Great Minds of The Eastern Intellectual Tradition Grant Hardy
Great Minds of The Eastern Intellectual Tradition Grant Hardy
Great Minds of The Eastern Intellectual Tradition Grant Hardy
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Course No. 4620 © 2011 The Teaching Company. PB4620A
PUBLISHED BY:
P
rofessor Grant Hardy is Professor of History
and Religious Studies at the University of
North Carolina at Asheville. After serving
two terms as the chair of the History Department,
he is currently the director of the Humanities
Program. He has a B.A. in Ancient Greek from
Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. in Chinese Language and Literature
from Yale University.
Dr. Hardy is the author or editor of six books, including Worlds of Bronze
and Bamboo: Sima Qian’s Conquest of History; The Establishment of the
Han Empire and Imperial China, coauthored with Anne Kinney of the
University of Virginia; and Understanding the Book of Mormon. His most
recent book is the ¿rst volume of the Oxford History of Historical Writing,
coedited with Andrew Feldherr of Princeton University.
Professor Hardy won UNC Asheville’s 2002 Distinguished Teacher Award for
the Arts and Humanities Faculty and was named to a Ruth and Leon Feldman
Professorship for 2009–2010. He has participated in scholarly symposia on
Sima Qian and early Chinese historiography at the University of Wisconsin–
Madison, Harvard University, and the University of Heidelberg. He also
received a research grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Professor Hardy was raised in Northern California and has taught at Brigham
Young University, BYU-Hawaii, Elmira College, and UNC Asheville. He
lived in Taiwan for two years in the 1980s. He and his wife, Heather, have two
children. One of the things he is most proud of is that he has written or rewritten
most of the articles on imperial China for the World Book Encyclopedia, so his
name is in every elementary school library in the country. Ŷ
i
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
LECTURE GUIDES
LECTURE 1
Life’s Great Questions—Asian Perspectives ......................................3
LECTURE 2
The Vedas and Upanishads—The Beginning.....................................6
LECTURE 3
Mahavira and Jainism—Extreme Nonviolence ...................................9
LECTURE 4
The Buddha—The Middle Way ........................................................12
LECTURE 5
The Bhagavad Gita—The Way of Action ..........................................15
LECTURE 6
Confucius—In Praise of Sage-Kings ................................................18
LECTURE 7
Laozi and Daoism—The Way of Nature ...........................................21
LECTURE 8
The Hundred Schools of Preimperial China .....................................24
LECTURE 9
Mencius and Xunzi—Confucius’s Successors .................................27
LECTURE 10
Sunzi and Han Feizi—Strategy and Legalism ..................................30
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Table of Contents
LECTURE 11
Zarathustra and Mani—Dualistic Religion ........................................33
LECTURE 12
Kautilya and Ashoka—Buddhism and Empire ..................................36
LECTURE 13
Ishvarakrishna and Patanjali—Yoga .................................................39
LECTURE 14
Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu—Buddhist Theories ............................42
LECTURE 15
Sima Qian and Ban Zhao—History and Women ..............................45
LECTURE 16
Dong Zhongshu and Ge Hong—Eclecticism ....................................48
LECTURE 17
Xuanzang and Chinese Buddhism ...................................................51
LECTURE 18
Prince Shotoku, Lady Murasaki, Sei Shonagon ...............................54
LECTURE 19
Saicho to Nichiren—Japanese Buddhism ........................................58
LECTURE 20
Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva—Hindu Vedanta ..............................62
LECTURE 21
Al-Biruni—Islam in India ...................................................................65
LECTURE 22
Nanak and Sirhindi—Sikhism and Su¿sm ........................................68
LECTURE 23
Han Yu to Zhu Xi—Neo-Confucianism .............................................71
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Table of Contents
LECTURE 24
Wang Yangming—The Study of Heart-Mind.....................................74
LECTURE 25
Dogen and Hakuin—Zen Buddhism .................................................77
LECTURE 26
Zeami and Sen no Rikyu—Japanese Aesthetics..............................81
LECTURE 27
Wonhyo to King Sejong—Korean Philosophy ..................................84
LECTURE 28
Padmasambhava to Tsongkhapa—Tibetan Ideas ............................87
LECTURE 29
Science and Technology in Premodern Asia ....................................90
LECTURE 30
Muhammad Iqbal and Rabindranath Tagore ....................................93
LECTURE 31
Mohandas Gandhi—Satyagraha, or Soul-Force ..............................96
LECTURE 32
Fukuzawa Yukichi and Han Yongun .................................................99
LECTURE 33
Kang Youwei and Hu Shi ................................................................102
LECTURE 34
Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong ........................................................106
LECTURE 35
Modern Legacies ............................................................................ 110
LECTURE 36
East and West ................................................................................ 113
iv
Table of Contents
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
v
vi
Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition
Scope:
T
he men and women whose ideas have shaped the traditional cultures
of Asia still have an impact on most of the world’s inhabitants
to this day; therefore, a basic understanding of Asian thought is
indispensable for anyone traveling to that part of the globe, trying to make
sense of international politics, or interacting with people and products with
roots in Asia, or even for those who simply want a fuller picture of the
human condition. It is not possible anymore to study only Western thought
and history and then claim one knows everything necessary. The world is a
smaller place than it used to be, and the variety and richness of the Eastern
intellectual tradition is breathtaking.
The lectures are arranged in roughly chronological order as they track the
intellectual development of the three major Asian civilizations—India,
China, and Japan—with side trips to Persia, Tibet, and Korea. They provide
some basic historical background so these great thinkers can be understood
within their political and social contexts. Although we will jump from
country to country, there are enough cross-cultural connections, particularly
those provided by Buddhism and Confucianism, that the course as a whole
will tell a coherent story.
1
¿rst tried to synthesize Western and Asian ideas, usually pairing prominent
intellectuals who represent either a more open versus a more critical
perspective toward foreign values and the possibility of adapting them to
Asian sensibilities. In the last few lectures, we will see some of the ways in
which traditional Asian thinkers are still important in the modern world and
why all this might matter to Westerners today.
2
Life’s Great Questions—Asian Perspectives
Lecture 1
A
sia has a 2,000-year written record of intellectual speculation
and analysis in philosophy, religion, politics, literature, history,
psychology, and science, from the anonymous Indian Vedas to the
20 -century texts of Mao Zedong and Mohandas Gandhi. Over the course
th
3
modern era, including those thinkers who sought to integrate Western ideas
into Asian traditions.
So, the ¿rst major question we must ask is, is there an Eastern intellectual
tradition? The of¿cial answer is “sort of.” Most scholars agree on the core of
the Western intellectual tradition, limited as it may be to the perspectives of
the proverbial dead white males. These thinkers and their writings have been
tremendously inÀuential in shaping the world we live in, even if most people
don’t read them anymore. They are the origins of our “mental furniture.”
Suggested Reading
4
McGreal, ed., Great Thinkers of the Eastern World.
