Opinion on eastern philosophy.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

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[anvi]

I'll start by saying that I have a very high opinion of many strands
of Asian thought.

But the east is a very big. and very old, place.  Did you have any
specific philosophical traditions in mind?

[k-onmmunist]

Very high opinion. Much of my religious thought is inspired by Taoism.

[anvi]

I am a fan of Confucian, Mohist and Daoist thought in China (they started out as antithetical but Confucianism and Daosim became more complimentary as Mohism faded in influence and time went on).

I have over time grown somewhat disenchanted with Buddhist and most Hindu thought, although there is one school of Hindu philosophy, Nyaya, a school of realist epistemology, philosophy of mind and logic, that I still like a lot.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

I am a fan of Confucian, Mohist and Daoist thought in China (they started out as antithetical but Confucianism and Daosim became more complimentary as Mohism faded in influence and time went on).

I have over time grown somewhat disenchanted with Buddhist and most Hindu thought, although there is one school of Hindu philosophy, Nyaya, a school of realist epistemology, philosophy of mind and logic, that I still like a lot.

why have you become disenchanted with Buddhist thought?

[anvi]

Well, I'd say first that there is much in Buddhist thought that I greatly admire.  There are also an incredibly large number of different kinds of Buddhism, and I admire much in these disperate traditions.  When I visit East Asia, Buddhist temples are my favorite places to go...

But I guess the Buddhist wholesale rejection of desirous attachment seems unrealistic to me.  I'd agree with them that many forms of attachment are destructive to human life, but others are positive, enobling and even morally necessary.  I also don't like how anti-realist many of the Indian schools of Buddhism were, and how reductionist an attitude they took toward personhood (though the latter was significantly corrected by East Asian Buddhists). 

There are three philosophers from the Buddhist tradition, besides the Buddha himself, that I am very fond of though I don't entirely agree with them, Nagarjuna, Linji and Dogen.  But I don't think I could ever practice Buddhism.

[Vepres]

I have a high opinion of it, though some in the west seem downright obsessed with it.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

Well, I'd say first that there is much in Buddhist thought that I greatly admire.  There are also an incredibly large number of different kinds of Buddhism, and I admire much in these disperate traditions.  When I visit East Asia, Buddhist temples are my favorite places to go...

But I guess the Buddhist wholesale rejection of desirous attachment seems unrealistic to me.  I'd agree with them that many forms of attachment are destructive to human life, but others are positive, enobling and even morally necessary.  I also don't like how anti-realist many of the Indian schools of Buddhism were, and how reductionist an attitude they took toward personhood (though the latter was significantly corrected by East Asian Buddhists). 

There are three philosophers from the Buddhist tradition, besides the Buddha himself, that I am very fond of though I don't entirely agree with them, Nagarjuna, Linji and Dogen.  But I don't think I could ever practice Buddhism.

I think you are focussing more on the aesthetic buddhists, but buddhism teaches us to try to look beyond good and evil.

[anvi]

There are three philosophers from the Buddhist tradition, besides the Buddha himself, that I am very fond of though I don't entirely agree with them, Nagarjuna, Linji and Dogen.  But I don't think I could ever practice Buddhism.

I think you are focussing more on the aesthetic buddhists, but buddhism teaches us to try to look beyond good and evil.

Actually, I think the single-best notion in Buddhism is the classical (not Pure-Land) figure of the bodhisattva.  The Bodhisattva embraces both enlightenment and compassion, but emphasizes the latter.  The notion that the true implication of selflessness is selfless service to others, remaining in the world to help suffering beings, is to my mind Buddhism's greatest accomplishment.

[anvi]

Sure, it's an elusive distinction.  But I'm assuming what John had in mind by
eastern philosophy were philosophical traditions whose origins can be
located in the regions of what is now India, Tibet, China, Korea, Vietnam
and Japan.  That's my guess, anyway.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

Sure, it's an elusive distinction.  But I'm assuming what John had in mind by
eastern philosophy were philosophical traditions whose origins can be
located in the regions of what is now India, Tibet, China, Korea, Vietnam
and Japan.  That's my guess, anyway.

Ah, but even Indian Culture and Chinese Culture can be worlds apart.  We only perceive them as "orient" because for Westerners they serve a purpose which has only a loose relation to the Cultures themselves.  Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, to a Westerner, all just mean extinction of being, Freud's death-drive.  They comprise an obscure, reactionary response to modernism.

yes, many modern interpretations of eastern philosophy have a negative view of its supposed logical conclusion. These philosophies were written in a non-modern time period though.

[Earth]

Overall, if I'm going to focus on Buddhism, not crap. Crap for the outmoded concept of Karma, and the elitism, and complacence it can foster. Regardless of whether or not eastern religions, compared to west, are more positive, it still needs to be said that they are still systems of control, as cliched as it sounds.

I'm weary of the entire thing, if we're taking into consideration Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, various forms of ancestor worship. This is taking into consideration their social, and psychological implications, moreso than just their dogma.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

Overall, if I'm going to focus on Buddhism, not crap. Crap for the outmoded concept of Karma, and the elitism, and complacence it can foster. Regardless of whether or not eastern religions, compared to west, are more positive, it still needs to be said that they are still systems of control, as cliched as it sounds.

I'm weary of the entire thing, if we're taking into consideration Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, various forms of ancestor worship. This is taking into consideration their social, and psychological implications, moreso than just their dogma.

its about incorporating things into your own style, kind of like a synthesis. Its not about agreeing or disagreeing.....only the simple minded work on such an axiom...Grass hoper.

[Earth]

its about incorporating things into your own style, kind of like a synthesis. Its not about agreeing or disagreeing.....only the simple minded work on such an axiom...Grass hoper.

BRB, gotta work on a synthesis of scientology's creation myth, and greek orthodox ritual.

Why does this strike me as something only a westerner would say?