e-mail: cmess@lib.drury.edu
<http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html>
The following was presented at the ASIANetwork Conference, as part of a panel on "Plato's Cave and Asian Suns: Western Philosophy in Teaching Asian Studies," April 26, 1997. I am grateful to both my co-panelists, Raj Thiruvengadam (Simmons College) and Elizabeth Grimbergen, and to members of the audience for their supportive comments and constructive advice (including Roger Ames of the East-West Center, Donald Gregg of the Korea Society, and Joel Smith, Skidmore College).
This schema is offered simply as an initial way of organizing both common contrasts and important parallels, if not intersections, between elements of Western and Eastern philosophies/religions. I hope that the simplicity of this schema does not mislead: it is not intended to suggest "essentialist" or reductionistic accounts of diverse cultures and traditions, simplistic notions of commonalities which overlook definitive differences, etc. Rather to the contrary. The schema is first of all intended as a pedagogical device - one that may help students in their first encounters with specific elements of Eastern religions/philosophies, but in such a way as to help them move beyond such essentialist, reductionist oversimplifications.
I originally became interested in teaching Eastern traditions for the sake of helping students explore the fundamental ideas of several major world cultures, and, thereby, to help them better understand both the commonalities and important differences between their received ways of understanding the world and those characteristic of Eastern cultures. Such understanding is important not only for for the liberal arts intention of increasing our students' awareness of diverse ways of understanding the world; such understanding, in my view, is further essential for our students if they are to be "world citizens" in the increasingly interdependent world of the 21st century.
In teaching Eastern traditions, I found that as students encountered characteristic Eastern notions - especially non-dualistic modes of thinking - they could better understand both the Eastern notion in question and why it seemed strange if I could unpack and make more explicit the underlying, especially philosophical structures of both the Eastern notion and a characteristic Western counterpart. But in doing so, I wanted to avoid setting up yet another dualism - namely, the too-easy dualism between "Western" and "Eastern" traditions. So it seemed crucial to complement the contrasts between the differences with mention of Western notions which are often strikingly close to Eastern notions. In particular, this helped uncover for the students the non-dualistic dimensions of the Western tradition. In doing so, the students see that the simple dualism of "East" (as more characteristically non-dualistic) and "West" (as more characteristically dualistic) is in fact too simple: both traditions contain both dualistic and nondualistic elements. In this way, the students come to see that the initial distinction between "Eastern" and "Western" is countered by many points of similarity and complementarity.
This leads to still larger lessons - namely, that it is exceedingly dangerous to make such broad generalizations as "Eastern" and "Western." Such generalizations may satisfy pedagogical needs when first introducing complex materials, and media needs to simply keep things simple: but these generalizations can also lead to cultural stereotypes which are both false and dangerous. (Consider the way China is often demonized in Western media - a demonization that begins by reducing the extraordinarily rich and diverse traditions of China into a single term.) My best hope is that students will further see that anytime peoples, cultures, and religious and philosophical traditions are painted with such broad strokes - whether with regard to Eastern traditions, Islam and Judaism in the Middle-East, or the multiplicity of religions, philosophies, and peoples of "the West" - such strokes are at best useful as initial sketches, but they must be filled in with much care and attention to the myriad details, the fine grains of multiple and complex differences, which await them beyond such initial starting points.
The original impetus for this panel was to suggest ways in which Western philosophy serves as a natural and helpful introit into the study of Eastern traditions. Ambassador Donald Gregg also demonstrated the very practical significance of these kinds of understandings, as he told us the compelling story of how understanding the Confucian values of another country helped save an important dissident's life. (Ambassador Gregg also took philosophy as an undergraduate...) These and other very positive comments from audience members suggest that, indeed, philosophy has a useful role to play in helping shape our students' understanding of world cultures - and in helping them live much more richly, productively, and peacefully in our increasingly interdependent world.
I begin the course by developing a framework, based in a cultural materialist approach to religion, which suggests broad differences between "religion" in hunting/gathering, horticultural, and agricultural societies.
This framework then serves as a background for understanding important differences in religious "styles" and how different religious traditions shift from one style to another over time.
