Awakening

544 Pages·04.788 MB·English

by  Patrick S. Bresnan

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FIFTH EDITION
AWAKENING

An Introduction to the History
of Eastern Thought

PATRICK S. BRESNAN
De Anza College

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First published 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Published 2016 by Routledge
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any
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and explanation without intent to infringe.
Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook
appear on appropriate page within text.
Cover Designer: Suzanne Duda
ISBN: 9780205242986 (pbk)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bresnan, Patrick
 Awakening : an introduction to the history of Eastern thought / Patrick S. Bresnan,
De Anza College. — Fifth Edition.
  p. cm.
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN-13: 978-0-205-24298-6
1. Asia—Religion. 2. Philosophy, Asian. I. Title.
 BL1033.B74 2012
 200.95—dc23
2012016914
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CONTENTS

Preface
PART 1.HINDUISM AND RELATED TRADITIONS OF SOUTH ASIA
1. India Before the Vedas
The Lay of the Land
South Asia Before the Vedic Age
The Theory of Indo-Aryan Migrations
Varna: The Caste System
The Brahmin Caste
Questions for Discussion
2. Veda and the Vedas
Yajna: The Vedic Sacrifice
The Vedic Pantheon
An Overview of Vedic Cosmology
Questions for Discussion
3. Introduction to the Upanishads
Key Elements of the Upanishads
An Overview of Vedanta Cosmology
Questions for Discussion
4. The Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita and the Mahabharata
The Opening Scene
The Bhagavad Gita as Metaphor
The Awakened Person
Karma Yoga
Raja Yoga
Bhakti Yoga
Questions for Discussion
5. Ashtanga Yoga
The General Nature of Yoga
The “Eight Limbs” of Ashtanga Yoga
Questions for Discussion
6. Darshana
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The Orthodox Darshanas
The Heterodox Darshanas
Questions for Discussion
7. The Devotional Movement
The Trimurti
The Hindu Temple
Questions for Discussion
8. A Millennium of Strife
The Muslim Era
The Modern Era
Questions for Discussion
PART 2.SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA AND THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF BUDDHISM
9. The Life of Shakyamuni Buddha
The Palace Youth
The Sadhu Years
The Awakening
The Teaching Years
Questions for Discussion
10. Basic Teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha
The Doctrine of Anatman
The Four Noble Truths
The Noble Eightfold Path
Questions for Discussion
11. Theravada Buddhism
The Early Centuries
Ashoka
Theravada Buddhism
Questions for Discussion
12. Mahayana Buddhism
Diversity and Religious Elements in Mahayana
The Nature of Buddha
Madhyamaka
Yogacara
The Bodhisattva
Artistic Expression in Early Mahayana
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Questions for Discussion
PART 3.NON-BUDDHIST TRADITIONS OF EAST ASIA
13. Confucius and Confucianism
Confucius
Mencius
Other Voices from the Period of a Hundred Philosophers
Later Developments in the Evolution of Confucianism
Questions for Discussion
14. Daoism
The Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching)
Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu)
Religious Daoism
Questions for Discussion
15. Shinto
The Shinto Creation Story
The Shinto Shrine and Festival
Historical Development of Shinto
Questions for Discussion
PART 4.BUDDHISM IN CHINA AND JAPAN
16. Early Buddhism in China
Buddhism in the Tarim Basin
Tiantai Buddhism
Huayan Buddhism (Hua-Yen)
Pure Land Buddhism
Persecution and Recovery
Questions for Discussion
17. Tibetan Buddhism
The Establishment of Buddhism in Tibet
The General Character of Buddhism in Tibet
An Historical Overview of Buddhism in Tibet
Questions for Discussion
18. Chan Buddhism
Bodhidharma
Huineng
After Huineng
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Questions for Discussion
19. Zen Buddhism
Japan Before Zen
Rinzai and Soto Zen
The Zen Monastery
Zen and the Arts
Questions for Discussion

Works Cited
Index
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PREFACE

W
ELCOME TO THE FIFTH EDITION OF Awakening. Thirteen years have entered the history books since
the writing of the preface to the first edition. And what history it has been!—9/11, the worldwide economic
crisis, the Arab Spring, and brooding over all, the slow but incessantly growing influence of climate change.
We could, of course, make up a much longer list of triumphs and tragedies, but whatever its length, the
bottom line reveals clearly that “Spaceship Earth” is passing through a time of unprecedented change, and its
attendant turmoil. More than ever, the need for compassionate understanding among the various
communities that make up modern global society has become essential. The overarching goal of this book is
to awaken you, the reader, to the great riches of the traditions examined in this book, and hopefully to
motivate you to choose to become a part of the solution to the challenges we can expect to encounter as the
undoubtedly very exciting twenty-first century continues to unfold.
In this fifth edition, you will find, as with every new edition, some new sections, some expanded and
rewritten sections, and a thoroughgoing overhaul of the entire book. The most important of the new
material is an entire chapter dealing with the teachings of the Yoga Sutras. Also new is a section concerning
the Hindu deity, Saraswati. The Madhyamaka section has been entirely rewritten, as has much of the
treatment of Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. All in all, I am satisfied that the fifth edition represents a
major improvement over all that has come before.
Patrick Bresnan
Los Gatos, California
February, 2012
I would genuinely love to hear from you. Don’t be reluctant to write.
[email protected]
And don’t forget our brand new interactive website! patrickbresnan.com
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, getting the finished book into the hands of the readers involves a lot of people; it is a huge
enterprise. It would take too many pages to thank everyone involved, but I do wish to single out a special few
for a very sincere thank you: First of all, the folks at Pearson-Prentice Hall; and the first of those is Ashley
Dodge. Ashley is the Executive Editor, which is something like being a ringmaster. Also, my thanks to
Meghan DeMaio, the Production Manager, and to Carly Czech, the Editorial Product Manager. I can’t
count the number of email exchanges I’ve had with Carly. Thanks, too, to Samantha Bennett, the Marketing
Coordinator for Philosophy. Last, but certainly not least, a heartfelt thanks to Suzanne Duda for a uniquely
beautiful cover design.
In addition to the folks at Pearson-Prentice Hall, I wanta to thank Chitra Ganesan, the Senior Project
Manager at PreMediaGlobal. Getting everything ready for publication is a huge job, but Chitra handles it all
with grace and skill (and patience). Also with PreMediaGlobal, thanks to Erin Donahue, the original Project
Manager for the fifth edition of Awakening.
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