Indian and Chinese Philosophy (Uni Slovakia)

122 Pages·2016·0.458 MB·English

by  Adrián Slavkovský

U N I s l ova k I a
adrián slavkovský
Indian and Chinese Philosophy
This textbook offers a brief of harmony are somehow
overview of the main philo- complementary to our prevail-
sophical schools of the two ing contemporary Western
most significant cultures thought. Therefore they can
in ancient Asia, from where be enriching and balancing for adrián slavkovský
these thoughts have spread us and our culture.
widely – it concerns ancient
India and China. Most impor- Adrián Slavkovský is Associ-
Indian and Chinese
tant philosophical concepts ate Professor of Philosophy at
of that region like holistic the Department of Philoso-
Philosophy
or ceremonial approach to phy, Faculty of Philosophy
reality, openness to transcend- and Arts, Trnava University,
ence, pluralism of opinions, Slovakia.
behaviour leading by a sense
IsBN 978-3-631-67466-6
U N I s l ova k I a
adrián slavkovský
Indian and Chinese Philosophy
This textbook offers a brief of harmony are somehow
overview of the main philo- complementary to our prevail-
sophical schools of the two ing contemporary Western
most significant cultures thought. Therefore they can
in ancient Asia, from where be enriching and balancing for adrián slavkovský
these thoughts have spread us and our culture.
widely – it concerns ancient
India and China. Most impor- Adrián Slavkovský is Associ-
Indian and Chinese
tant philosophical concepts ate Professor of Philosophy at
of that region like holistic the Department of Philoso-
Philosophy
or ceremonial approach to phy, Faculty of Philosophy
reality, openness to transcend- and Arts, Trnava University,
ence, pluralism of opinions, Slovakia.
behaviour leading by a sense
Indian and Chinese Philosophy
UNI SLOVAKIA series
Volume 5
Indian and Chinese Philosophy

Adrián Slavkovský
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografi e; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://
dnb.d-nb.de
The publication of this book is part of the project Support for Improving the Quality
of Trnava University (ITMS code 26110230092) — preparation of a Liberal Arts study
program, which was supported by the European Union via its European Social Fund and
by the Slovak Ministry of Education within the Operating Program Education. The text
was prepared at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, Trnava University
in Trnava.
Design and Layout: © Jana Sapáková, Layout JS.
ISSN 2366-2697
ISBN 978-3-631-67466-6
E-ISBN 978-3-653-06654-8
DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-06654-8
© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2016
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Contents

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 7
1. Eastern Philosophy and its Meaning for Us .................................................... 11
1.1 Defi nition of Eastern Philosophy .............................................................. 11
1.2 Reasons to Deal with Eastern Philosophy ........................................ 12
1.3 How to Dedicate Oneself to Eastern Philosophy ...................... 14
2. Origins of Indian Philosophy. Vedas, Upanishads .................................... 19
2.1 Vedic Period, the Vedas ...................................................................................... 19
2.2. Upanishads. Main Features of Indian Thinking ........................... 22
3. Sense and Knowledge in Indian Philosophy ................................................. 27
3.1  An Overview of Indian Philosophical Systems
(Darshanas) ..................................................................................................................... 27
3.2 Nyaya – Methodology of Public Discussions ................................ 29
3.3 Scepticism of Materialism and Perspectivism
of Jainism .......................................................................................................................... 34
4. Vaisheshika, Sankhya and Yoga .................................................................................. 39
4.1 Vaisheshika – An Emphasis on the Empirical Side
of Philosophism ......................................................................................................... 39
5
4.2 Sankhya and Yoga – Purifi cation of Mind through
Knowledge and Exercise ................................................................................... 42
5. Mimansa and Vedanta ......................................................................................................... 49
5.1 Mimansa ............................................................................................................................ 49
5.2 Vedanta ............................................................................................................................... 52
6. Buddhist Schools ...................................................................................................................... 57
6.1 Origins of Buddhism .............................................................................................. 57
6.2 Sarvastivada – Everything Exists ............................................................... 59
6.3 Madhyamika – The Teaching of Emptiness .................................... 64
7. Origins of Chinese Philosophy .................................................................................... 69
7.1 Typical Signs of Chinese Thinking and of Approach
to Reality ........................................................................................................................... 69
7.2 The Most Important Terms .............................................................................. 73
7.3 Heaven and Earth ..................................................................................................... 74
8. Confucius and Confucianists ......................................................................................... 79
8.1 Main Pillars of Confucius’ Teachings ...................................................... 79
8.2 Mencius (Master Meng) ...................................................................................... 83
8.3 Xunzi ...................................................................................................................................... 87
9. Taoism .................................................................................................................................................. 91
9.1 Tao Te Ching (or Dao De Jing) ...................................................................... 91
9.2 Master Zhuang ............................................................................................................ 96
10. Mohism ............................................................................................................................................... 101
10.1 Mozi and His Teachings ...................................................................................... 101
11. School of Logicians and Legists ................................................................................. 105
11.1 School of Names ........................................................................................................ 105
11.2 Legists .................................................................................................................................. 107
12. Cosmological Thinking ........................................................................................................ 111
12.1 School of Yin-yang and The Book of Changes ............................. 111
Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................. 115
6
Introduction

In the socialist era it was complicated to fi nd informa-
tion about Eastern cultures in our country and it was
even harder to get the professional books about the phi-
losophy of these cultures. With open borders and pos-
sibilities, there were far too many off ers at once. Not
only concerning books, but also movies and other forms
of art, meditation courses, martial arts, and of course
plenty of goods. Thanks to the internet, the world has
become even more globalised, the Asian countries that
had been relatively distant were no longer distant or
irrelevant to us. Among books, which should have told
us more about the Eastern way of thinking, the genre
of esoterism dominated and that made an overview of
who were the important thinkers and schools more dif-
fi cult. Most textbooks about the history of philosophy
or various introductions into philosophy did not include
7
Eastern thinking at all or it was scarcely mentioned.
That situation has changed signifi cantly over the past
two years and especially someone who speaks a foreign
language, mainly English, can easily fi nd relevant works
about any aspect of Eastern philosophy.
This textbook off ers a brief overview of the main phil-
osophical schools of the two most signifi cant cultures
in ancient Asia, from where these thoughts have spread
widely – it concerns ancient India and China. Consider-
ing the major culture and language diff erences, a little
space was dedicated to a broader context of Indian and
Chinese philosophy and language, because many terms,
which are used, do not have a proper Slovak equivalent.
This textbook is mainly aimed at students studying
a bachelor’s degree in humanities and anyone who is
interested in getting to know something about the era
of Indian and Chinese philosophy, in which the most
important philosophical concepts were born. These phil-
osophical concepts then contributed to the formation of
their cultures. It off ers rather an overview of themes and
relations.
I hope the following textbook will help the reader
to get an overview of the broad problematics of East-
ern philosophy. Those who are interested can learn even
more thanks to the bibliography. As this text relates to
the original ancient texts, copyright does not constitute
an obstacle and many of these texts can be accessed on
the internet not only in the original language but there
8