As examples of how this framework operates in the course - and, correlatively, how I use certain Western counterparts as bridges which usually help the students better understand the Eastern tradition under discussion - I offer here two examples of my writing assignments: one on Buddhism, and the second on the Jains and Shinto.
|
Western |
Eastern |
|
Indo-European notion of Dike ("justice") - an underlying moral order to the universe; not the result of any command, power of the gods/goddesses. (cf. Zeus's recourse to the scales of justice in deciding fate - e.g., of the Achaeans vs. the Trojans [Iliad, VIII.69-70], and of Hector vs. Achilles [Iliad, XXII, 209-210]: not even Zeus can change this order of things.)
|
Vedic notion of rta, a principle of both physical and moral world order Rta is not the command of any divine being. Varuna is the special guardian of rta, but the gods/goddesses themselves are subject to it. (Fenton, 48) --> the moral cause-effect structure of dharma. |
|
Heraclitus: the logos as an underlying principle of order through change |
....Rta is a dynamic principle of order, manifesting itself in change, not in rigidity |
|
Parmenides: "What is, is. What is not, is not." --> Being is One, unchanging, unmovable, "like a well-rounded sphere, vs."be-ings" in sensory experience as multiple, changing, transitory
--> sense experience as illusion.
|
"Nonbeing then was not, nor was there being....Death then existed not, nor the immortal; sheen was there none of night and day. Breathless That One breathed of its own nature; aside from that was nothing whatsoever." (Rigveda 10.129, 1,2) --> no suggestion that the plural universe is illusory, or that the world's generation represents a devolution rather than a realization of being. (Fenton, 50) |
|
Platonic conception of eros (in the Symposium) (cf. Koller, 24f.) |
"Desire came into it at the beginning - desire that was of thought the primal offspring." (Rigveda 10.129) |
|
Post-Aristotelian conceptions of the philosopher as self-sufficient, whose happiness derives from the wisdom of independence, removal from "the world" (Stoics, Epicureans, Cynics, Skeptics) |
"It is not characteristic of Hindus to blame their problems on society or to demand that their discontents be remedied by social changes in their favor. It has been an axiom of Hinduism that the responsibility for resolving one's tensions with the world lies squarely with oneself: inner adjustment is the way to tranquility and contentment." (Fenton, 40) |
|
Jewish (pre-Stoic/pre-Augustine) affirmation of the goodness of creation, body, sexuality ("prophetic tradition") |
"Life-affirming" attitude in Vedic thought - interest in maximizing earthly life, extending it into the svargaloka ("heavenly realm")(Fenton, 47) |
|
Plato's conception of the psyche // three castes in the ideal city of the Republic (the three elements - reason/spirit/appetite // philosopher-kings / guardians / producers - each perform their specific and essential function; they must work together in harmony (= justice) for the health and well-being of the whole Paul's conception of the body of Christ as an organic unity; each part is distinct, yet essential to the health of the whole, and in this sense each part is equal to other others. I Corinthians 12.4-31 |
Three paths in Hinduism: way of knowledge (Vedanta tradition, focus on Brahman) way of devotion ("classical Hinduism," focus on specific gods/goddesses) way of action (doctrines of Karma, Dharma, Dharmasutras, reinforcing caste system) The triloka: Svargaloka antarikshaloka (atmosphere/birds/ "chariots of the gods") prithiviloka - earthly realm of human beings. |
|
"Priestly" / Deuteronomistic concern with correct moral codes - Torah as Law, Teaching Prophetic tradition, e.g., Amos 5 (Hebrew Bible, "Old Testament") |
Dharmasutras (from dharma, pattern of right living) - a concern for moral behavior; ritual as sole concern of religious life is not sufficient. |
|
Parmenides, Pythagoreans, Plato, and subsequent idealisms (Neoplatonists. .Augustine. .Descartes. .Kant. .Hegel) --> Augustine's doctrine of time in The Confessions (Cohen, et. al.)
--> intellectual / experiential (?) recognition of identity between mind of God and mind of comprehending philosopher (Pythagoreans, Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, Hegel) |
Upanishads, "way of knowledge" Atman, the real self -"not the mind, the intellect, the psyche as a whole; not perceptible through the senses or known in ordinary states of consciousness. Our real self is a unique metaphysical reality characterized by consciousness." (Fenton, 85) --> Sankara's doctrine of maya,renunciation (Sannyasa) --> intellectual and experiential recognition of identity between Brahman and Atman |
|
there is more to reality than sense experience (= things and their shadows in the allegory of the cave), where sense-experience stands in nondualistic relation to mathematical definitions and "the Forms" known by the mind; Neoplatonic resolution to the problem of evil: evil is the privation or absence of the good Stoic solution = non-attachment, fulfillment of social duty
|
Bhagavad-Gita's account of evil/chaos as shifting from dualistic understanding of "real" evil vs. real good to nondualistic understanding of "evil" as resting on mistaking a part of reality (sense-experience) for the whole of reality
--> "evil" resulting from the individual's illusory belief that s/he is separate from others --> solution = non-attachment to success or failure of one's actions, fulfillment of social duty for its own sake |
|
