"That in which man is superior to beasts and birds are his mental faculties. Through them he gets righteousness and propriety, and so glory and rank fall to his share. You are only moved by what excites your sense, and indulge only in licentious desires, endangering your lives and natures.
"Hear my words. Repent in the morning, and in the evening you will have already gained the wage that will support you."
>>7477574
Chow and Mu said:
"Long ago we knew it and made our choice.
"Nor had we to wait for your instructions to enlighten us.
"It is very difficult to preserve life, and easy to come by one's death. Yet who would think of awaiting death, which comes so easily, on account of the difficulty of preserving life?
"You value proper conduct and righteousness in order to excel before others, and you do violence to your feelings and nature in striving for glory. That to us appears to be worse than death.
"Our only fear is lest, wishing to gaze our fill at all the beauties of this one life, and to exhaust all the pleasures of the present years, the repletion of the belly should prevent us from drinking what our palate delights in, or the slackening of our strength not allow us to revel with pretty women.
"We have no time to trouble about bad reputations or mental dangers. Therefore for you to argue with us and disturb our minds merely because you surpass others in ability to govern, and to try and allure us with promises of glory and appointments, is indeed shameful and deplorable.
"But we will now settle the question with you.
"See now. If anybody knows how to regulate external things, the things do not of necessity become regulated, and his body has still to toil and labour. But if anybody knows how to regulate internals, the things go on all right, and the mind obtains peace and rest.
"Your system of regulating external things will do temporarily and for a single kingdom, but it is not in harmony with the human heart, while our method of regulating internals can be extended to the whole universe, and there would be no more princes and ministers.
"We always desired to propagate this doctrine of ours, and now you would teach us yours."
Tse-Chan in his perplexity found no answer.
Later on he met and informed Teng-hsi.
Teng-hsi said:
"You are living together with real men without knowing it.
"Who calls you wise? Cheng has been governed by chance, and without merit of yours."
>>7476559
>the night of the senses
St. John of the Cross talks about this. It's the first "dark night of the soul" where the soul detaches itself from the senses and sensible pleasures in order to prepare itself for the infused contemplation of the Spirit.
>>7477578
Include the Titles senpai, makes it easier for people to know the subject
>>7477598
>mfw I'd be sad that most of Yang Zhu's stuff is lost forever, but that would go against his philosophy
Eastern Philosophy doesn't exist, It's a Western construct.
>>7476530
The Daodejing isn't exactly held in high esteem in China. You're right, Confucianism and Legalism are by far much more highly revered.
>>7475964
Eastern/Indian philosophy is based seeing as it had tangible impacts on your mindset and day-to-day life.
The Bhagavad Gita, for example, is infinitely better than some fart-sniffing academic philosophical work.
gentle breeze reminder that 4chan worst place for philosophy
>>7477728
The only philosopher you're allowed to discuss on /lit/ is Marx, fuck off.
>>7477673
In China as in contemporary Chinese academia? If that's what you're talking about then you're totally wrong. The only context in which your statement is correct is if you're literally just talking about the Qin and early Han.
Contemporary Chinese academia is overwhelmingly marxist. Apparently this guy named Mao something or other made the country communist for a few years. Crazy, right?
Ye.
Anti-scientific, pro-nepotism, pro-ageism, stubborn, pro-feudalism.
Fuck it.
>>7478143
You stupid
>>7478144
Weab.
>>7478149
Liking Indian philosophy makes me someone who loves Japan?
>>7478109
Pardon? Communism and Taoism don't really mix, It took years of suppression and forced "reformation" for them to finally "get along". Even then they're still thousands of old school Taoist hermits living in self-imposed exile because of their heretical beliefs; religion in China is still strictly controlled.
>>7478552
So there are millions of Daoists in contemporary China, zero legalists, and a burgeoning Confucian contingent, though all of these are dwarfed by Buddhism and, much to the CCP's chagrin, an exploding Christian population.
But I can't tell what field of discourse you're even referring to. Are you talking about the hoi polloi, academia, monastic communities...? My point was, if you're talking about contemporary Chinese intellectuals, basically the entire scene is still in a Maoist phase where all philosophy is read within a Marxist hermeneutic (in Mao's particular brand of dialectical materialism) - most everything in contemporary Chinese philosophy is seen to somehow prefigure Marx and Engels.