Smart, World Philosophies.
Questions to Consider
1. How are the major intellectual traditions of Asia connected to each other?
5
The Vedas and Upanishads—The Beginning
Lecture 2
Nothing is known about the authors of the Vedas and the Upanishads,
the oldest surviving texts of Indian thought. The Vedas are a collection
of hymns to an ancient pantheon; the Upanishads contain the
collected wisdom of the Aryan sages. Together, they describe the core
metaphysical and ethical beliefs that would become Hinduism, as well
as many aspects of the Indo-Aryan civilization that produced them.
T
he Indo-Aryans (commonly called Aryans) were the second great
civilization of the Indus River Valley. These nomadic cattle herders
entered the area sometime after 1500 B.C., mingling with the
descendents of the previous Harappan civilization and eventually taking up
agriculture there. Most of what we know about their culture comes from the
Vedas and the Upanishads.
Lecture 2: The Vedas and Upanishads—The Beginning
The Vedas are collections of hymns and ritual texts that were preserved orally
for centuries before being written down between the 4th and 6th centuries
A.D. (Hindus today refer to their most sacred texts as shruti, “that which is
heard.”) The most important Veda is the Rigveda, containing 1,028 hymns
to a multitude of gods. Most were gods of natural phenomena, with human-
like personalities and foibles, like the gods of Olympus or other European
pantheons. In fact, the Aryans were
originally from a region in the modern
Ukraine, and their language, Sanskrit, is The Vedic religion is often
related to modern European languages. called Brahmanism, to
distinguish it from its
Most Vedic hymns were written to
descendant, Hinduism.
accompany rituals, but some address
creation, the order of the universe, and
the origins of social conventions, including the caste system, with its four
major divisions, or varnas: the priestly Brahmins, the warrior Kshatriyas,
the common Vaishas, and the laboring Shudras. The Vedic religion is often
called Brahmanism, to distinguish it from its descendant, Hinduism.
6
The Brahmins developed a set of texts called the Brahmanas that speci¿ed
how rituals were to be performed in excruciating detail; ritual kept the
universe running smoothly and ensured human prosperity. Some Indians
began to wonder if this focus on ritual and material concerns wasn’t missing
the point. A few began to live as ascetic hermits, devoting their lives to
understanding the nature of ultimate reality through rituals of the mind. These
sages’ teachings became the Upanishads. The word upanishad means “to sit
close to,” connoting leaning in close to a guru to hear some secret teaching.
There are 13 major Upanishads and about 108 total, dating from about 900
to 500 B.C. Most take the form of debates about principles like samsara
(reincarnation), karma (cosmic justice), dharma (right behavior), moksha
(liberation from the cycle of samsara), Atman (the unchanging, eternal
self), and Brahman (the ultimate external reality that creates and sustains
the universe).
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
7
3. Is there anything permanent in the changing, multi-faceted world we see
around us?
Lecture 2: The Vedas and Upanishads—The Beginning
8
Mahavira and Jainism—Extreme Nonviolence
Lecture 3
India gave rise to faiths besides Hinduism, the most inÀuential of which
are Jainism and Buddhism. Jainism accepts the basic ideas of samsara,
karma, and moksha but also teaches that all material objects have
souls and that moksha comes from working off bad karma through
self-sacri¿ce. Although Jainism has always been a minority faith, the
Jain principle of ahimsa, or nonviolence, would affect people the world
over through the life and work of Mohandas Gandhi.
T
he founder of Jainism, Vardhamana, was born into the Kshatriya caste
in northeastern India in the mid-6th century B.C. It is believed he was
raised in luxury and wealth but gave up his possessions at the age of
30 to live as a wandering ascetic. After 12 years of fasting and meditation,
he attained enlightenment, became a jina (“conqueror”), and was thereafter
known as Mahavira (“the great hero”). Jains revere him as the 24th and last
tirthankara—“ford ¿nder”—the founders of their faith. For the remaining 30
or so years of his life, he was a spiritual teacher.
According to Mahivira, one could only rid oneself of bad karma through
self-sacri¿ce and refusing to harm other entities. He took this principle of
ahimsa (nonviolence) to its logical extreme; by refusing to harm even plants,
he eventually starved himself to death at 72.
All Jains take ¿ve great vows: no violence, no stealing, no sexual immorality,
no falsehood, and no grasping. Those on the ordinary spiritual path practice
9
vegetarianism, monogamy, meditation, occasional fasting, and generally
lead lives of material simplicity. The extraordinary path is a solitary,
monastic lifestyle, including celibacy, wandering, traveling only by foot (and
barefoot), nudity, and begging for food or self-starvation, which is seen as
the highest good.
Although Jainism is very strict, there is much to admire in the faith; for one
thing, its extremism is voluntary and directed against the self, not against
others. The emphasis on ahimsa gives Jains a keen awareness of suffering and
the obligation to alleviate it. Interestingly,
there is no creator god in Jainism; its ethics
are derived not from divine decree but Although Jainism is very
rational argument. strict, there is much to
admire in the faith.
The familiar tale of the blind men and
the elephant is used in Jainism to critique
ordinary epistemology—how we know what we know. Their concept of
many-sidedness acknowledges that the world is complex and that there is
Lecture 3: Mahavira and Jainism—Extreme Nonviolence
Suggested Reading
10
Questions to Consider
2. What kind of life results when religious principles are taken to their
logical conclusions?
11
The Buddha—The Middle Way
Lecture 4
S
iddhartha Gautama was born in what is now Nepal around the year
563 B.C. Like Mahavira, he was a prince, born to luxury in a time
of political and social turmoil. Miraculous legends surround his
conception and birth; what is more certain is that, at about 29 years of age,
he abandoned his life of privilege for that of a wandering ascetic.
Lecture 4: The Buddha—The Middle Way
12
After six years, Siddhartha found the extremes of the ascetic life were
hampering his spiritual progress. He resumed washing and eating but spent
the bulk of his time in deeper and deeper states of meditation. At last, he
achieved enlightenment, coming to a full understanding of the human
condition and how to eliminate suffering. Adopting the title of Buddha
(meaning “the awakened one”), he began to teach. After 45 years as a
wandering teacher, he fell ill from eating offered food and died, escaping the
cycle of samsara and passing into nirvana.
x Suffering is universal.
Buddhist practice focuses on the process, not the goal. It retains ideas
of samsara, karma, dharma, and moksha, but unlike Brahmanism and
Hinduism, which teach that
people and animals have souls,
and Jainism, which teaches Nirvana is achieved by overcoming
that everything has a soul, the the illusion that there is a self.
Buddha taught that nothing has
a soul. All sentient beings are
transient; any grasping at permanence ends in failure and suffering. Nirvana
is achieved by overcoming the illusion that there is a self.
13
A lay Buddhist is expected to avoid greed, hatred, and delusion; to try to
practice vegetarianism and avoid intoxicants; and to avoid doing harm
through violence, theft, and sexual immorality. Buddhist monks and nuns—
known collectively as the sangha—follow a much stricter lifestyle, including
celibacy and mendicancy.