"counter-cultural" = anti-hierarchical: "authority" = first-hand experience of the presence of the Divine (Holy Spirit, Jesus on the road to Damascus, etc.): see especially Acts 1-5 ("New Testament") oral tradition; no creed gender equality;
pacifism, even in self-defense +++ more culturally compatible forms of Christianity -- especially following the conversion of Constantine |
Early Buddhism (Theravada) "counter-cultural" = anti-hierarchical "authority" = self-experience
early preference for oral tradition; [the supreme truth cannot be conveyed with words] [Zen: no creed] (some evidence of both monks and nuns, replaced by monks only; cf. Gross); absolute respect for life, commitment to non-violence +++ more culturally compatible forms of Buddhism (Hinayana, Mahayana, Pure Land) -- especially following Emporer Asoka (273-232 B.C.E.: Fenton, 143ff.) |
|
Augustine's doctrine of time in The Confessions. "Complementarity logic" of connection in the face of difference in Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant (in contrast with dualistic logics in Pythagoreans, Parmenides, Augustine, Descartes) |
Zen: "the great empty circle" - the present which is simultaneously empty and full [of the present] (The Long Search: Japan) "not one, not two; both one and two" account of body/mind (Suzuki, 25)
|
|
Socrates' argument in the Crito, concluding with "never do evil" as an "ethic of the few"; early Christian pacifism Augustine's doctrine of Original Sin (out of Manichean, Stoic, Zoroastrian roots) |
Jainism also "counter-cultural," especially with regard to its commitment to pacifism (ahimsa) Condemnation of women as world's greatest temptation, cause of all sinful acts (in Digambaras, "air-clothed" sect: Fenton, 282) |
|
Pre-Socratic philosophy: the logos as the underlying order, nature of things - knowable by human reason (logos) --> fundamental assumption of all natural sciences
--> Aristotelian conception of ethics
as aiming at the right act at the right time in the right way for the right reasons with the right results, etc. Aristotelian conception of politics as the extension and larger context of ethics |
Confucian: Tian, Dao as relatively clear and knowable principles of order --> natural laws and events (Fenton, 200) // detailed accounts of social and ritual behavior as necessary to the order of society (li - "ritual, custom, propriety, manners") --> to do what was right in the proper manner at the proper time (= following the Dao)
the society/culture as the center of concern |
|
Mysticism (the struggle in the Medieval world beginning with John Scotus Eriugena, to develop an appropriate language about God as transcending the ordinary world - via positiva, via negativa, via analogia: see Copleston, 22f.) Modern Romanticism: rejection of modernity as excessively rational, social --> focus on individual sensibilities Early Christian, "historic peace churches" commitment to nonviolence |
Daoism: the Dao is essentially mysterious, beyond language, rules, etc. (Fenton, 204)
the individual is the center of concern
Pacifism: "return great love for great hatred" Tao Te Ching, 79 |
|
"Western" (southern European) goddess traditions;
Role of women in early Christian communities, as contrasted with later, more patriarchal forms of more hierarchical versions of Christianty |
Shinto role of women, the feminine e.g., Ugatama's murder, with her blood --> food, food plants; parthenogenesis; the mostly female miko [shamans]; rule of Queen Himiko; temple torii perhaps symbolizing entrance into the temple as into the womb of the earth, source of lifeblood and plants (Fenton, 260); as contrasted with later forms of religion in Japan |
References, recommended resources
Stephan Beyer. The Buddhist Experience: Sources and Interpretations. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, c. 1974.
S. Marc Cohen, Patricia Curd, and C.D.C. Reeve, eds. Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy: from Thales to Aristotle. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1995.
Frederick C. Copleston. Medieval Philosophy. New York: Harper & Row, 1961.
John Y. Fenton, Norvin Hein, Frank E. Reynolds, Alan L. Miller, Neils C. Nielsen, Jr., Grace G. Burford, and Robert K.C. Forman. Religions of Asia, 2rd ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988. [An updated - but also abbreviated - 3rd edition was issued in 1993.]
Rita Gross. Buddhism after Patriarchy: a feminist history, analysis, and reconstruction. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1993.
Arthur Hyman and James J. Walsh. Philosophy in the Middle Ages: the Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Traditions. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, c. 1973.
W. T. Jones. A History of Western Philosophy. Vol. I: The Classical Mind. Vol. II: The Medieval Mind. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970.
John M. Koller. Oriental Philosophies, 2nd ed. New York: Scribners, 1985.
Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood, trans. The Song of God: Bhagavad-Gita. New York: New American Library, 1972
Shunryu Suzuki. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal talks on Zen meditation and practice. New York: Weatherhill, 1970.
Ch'u Ta-Kao. Tao te Ching. London: Unwin, 1982.
Dr. Elizabeth Grimbergen also suggests:
Fred Dallmayr. Beyond Orientalism: Essays on Cross-Cultural Encounter. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1996.
Gerald James Larson, Eliot Deutsch, eds. Interpreting Across Boundaries: New Essays in Comparative Philosophy. Princeton University Press, 1988.