How I get into eastern philosophy? Who are the most notable philosophers, and which one should I start with? Please no new-agey shit, if possible.
Reading philosophy is waste of time
>>8000844
And, if this means anything, I'm not a complete novice to philosophy, having read most of Plato's dialogues, most of Aristotle's Shit, most of Nietzsche and The Tractatus.
>>8000844
Does Buddha have his own writings? You should read those, probably.
Kill the Buddha if you see him.
What do you mean by Eastern philosophy? With India alone you'll have a couple life times (pun semiintended) of stuff to get into. What do you want do you aim to get out of it?
>>8000844
GO to tibet, and ask them to teach you the way of bald head and veggy.
The history of philosophy podcast has started doing episodes on Indian philosophy, start there.
For Chinese philosophy the two most important schools are Confucianism (Confucius and Mencius) and Daoism (Laozi and Zhuangzi).
There are loads of other exceptions additions and developments, but reading Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy articles on these will give you a start.
>>8001213
thanks!
Nagarjuna
Here's some good beginner's stuff on the road to Buddhism specifically:
The Upanishads. Foundational Vedantic texts. Extremely varied in construction and goals, but provide good (though dense) insight into Hindu cosmology, ontology, epistemology, and ethics.
The Bhagavad Gita is also fun to read and will help put these things in perspective.
The Pali Canon. Foundational Buddhist texts, allegedly the closest thing to letters in red that Buddhism possesses. All the principles are here. You can see how Buddhism challenges Hinduism, and how different the philosophy is from dilettante Western understandings of the philosophy. Oxford World has a great little book for this.
The Analects. Confucianism is interesting, but completely counter to Buddhism. However, as you approach Zen you'll see that a lot of Confucian ideals are appropriated. Kind of crunchy political stuff, but East Asia is built on it.
The Tao Te Ching. Rival of Confucianism. Much more sentimental and cosmological. Some people swear by this. I don't think it's that important, but it can definitely help put some Zen origins into context.
The Lotus Sutra. Cornerstone text of Zen. Collection of parables. Complete acid trip. Very fun to read. You can see the Indian principles, but other things are radically different. Metaphysics is in full swing.
The Tale of the Heike. Ostensibly a samurai epic poem, somewhat akin to the Iliad. Here you can see Zen ideals in practice, while also enjoying some incredible stories. If the idea of transience and change grips you, this is a must read.
This is all juicy stuff that (besides the Upanishads and the Tao Te Ching) don't require much commentary to understand.
>>8001420
I bought the Oxford world classics version of the upanishads, I have no clue what the fuck is going on. How can I understand them?
>>8001627
>not brown
>trying to understand
sorry m8 better try again next life
>>8001420
Thanks! Deserves a pdf desu
>>8001627
Read rene guenon's book on vedanta and multiple states of the being