The Buddha didn’t claim to have any special status or divine authority; his
path to salvation was empirical, practical, and available to anyone. It was
demanding but not extreme and therefore held a lot of appeal for both his
contemporaries and for many people today. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
1. Why is there so much suffering in the world? Is there any reliable way
Lecture 4: The Buddha—The Middle Way
to escape it?
2. Are there more aspects to human beings than the familiar duality of
mind and body?
14
The Bhagavad Gita—The Way of Action
Lecture 5
T
he authorship of the Bhagavad Gita and the Mahabharata is uncertain,
but it was composed sometime between 400 B.C. and A.D. 200 and
inÀuenced nearly all subsequent
Indian literature and philosophy,
including the work of Gandhi, as well as
Western thinkers such as Ralph Waldo
Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
It argues that a person can live a
spiritually meaningful life without
becoming an ascetic and champions a
life of action.
15
x Withdrawing from action is still an act, with karmic consequences.
x The source of evil, and thus bad karma, is desire, not action
in itself.
x There are several ways one can act without attracting bad
karma: jnana yoga, the recognition of the eternal nature of the
soul; bhakti yoga, dedication of one’s actions to Krishna, who
will absorb the karmic consequences; and karma yoga, acting
without attachment.
Karma yoga requires a person to focus on their actions without regard for
the results of the action. In situations of anxiety or high emotion—such as
public speaking, test taking, and so forth—emotions such as fear, desire, and
embarrassment can interfere with our performance. Practicing karma yoga
allows us to be “in the moment,” acting without concern for the outcome.
This can improve both our performance
and ease our minds; in Hindu theological
terms, it also frees us from the karmic Karma yoga requires a
consequences of the action. person to focus on their
Lecture 5: The Bhagavad Gita—The Way of Action
Given recent Western history, not to mention much of its philosophy and
religion, the idea of ignoring the consequences of one’s actions might seem
dangerous, if not horrifying. But there is also value in decisive, emotionless
action: Think of the duties of a ¿re ¿ghter or emergency room doctor. Even
parents, for example, can be more effective in correcting their children when
they can act calmly, without feeling anger, disappointment, or guilt.
Karma yoga is not entirely foreign to Western thought. Jesus, in the Sermon
on the Mount, derided hypocrites who prayed or gave alms only to ensure
16
God’s blessings or glorify themselves. Some have even argued that the only
truly moral actions are desireless, selÀess actions. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
3. What are the differences between the way of knowledge, the way of
devotion, and the way of works? Do other religions offer a similar
variety of paths to enlightenment?
17
Confucius—In Praise of Sage-Kings
Lecture 6
Confucius was the ¿rst Chinese philosopher and one of the most
inÀuential thinkers in world history. His central idea was to address
contemporary lawlessness and social disintegration by looking to the
sages of the past. He was a strong advocate of education, ritual, and
social hierarchies, as well as government that leads by moral example,
not the threat of punishment. More than simply a master of aphorisms,
Confucius offered the world a comprehensive program for personal
ethical development.
C
onfucius (in Chinese, Kongfuzi: “Revered Master Kong”) is probably
the most signi¿cant thinker in Chinese history, yet he considered
himself a failure, having never occupied a signi¿cant political post
where he could implement his ideas—although several of his students did,
and within a few centuries of his death, most Chinese people had accepted
his analysis of what was wrong with the world and how to remedy it.
turmoil, social breakdown, and tremendous suffering. Born around 551 B.C.
to a minor, impoverished aristocratic family,
he received a good education. He spent most
of his life as a teacher of culture, ritual, ethics, Confucius’s answer to
and statecraft, with only a brief, unsuccessful his world’s problems
tenure as a government magistrate. was a return to the
morals of the past.
Confucius did not write down his own ideas,
but his followers collected them after his death
in a volume called the Analects (Chinese lunyu, “conversations”), a jumbled
collection of stories, sayings, and answers (sometimes without questions).
The advice is practical and concrete but not systematic. A common theme is
to practice lin, or reciprocity—as a certain Western thinker would later say,
to treat others as we wish to be treated.
18
Confucius’s answer to his world’s problems was a return to the morals of the
past; ethics come from sages, not revelation or innovation.
19
advocate rules for rules’ sake but to better society and ensure individual
happiness through mutual respect, personal responsibility, and striving for
wisdom and justice. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
Lecture 6: Confucius—In Praise of Sage-Kings
1. What are the keys to social harmony? How can morality best be taught?
20
Laozi and Daoism—The Way of Nature
Lecture 7
I
n many ways, Confucius established the baseline for all later Chinese
philosophical debates. Among the ¿rst to dispute Confucius’s system
was a person or persons known as Laozi—a name that means “old
master”—whose philosophy is collected in the late 4th-century B.C. book of
poetic proverbs called the Daodejing. Much of its advice is cryptic, even
paradoxical; its enigmatic nature has inspired more than 350 commentaries
in Chinese over the past two and a half millennia. Composed during China’s
Warring States period, it offers a solution to the current turmoil not in the
wisdom of the past but in a return to the way of nature.
The Daodejing consists of two parts. Chapters 1–37 focus on the dao, or
“way,” while chapters 38–81 discuss de, an innate human strength, often
translated as integrity or virtue. The dao is hard to de¿ne; it is sometimes
described as “the mother of the world,” not unlike the Upanishads’ Brahman.
The universe itself is described in terms of binary distinctions: “When
everyone knows goodness, this accounts for badness. / Being and nonbeing
give birth to each other / Dif¿cult and easy complete each other.” This
is related to the notion of yin and yang, but it is a mistake to reduce the
idea of white and black to good and evil; both elements are necessary, and
everything in creation has its share of both.
21
naturally. The universe enforces a law of unintended consequences: Every
action brings its opposite; emphasizing any virtue highlights a corresponding
vice: “When knowledge and wisdom appeared, / There emerged great
hypocrisy. … When a country is in disorder,
/ There will be praise of loyal ministers.”
Rather than great, wealthy empires, the dao Every action brings its
leads to small countries and simple lifestyles. opposite; emphasizing
any virtue highlights a
Laozi offers several pieces of practical advice corresponding vice.
to both rulers and individuals. Individuals
should live in unity with nature, be humble
and shun ambition, embrace material simplicity, and generally go with the
Àow. Governments should be as minimal and unobtrusive as possible. One
might ask, if each quality inherently brings its opposite, wouldn’t humility
bring power, and so forth? Yes, but that’s the point: We should embrace what
comes to us and not struggle against the universe. Forceful action always
brings a backlash; better to practice nonaction.
Suggested Reading
More than any other text mentioned in this course, students will bene¿t from
reading multiple versions of the Daodejing. Fortunately it is quite short, and
there are a few dozen reputable translations. I recommend the following:
22
Mair, Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way.
———
Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy.