For example, I have a book on 玄學, basically the earliest clear explication of Daoist metaphysics (2nd-4th centuries CE). It's published by University of Chengdu press, the authors are professors there, and literally, while giving a lucid picture of early Chinese metaphysics, they are showing how this stuff was basically Hegelian/Marxist dialectics, paving the way for Marx 1600 years down the road. It's totally insane.
Any real intellectuals (Mou Zongsan is a great example) - people not willing to imbibe Mao's totally whacked out understanding of Marxism - bounced, fleeing to Hongkong, Taiwan, and even Japan, where real philosophy has proliferated. It's all in Chinese and Japanese journals though, so nobody fucking reads it.
>>7477614
Observed by normies
The rarest of poo poo frogs
Posted on Facebook
>>7479391
Knowing normalcy
The frog achieves what they long
And so is hated
>>7480182
>>>/reddit/
>>7480182
CHAPTER I
THE VANITY OF FAME
YANG CHU, when travelling in Lu, put up at Meng Sun Yang's.
Meng asked him: "A man can never be more than a man; why do people still trouble themselves about fame?"
Yang Chu answered: "If they do so their object is to become rich."
Meng: "But when they have become rich, why do they not stop?"
Yang Chu said: "They aim at getting honours."
Meng: "Why then do they not stop when they have got them?"
Yang Chu: "On account of their death."
Meng: "But what can they desire still after their death?"
Yang Chu: "They think of their posterity."
Meng: "How can their fame be available to their posterity?"
Yang Chu: "For fame's sake they endure all kinds of bodily hardship and mental pain. They dispose of their glory for the benefit of their clan, and even their fellow-citizens profit by it. How much more so do their descendants! Howbeit it becomes those desirous of real fame to be disinterested, and disisterestedness means poverty; and likewise they must be unostentatious, and this is equivalent to humble condition."
How then can fame be disregarded, and how can fame come of itself?
The ignorant, while seeking to maintain fame, sacrifice reality. By doing so they will have to regret that nothing can rescue them from danger and death, and not only learn to know the difference between ease and pleasure and sorrow and grief.
>pain, sacrifice, hardship
explain what these things are
>>7480203
CHAPTER VIII
THE ART OF LIFE
YEN-PING-CHUNG asked Kuan-Yi-Wu1 as to cherishing life.
Kuan-Yi-Wu replied:
"It suffices to give it its free course, neither checking nor obstructing it."
Yen-Ping-Chung said: "And as to details?"
Kuan-Yi-Wu replied: "Allow the ear to hear what it likes, the eye to see what it likes, the nose to smell what it likes, the mouth to say what it likes, the body to enjoy the comforts it likes to have, and the mind to do what it likes.
"Now what the ear likes to hear is music, and the prohibition of it is what I call obstruction to the ear.
"What the eye likes to look at is beauty; and its not being permitted to regard this beauty I call obstruction of sight.
"What the nose likes to smell is perfume; and its not being permitted to smell I call obstruction to scent.
"What the mouth likes to talk about is right and wrong; and if it is not permitted to speak I call it obstruction of the understanding.
"The comforts the body enjoys to have are rich food and fine clothing; and if it is not permitted, then I call that obstruction of the senses of the body.
"What the mind likes is to be at peace; and its not being permitted rest I call obstruction of the mind's nature.
"All these obstructions are a source of the most painful vexation.
"Morbidly to cultivate this cause of vexation, unable to get rid of it, and so have a long but very sad life of a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years, is not what I call cherishing life.
"But to check this source of obstruction and with calm enjoyment to await death for a day, a month, or a year or ten years, is what I understand by enjoying life."
Kuan-Yi-Wu said:
"Since I have told you about cherishing life, please tell me how it is with the burial of the dead."
Yen-Ping-Chung said:
"Burying the dead is but of very little importance. What shall I tell you about it?"
Kuan-Yi-Wu replied:
"I really wish to hear it."
Yen-Ping-Chung answered:
"What can I do when I am dead? They may burn my body, or cast it into deep water, or inter it, or leave it uninterred, or throw it wrapped up in a mat into some ditch, or cover it with princely apparel and embroidered garments and rest it in p. 45 a stone sarcophagus. All that depends on mere chance."
Kuan-Yi-Wu looked round at Pao-Shu-huang-tse and said to him:
"Both of us have made some progress in the doctrine of life and death."