De Barry and Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition.
Graham, Disputers of the Dao.
Ivanhoe and Van Norden, Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy.
Kirkland, Taoism.
Kohn, Daoism and Chinese Culture.
Kupperman, Classic Asian Philosophy.
Moeller, The Philosophy of the Daodejing.
Questions to Consider
23
The Hundred Schools of Preimperial China
Lecture 8
The Warring States era (475–221 B.C.) brought a great deal of chaos
and suffering to China, which, paradoxically, also allowed for a
remarkable degree of social mobility. Talented, ambitious men vied for
political appointments and often wrote about their ideas. Collectively
called the Hundred Schools, these philosophies represent a golden age
of thought and intellectual freedom in China. Here we will discuss
the founders of three of them from the 4th century B.C.: Mozi, Huizi,
and Zhuangzi.
A
lthough Confucius and Laozi were by far the most inÀuential
thinkers in China’s premodern history, they were by no means the
only great philosophers of ancient China. About 100 years after the
end of the Warring States period, a historian named Sima Tan divided the
Hundred Schools of Chinese philosophy into six major schools: Naturalists,
Confucians, Mohists, Terminologists, Legalists, and Daoists. Only two of
Lecture 8: The Hundred Schools of Preimperial China
these (the Confucians and Mohists) were self-identi¿ed schools; the rest are
amalgams of schools with similar teachings.
The Mohists followed Mozi, the ¿rst great rival of Confucius. He wrote
formal, extended arguments, rather than Confucian-style insights. His main
idea was impartial caring, sometimes translated as universal love. He argued
that large states attack small ones, great families overthrow the lesser, and
the strong oppress the weak because of partiality; peace can be brought
about by striving to love everyone equally.
24
Huizi is categorized as a Terminologist, or logician. He composed a series
of paradoxes that point to the relativity of time and space; for example, he
writes that the moment a being is born, it begins dying. His paradoxes are
often compared to those of the Greek philosopher Zeno, who lived a century
earlier, especially his observation that if you take a foot-long stick and
cut it in half every day, you won’t use it up in ten thousand generations.
Unfortunately, this list is all that remains of Huizi’s work.
Zhuangzi was a great Daoist thinker, second only to Laozi, and unlike Laozi,
we are con¿dent that he was a single, real person. He was an elegant, witty
writer whose ideas are similar to but more extreme than those found in the
Daodejing. Laozi argued that ordinary distinctions were meaningless, but
he generally had a preference for the less
valued. Zhuangzi really has no preference,
Zhuangzi … is famous even between life and death or dreams and
reality; he is famous in the West for being
in the West for being
unsure whether he is a man dreaming he is a
unsure whether he is a butterÀy or a butterÀy dreaming he is a man.
man dreaming he is a
butterÀy or a butterÀy Laozi argues for radical skepticism, saying all
dreaming he is a man. judgments are based on limited, incomplete
perspectives. He is particularly wary of the
limitations of language. He sees no point in
fearing death nor in clinging to life; how can we be sure which is the better?
Rather than present reasoned arguments, he prefers to illustrate his points
with clever stories, some of which feature himself and his friend Huizi the
logician as the main characters. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
25
Kupperman, Classic Asian Philosophy.
Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu.
Questions to Consider
26
Mencius and Xunzi—Confucius’s Successors
Lecture 9
M
encius lived during the 4th century B.C. and the time of the
Hundred Schools, and his life story is quite similar to Confucius’s.
He served only brieÀy as a government of¿cial but was a ¿ne
teacher who had been taught by students of Confucius’s grandson. His
writings consist of extended arguments with his philosophical opponents,
including followers of Mozi.
Mencius’s most famous debate is with the philosopher Gaozi over whether
human nature is good or evil. Gaozi says it is neither but can be channeled
one way or another. Mencius contends that human nature is essentially good,
“just as water naturally Àows downhill.” Evil is a consequence of not acting
on our natural good impulses, which is why education is essential to moral
development. Anyone can become a sage through proper moral cultivation,
which involves both qi (vital energy) and xin (heart/mind).
27
direct observation and the historical record left no doubt that human nature is
evil, or at least sel¿sh, but that enlightened self-interest can motivate people
to choose virtue and cooperation. Since morality must be learned, Xunzi
agrees with Mencius and Confucius on the importance of education.
Suggested Reading
28
Nivison, The Ways of Confucianism.
Shun, Mencius and Early Chinese Thought.
Questions to Consider
1. Are humans by nature good or bad? Is this even the right question to ask?
29
Sunzi and Han Feizi—Strategy and Legalism
Lecture 10
Out of the chaos of the Warring States era, China’s Han dynasty (202
B.C.–A.D. 220) built a powerful empire. Legalism and military strategy
emerged from the Hundred Schools to join Confucianism and Daoism
as leading ideologies of the new Chinese state. Sunzi’s militarist Art of
War reÀects the changing nature of warfare in the period and a Daoist-
like approach to the world. The Legalists argued for the consolidation
of state power through practical means and rejected almost all of
earlier Chinese moral philosophy and statecraft.
T
he major military development of the Warring States period was a
shift from one-on-one ¿ghting between aristocrats driving chariots to
massive battles between armies of peasant conscripts. This new kind
of warfare demanded a new kind of military theory, which was supplied by
thinkers like Sunzi.
Lecture 10: Sunzi and Han Feizi—Strategy and Legalism
Sunzi was said to have been a contemporary of Confucius, but the book
attributed to him, Art of War, was probably written during the Warring States
period in the 4th century B.C. It was likely written by one of his descendents,
named Sun Bin. The principles espoused in the text seem akin to Daoism
in many ways, advocating reversals, going with the Àow, and defying
conventional morality: A skilled general relies on deception, hiding his
true power and intention from his foes; he
takes advantage of weather and terrain; he
expends the fewest resources to the greatest Legalism’s basic tenet is
effect. The only thing a general can be that people can be made
certain of in war is change. to do anything through
reward and punishment.
But it was Legalism that consolidated the
Chinese empire. Legalism was not a uni¿ed
school but a loose group of thinkers who shared an interest in strengthening
the state through rational, practical means. Legalism’s basic tenet is that
people can be made to do anything through reward and punishment. It
30
rejects the Confucian idea that human nature is essentially good, as well as
its reverence for tradition.
Han Feizi represents the epitome of Legalist thought. His central argument
was that a ruler must be careful not to allow his ministers too much power.
Punishment and reward were the “handles” of government, which the leader
must hold tightly. Rulers should watch their ministers carefully, hold them
accountable for their failures, and take credit for their accomplishments.
An ideal ruler is also mysterious, like a Daoist sage; even a weak ruler can
control his ministers through keeping them guessing.
The Qin consolidation of China in 221 B.C. was the founding of the ¿rst
truly Legalist state, but the dynasty barely outlasted its ¿rst emperor. The
emperor’s rule was too harsh, his power too centralized. The Qin dynasty
was succeeded by the Han, which combined Legalist government structure
with Confucian ideology. This proved a solid foundation for the government
of the long Han Empire and beyond. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
31
Questions to Consider
32
Zarathustra and Mani—Dualistic Religion
Lecture 11
T
he ¿rst Persian Empire, often called the Achaemenid Empire,
controlled Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Turkey, Egypt, Afghanistan, and
Pakistan—the entire western expanse of the Silk Road, which
transported both goods and ideas across the Asian continent. Although
usually considered a part of the Western world, Persia bridged East and West
in several signi¿cant ways.
Zarathustra (in Greek, Zoroaster) was a Persian priest who lived sometime
between 1400 and 1000 B.C. Little is known about his life; all that remains
of his writings are 17 brief hymns, called the
Gathas. They are composed in Old Avesta,
which is related to the Sanskrit of the Vedas, Zarathustra’s teachings
and Zoroastrianism and Brahmanism have had a profound effect
some deities in common.
on the development
Where Brahmanism is monistic, however, of Greek thought, as
Zoroastrianism is dualistic: Good and evil, well as on Judaism,
as represented by the great god Ahura Christianity, [and] Islam.
Mazda and the minor deity Angra Mainyu,
are locked in a perpetual struggle for control
of the cosmos. Individual human beings are free to choose between good and
evil, but Ahura Mazda’s triumph is an article of the faith, so Zoroastrians
worship him alone. Zoroastrians also believed in a Last Judgment after
Ahura Mazda’s victory and eternal paradise for the good. Zoroastrian
33
practices include prayer ¿ve times a day, seven yearly feasts, puri¿cation
rituals, and sacri¿ces.
Mani was a 3rd-century A.D. successor to Zarathustra and one of the most
inÀuential ¿gures you’ve never heard of. Manichaeism, now extinct, was
once one of the most widespread, popular religions in the world, blending
the ideas of East and West. Mani’s ideas rested
on Zoroastrian dualism but added concepts
probably borrowed from Christian Gnosticism
and Buddhism: Human beings were created by
dark cosmic forces, but each person contained
Lecture 11: Zarathustra and Mani—Dualistic Religion
© iStockphoto/Thinkstock.
vegetarianism, and celibacy. Hearers might
someday be reincarnated as one of the elect.
Manichaeism died out in the Roman Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate
around the 9th century A.D. and survived in China until at least the 14th;
34
scholars believe Marco Polo identi¿ed a group of Manicaeans living near the
southern Chinese port of Fuzhou in 1292. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Boyce, Zoroastrians.
Questions to Consider
3. What makes the difference between religions that survive and grow and
those that decline and eventually become extinct?
35
Kautilya and Ashoka—Buddhism and Empire
Lecture 12
K
autilya (c. 350–275 B.C.) was a Brahmin advisor and prime minister
to Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of Mauryan Empire. His ideas
can be found in the Arthashastra (“the science of politics” or “the
science of material gain”). He advises on many matters, from agriculture
Lecture 12: Kautilya and Ashoka—Buddhism and Empire
and manufacturing to law and its enforcement, but about a third of the book
concerns diplomacy and war. He was also a
stickler for time management: The model king
followed a schedule divided into 90-minute Ashoka’s role in
periods of meetings, audiences, inspections, Buddhism is similar to
prayer, eating, and sleeping. that of Constantine’s
in Christianity.
Kautilya identi¿ed seven elements of the state:
king, ministers, lands, forti¿cations, treasure,
army, and allies. Good statecraft involved strengthening these elements in
one’s own kingdom and weakening them the enemy’s. He also identi¿ed six
methods of foreign policy: peace, war, neutrality, preparing for war, seeking
protection, and duplicity (pursuing peace and war with the same state at the
same time). He writes openly of espionage and assassination, even fratricide,
yet speaks of the dharma and moral duty of a king as well and says, “The
happiness of the subjects is the happiness of the king.” Like the Legalists in
China, Kautilya attempted to combine ethics and pragmatism.
36
brutal, but in the eighth year of his reign, in the aftermath of the conquest
of Kalinga, he took stock of the massive devastation caused by his war and
converted to Buddhism.
© Hemera/Thinkstock.
emblem of four seated lions
comes from Ashoka’s court,
as does the spoked wheel
of dharma—the Ashoka The quadruple lion, the national emblem of
chakra—that appears on the India, can be traced to Emperor Ashoka.
Indian Àag. Despite Ashoka’s
inÀuence, Buddhism virtually died out in India in the 13th century A.D. The
Mauryan Empire lasted only 130 years, and both Ashoka’s and Kautilya’s
works were lost for centuries as the subcontinent dissolved into smaller
warring kingdoms. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
37
Radhakrishnan and Moore, eds., A Source Book in Indian Philosophy.
Thapar, AĞoka and the Decline of the Mauryas.
Questions to Consider
2. How might a person balance various aims in life that seem contradictory?
38
Ishvarakrishna and Patanjali—Yoga
Lecture 13
S
cholars divide Hinduism into six orthodox schools (Nyaya,
Vaisheshika, Mimamsa, Vedanta, Samkhya, and Yoga) and three
unorthodox schools (Jainism, Buddhism, and Carvaka). The six
orthodox schools developed between the 3rd century B.C. and the 4th or 5th
century A.D. All accept the authority of the Vedas and the Brahmin priests,
along with samsara, karma, dharma, and moksha, but they have different
ideas about the ultimate reality and engage in respectful debate.
39
than moksha—comes from making a clear distinction between purusha
and prakriti.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra consists of 195 aphorisms organized into four chapter-
length books on meditation, yogic practices, psychic powers, and liberation.
His ideas are drawn from several different traditions. He identi¿es ¿ve
“turnings of thought”—valid judgment, error, conceptualization, sleep, and
memory—along with various ways to stop these turnings. He describes eight
stages, or limbs, of Yoga: restraint, observances, posture, breath control,
withdrawing the senses, concentration, meditation, and absorption.
Lecture 13: Ishvarakrishna and Patanjali—Yoga
All Indian philosophical schools, both orthodox and heterodox, have adopted
some form of yoga. In all cases, the program of improvements starts with
ethical practices, then physical practices, and ¿nally mental practices.
40
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
2. How did Yoga originally offer a method of liberation from the suffering
brought about by the entanglement of consciousness and matter, as
expounded in the Samkhya school?
41
Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu—Buddhist Theories
Lecture 14
T
he Buddha discouraged philosophy, yet in the four centuries following
his death, 18 Buddhist schools developed, only one of which survives
today: Theravada (the way of the elders). Theravada teaches that
Lecture 14: Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu—Buddhist Theories
42
Nagarjuna’s Madhyamaka (“middle way”) school of Mahayana Buddhism
explained how the world around us is ultimately empty but that “empty”
is not the same as “nonexistent.” Rather, between the notions of permanent
external reality and total nonexistence is the idea that everything that exists
is temporary. He also concluded that there is no real difference between
samsara and nirvana, since neither can exist unconditionally. The ultimate
truth, he suggested, is beyond all logical analysis. By exposing these
contradictions, Nagarjuna hoped to free us to
experience emptiness through meditation.
“Empty” is not the
same as “nonexistent.” Vasubandhu was a 4 -century writer who
th
Buddhism died out in India by the 13th century A.D. due to a combination
of social and political forces, yet it grew and Àourished in other lands. For
Buddhism, like everything else in existence, the only constant is change. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
43
Kasulis, Zen Action, Zen Person.
Mitchell, Buddhism.
Nagarjuna, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way.
Radhakrishnan and Moore, A Source Book in Indian Philosophy.
Williams, Mahayana Buddhism.
Questions to Consider
2. How dependent are we on our senses for our knowledge of the world?
Is there any form of knowledge that comes apart from our perceptions?
Lecture 14: Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu—Buddhist Theories
3. Are there limits to what we can know? Are some things beyond language
and logical analysis?
44
Sima Qian and Ban Zhao—History and Women
Lecture 15
Sima Qian and Ban Zhao were the ¿rst thinkers in Chinese thought
to deal systematically with history and women, respectively. Neither
would be part of a traditional course on Asian philosophy, but their
ideas have profoundly shaped the lives of millions of people. Sima
Qian’s Shiji is a breathtakingly comprehensive, exquisitely edited
treatment of China’s history from its legendary beginnings to his own
day. Ban Zhao’s most famous piece is the brief “Lessons for Women,”
the ¿rst work to pay speci¿c attention to women and women’s issues
from a Confucian perspective.
I
n Chinese culture, where history writing is a crucial part of cultural
identity, all history writing follows Sima Qian’s Shiji (“the Grand
Scribe’s records”), the ¿rst systematically composed work of Chinese
history by a named author. The project was started by his father, Sima
Tan, and taken up by Sima Qian on Sima Tan’s death in 110 B.C. A decade
later, faced with a choice between death and castration as punishment for
his unfortunate political loyalties, Sima Qian chose castration, seen as a
shameful option, out of duty to his father and the work.
On its completion, the Shiji was comparable in length to the Bible. It covered
the history of the entire world as Sima Qian knew it, beginning with China’s
legendary Yellow Emperor. It is not a linear narrative but is organized into
¿ve sections: 12 basic annals, each devoted to a dynasty; 10 chronological
tables; 8 treatises on ritual, music, the calendar, astronomy, economics, and
so forth; 30 “hereditary houses,” which recount state histories of the late
Zhou dynasty and family histories from the Han dynasty; and 70 biographies
of signi¿cant people or groups, from poets and philosophers to doctors and
politicians. It also includes chapters on the nomadic border peoples and Sima
Qian’s autobiography.
45
perspectives on events and people. Later dynastic histories—of which there
were dozens—all followed Sima Qian’s model; the Shiji is the ¿rst of the 24
so-called standard histories that cover 18 centuries of Chinese civilization.
Ban Zhao, like Sima Qian, began her career in history writing by taking
over the work of a late relative, her brother, the 1st-century historian Ban
Gu. Born into a prominent family, Ban Zhou
was probably the most educated woman of her
time, and she trained several important male The Shiji is the
scholars. Widowed at an early age, she devoted ¿rst of the 24 so-
her remaining life to scholarship, becoming a
called standard
teacher, poet, tutor to the royal family, advisor to
the Dowager Empress, and historian. histories that cover
18 centuries of
In light of such a biography, readers are often Chinese civilization.
surprised by how reactionary and anti-woman the
advice in her “Lessons for Women” seems. Full
Lecture 15: Sima Qian and Ban Zhao—History and Women
46
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
3. Would Ban Zhao be a role model for women today? What sorts of
constraints did she have to deal with, and how did those inÀuence her
advice to her daughters?
47
Dong Zhongshu and Ge Hong—Eclecticism
Lecture 16
B
y the founding of the Han dynasty around 200 B.C., Daoism was
the prominent school of Chinese thought. The Naturalists saw the
world as composed of two complementary forces in ever-shifting
balance and saw the Yijing (“classic of change”), a book of divination, as
not only a predictor of the future but a guide for the present. Other thinkers
tried to categorize natural and human phenomena in terms of the ¿ve phases
Lecture 16: Dong Zhongshu and Ge Hong—Eclecticism
of existence: ¿re, metal, wood, earth, and water, trying to ¿t phenomena into
categories rather than establish cause and effect.
48
Dong’s arguments may seem silly from a modern, scienti¿c perspective, but
his point was that morality is based in the natural world. Heaven provided
a model for human action and (Confucian) human relationships: Emperors
rule ministers, fathers rule sons, and husbands rule wives. His philosophy
offered a rationale for strong, centralized rule and synthesized Daoism,
Legalism, the Naturalism, and Confucianism.
49
avoiding excess, along with incantations and alchemical elixirs to re-create
within one’s body the longer-term processes of the natural world.
Suggested Reading
Lecture 16: Dong Zhongshu and Ge Hong—Eclecticism
Questions to Consider
50
Xuanzang and Chinese Buddhism
Lecture 17
I
ntroduced in the 1st century A.D. by foreign merchants, Buddhism
became popular in the tumultuous period after the fall of the Han
dynasty. Although it got off to a slow start, by the mid-6th century, there
were some 2 million Buddhists in China and 30,000 monasteries. The ¿rst
bridges for Buddhism in China were laid by Daoists, who were attracted to
Buddhist cosmology, meditation, and yoga but ignored a lot of differences
between themselves and Buddhists.
51
Chinese because they are optimistic, like Mencius’s belief that all people can
become sages (or, in this case, can achieve enlightenment).
Pure Land and Chan Buddhism are more focused on practice than doctrine.
Pure Land says the world is hopelessly corrupt and enlightenment in this
life is impossible. Adherents practice bhakti (devotional) yoga and chanting
to ensure rebirth into the Western Paradise, or Pure Land. Although there is
scant evidence, some scholars think Pure Land Buddhism shows Zoroastrian
inÀuence. Chan emphasizes the importance of direct transmission of
knowledge and eschews ritual and scholasticism. In the 7th century, Chan
split into Northern and Southern schools,
which disagreed on the speed of enlightenment.
The Northern took the position that it was The Southern
always gradual; the Southern claimed sudden school was led
enlightenment was possible. The contrast here
by Huineng,
is between Confucian-like self-cultivation and
Daoist-like sudden transformation. probably the most
important ¿gure in
The Southern school was led by Huineng, probably Chan Buddhism.
the most important ¿gure in Chan Buddhism.
He used unconventional teaching methods, such
Lecture 17: Xuanzang and Chinese Buddhism
52
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
53
Prince Shotoku, Lady Murasaki, Sei Shonagon
Lecture 18
The earliest Japanese civilization was built on three gifts from the
Chinese: Buddhism, a writing system, and the idea of a uni¿ed empire.
Prince Shotoku, a 7th-century regent and devoted Buddhist, adapted
Confucian principles to create a bureaucracy for the Japanese state.
Lady Murasaki and Sei Shonagon were two of the ¿rst great writers
in the Japanese language—contemporaries (and perhaps rivals) who
produced two very different but nonetheless classic books.
P
eople inhabited the Japanese islands for thousands of years, but it
wasn’t until the 6th century A.D. that they developed what we would
call a civilization, inspired by contact with the Chinese mainland via
Korea. The ruling clans of Japan adopted Chinese models of scholarship,
religion, and governance, but they did
Lecture 18: Prince Shotoku, Lady Murasaki, Sei Shonagon
54
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-jpd-00065.
Sei Shonagon’s witty, amusing observations in the Pillow Book exemplify the
aesthetic ideal of okashi.
55
Murasaki Shikibu, commonly called Lady Murasaki, was a young widow
and lady in waiting to Empress Shoshi at the turn of the 11th century. Her
Tale of Genji, probably the ¿rst novel in world history, is a romance between
the ideal gentleman Prince Genji and his true love, Murasaki. Murasaki
belongs to a lower social station; he can only take her as a secondary wife.
But Genji’s other marriages, his dalliances, and his political intrigues take
their toll on Murasaki. She dies young, and Genji is devastated. He comes
to realize his own failings, the unhappiness
he has caused others, and the inevitable
passing of all things—a distinctly Buddhist Men wrote mediocre
message. This novel is still worth reading for Chinese poetry, while
its realistic, nuanced observations of emotion
a few women wrote
and psychology.
spectacular Japanese-
Sei Shonagon was a contemporary of language literature.
Murasaki and lady in waiting to Empress
Shoshi’s co-wife, Empress Teishi. Her Pillow
Lecture 18: Prince Shotoku, Lady Murasaki, Sei Shonagon
Aware and okashi are two of the key terms in Japanese aesthetics. Aware
is “sensitivity to things” or “a capacity to be moved by things.” It is a
primary characteristic of the Tale of Genji. Okashi is something that brings a
smile to one’s face, either in delight or amusement. This is the mood of the
Pillow Book. Although from the same time and place, the books are striking
opposites, but each is a jewel of Japanese culture. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
56
Questions to Consider
57
Saicho to Nichiren—Japanese Buddhism
Lecture 19
B
uddhism ¿rst entered Japan from Korea in the 6th century and very
quickly received imperial patronage. But by the 7th century, the
Japanese realized how complex and confusing Buddhism was.
Rather than travel all the way to India, Japanese monks visited China for
mentorship and to obtain new texts.
Lecture 19: Saicho to Nichiren—Japanese Buddhism
© iStockphoto/Thinkstock.
The Tendai temple on Mount Hiei was the heart of medieval Japanese Buddhism.
Many of the period’s most signi¿cant philosophers studied there.
58
Saicho was a monk who founded a temple at Mount Hiei, northeast of
Kyoto, in 788. He traveled to China in 804 and brought back Tiantai (Tendai)
Buddhism, which proclaims three levels of truth (emptiness, temporary
existence, and the middle way) and holds the Lotus Sutra as its highest
scripture. Saicho established a 12-year training course at Mount Hiei, which
fostered several of the most important ¿gures in Japanese Buddhism.
In the 10th century, political stability crumbled and clan warfare increased,
accompanied by a string of natural disasters. As a result, Pure Land
Buddhism, with its emphasis on rebirth into paradise, grew in popularity.
A Pure Land monk named Kuya traveled throughout Japan, repairing
infrastructure, cremating abandoned corpses, and reciting the name of
Amida Buddha, Pure Land’s savior ¿gure, spreading the school by setting an
example. The teachings of Honen, a 12th-century
monk trained at Mount Hiei, said that reciting
the Nembutsu (“namu Amida Butsu”) invoking The monk Nichiren
Amida is the only path to salvation. founded the ¿rst
native Japanese
Shinran, another Mount Hiei monk who later
school of Buddhism.
became Honen’s follower, believed that all
people, himself included, were inherently,
irrevocably sinful but that chanting the Nembutsu just once with true faith
was enough to ensure salvation. Shinran’s disciples founded the True
Pure Land sect, Jodo Shinshu. Its relationship to other Pure Land sects is
interestingly similar to Lutheranism’s relationship to Catholicism, both in
doctrine and in its clerical lifestyle, which allows priests to marry.
In the 13th century, the monk Nichiren founded the ¿rst native Japanese
school of Buddhism. Educated at Mount Hiei, he developed an apocalyptic
59
worldview: Japan must repent or be
destroyed. Other forms of Buddhism
were not just misguided but false
and evil. He replaced faith in Amida
with faith in the Lotus Sutra; the
Nembutsu became “namu myoho
rengekyo”—“Praise to the Lotus
Sutra of the wonderful law.” He was
an ardent nationalist who believed
that Japan had a mission to spread
the truth to the world, but he was also
highly critical of the contemporary
government. He was exiled,
pardoned, arrested, and sentenced
Suggested Reading
60
Kasulis, Zen Action, Zen Person.
Mitchell, Buddhism.
Varley, Japanese Culture.
Questions to Consider
61
Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva—Hindu Vedanta
Lecture 20
The Vedanta school is the most important and inÀuential of the six
orthodox schools of India. Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva were
three Vedanta thinkers with very different, sophisticated conceptions
of the relationship between Atman and Brahman. Shankara was the
champion of monism, Ramanuja of quali¿ed nondualism, and Madhva
of dualism and fully Àedged theism. All three thinkers are considered
not just philosophers but saints, and their ideas have been inÀuential
into the present day.
T
he term “Hindu” does not describe a single Indian religion; rather, it
is a catch-all term for the tremendous variety of beliefs and practices
of the Indian subcontinent. This includes the so-called six orthodox
Hindu schools, of which Vedanta is the most important.
Lecture 20: Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva—Hindu Vedanta
© Hemera/Thinkstock.
Although all of the schools of Hinduism revere the same texts, such as the
Bhagavad Gita, they differ in interpretation, sometimes dramatically.
62
Shankara (788–822) was probably the most famous of all Vedanta
philosophers. He established four monasteries and wrote commentaries on
the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the
Brahma Sutra. Shankara’s philosophies are the
foundation of most Indians’ understanding of It is only through the
the Upanishads. lower truth that one
reaches the higher.
Shankara summarized his philosophy in three
points: Only Brahman is real, the world is an
illusion, and the self is not different from Brahman. The ultimate reality is
a god without qualities—pure existence, beyond names and forms. Jnanya
yoga (“the way of knowledge”) is the key to correct understanding, but
there are limits to what the mind can accomplish because it operates in the
conventional world. Still, it is only through the lower truth that one reaches
the higher.
63
God lifting the veil of ignorance and revealing himself to those who make
themselves worthy. Salvation is possible for anyone of any caste, but not for
everyone. Madhva’s ideas also lend themselves to theism. His is a personal
god with clear characteristics.
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
64
Al-Biruni—Islam in India
Lecture 21
I
slam is a faith of strict monotheism and rejection of idolatry. Founded
by the prophet Muhammad in A.D. 610, Islam had spread throughout the
Arabian Peninsula by the 630s. After Muhammad’s death, four orthodox
caliphs led Islam for 30 years and conquered Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Iraq,
and Persia (modern-day Iran). Next, the Umayyad clan took power and
established their capital at Damascus. They expanded Islam to North Africa,
Spain, and southwestern Pakistan.
65
medicine, pharmacology, mineralogy, history, philosophy, and literature.
He even performed modern-style scienti¿c experiments based on proper
measurement and observation, as well
as analysis of others’ experiments.
We know [Al-Biruni]
In 1030, Al-Biruni wrote Researches studied astronomy,
on India, based on his own experiences, astrology, chronology,
conversations with Indian scholars,
geography, mapping theory,
and Indian texts. He focuses his keen
mind on Indian culture, religion, mathematics, mechanics,
science, and history, and produces a medicine, pharmacology,
virtual encyclopedia of medieval India. mineralogy, history,
Throughout, he is alert to comparisons philosophy, and literature.
from Persian and Greek culture, even
Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism.
What is most astonishing, however, is his attitude: He tries to understand
Indian culture on its own terms and to present Hindu ideas fairly, without
defending or refuting them. He learned Sanskrit—without a dictionary—to
translate key Hindu texts, allowing the Indian sages to speak for themselves
in his work. Al-Biruni sees Hinduism as monotheistic: one god, eternal
and beyond all comparisons, which is certainly a fair description of some
schools’ beliefs.
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
1. How did Islam spread through India, a region very different from the
lands of Islam’s origins?
66
2. Are science and religion opposed to each other? How is the Muslim
version of this story different from or similar to the Christian experience?
67
Nanak and Sirhindi—Sikhism and Su¿sm
Lecture 22
G
uru Nanak (1469–1530) was a Punjabi Hindu who as a young adult
worked for his local Muslim ruler. Around the age of 30, he had a
profound religious experience and declared, “I shall follow God’s
path. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim.” He then left his family to become a
wandering singer and preacher.
Nanak preached the oneness of God and the equality of all humanity, similar
Lecture 22: Nanak and Sirhindi—Sikhism and Su¿sm
to Islam, but denied the authority of Muhammad and the Qur’an. He also
taught doctrines similar to samsara and moksha but rejected idols, avatars,
the Vedas, and the caste system. He preached a strict morality but not
asceticism; practicing meditation, honesty, and generosity would overcome
ego, greed, and attachment. Poetry can also help one draw closer to God.
Unfortunately, a faith that was neither Hindu nor Muslim tended to attract
persecution from both. After the martyrdom of the ¿fth Sikh guru in 1606,
the Sikhs organized themselves into a strict, militarized community. There
are about 26 million Sikhs in the world today.
68
In brief, Su¿sm began as a rejection of the politicization of Islam, speci¿cally
of the worldliness of the 8th-century Umayyad rulers. Su¿s practice
asceticism and spiritual exercises to rid themselves of attachments and
experience direct, ecstatic union with God.
Al-Bistami, a Persian Su¿ of the 9th century,
for example, spoke of the “annihilation of Toward the end of
the self in God.” This form of Islam had his life, Akbar tried to
tremendous appeal to ordinary Indians.
start a new religion
Toward the end of his life, Akbar tried to combining Islamic
start a new religion that combined Islamic monotheism with
monotheism with elements of Hinduism, elements of Hinduism,
Zoroastrianism, Jainism, and Christianity— Zoroastrianism, Jainism,
with himself as a divine ruler. Sirhindi
(1564–1624), a Su¿ master at Akbar’s and Christianity—with
court, challenged the new religion and was himself as a divine ruler.
concerned about the growing acceptance
of “the unity of being,” a form of monism,
by Indian Muslims, which he believed denied the critical separation of
creator and creation. The path he advocated, called Naqshbandi, featured the
calm and focused recitation of the names of God under the guidance of a
Su¿ master.
Suggested Reading
69
Questions to Consider
70
Han Yu to Zhu Xi—Neo-Confucianism
Lecture 23
B
uddhism and religious Daoism became popular in China after the fall
of the Han dynasty in the 3rd century and were dominant by the rise
of the Tang dynasty in the 7th century. In this era, China expanded
westward and controlled the Silk Road all the way to Samarkand, in modern
Uzbekistan, and the Tang capital at Xi’an was a center of learning and
philosophy from all over Asia.
71
Moral Way” (or “An Inquiry on the Dao”), an essay that suggested Chinese
civilization should be de¿ned by Confucianism.
Han Yu criticized both Daoism and Buddhism: The world is real; there are
absolute standards of right and wrong; and people have responsibilities to
family, nation, and society. The real dao is the way of the ancient sage-kings.
Buddhism was a superstitious religion that brought chaos to Chinese culture.
Han Yu was exiled for his beliefs.
The Tang dynasty fell in 907, followed by 50 years of chaos. Finally, under
the Song dynasty (960–1279), China became peaceful and prosperous
again thanks to urban and commercial expansion; better seeds and
agricultural methods; and innovations in ship building, tea processing,
porcelain manufacture, and iron working. Scholarship Àourished, and in
the 11th century, scholars such as Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao, and
Cheng I sought to give Confucian ethics a
metaphysical foundation from Daoism and
Buddhism. Meanwhile, a whole string of [After] the An Lushan
talented statesmen put Confucianism into Rebellion, many
practice and vigorously debated how best
Lecture 23: Han Yu to Zhu Xi—Neo-Confucianism
Zhu Xi not only synthesized the cosmological ideas of li, qi, and the
great ultimate; he also brought the key Confucian ideals of sincerity and
benevolence into the mix. Ren is not only a human virtue but a cosmic,
universal force. Ultimately, Zhu Xi combined Confucius’ ideas, Mencius’
72
ideas, 11th-century Neo-Confucian thought, and a bit of Daoism and
Buddhism into a rational, consistent, satisfying whole. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
1. Why did Chinese thinkers look back 1,700 years to Confucius for
answers to contemporary problems? How often do people reinterpret the
past in response to new challenges?
3. Why did the Neo-Confucians adopt Mencius rather than Xunzi as their
second great sage after Confucius?
73
Wang Yangming—The Study of Heart-Mind
Lecture 24
Zhu Xi was a controversial thinker in his own day, but his ideas
were the new orthodoxy a century later, when the civil service exams
were updated to focus on his Four Books of Confucianism and his
commentaries on them. But wherever there is orthodoxy, there will be
people who question it. Wang Yangming found Zhu Xi’s emphasis on the
investigation of things unsatisfying and declared that true knowledge
was innate and could best be recovered though introspection.
Z
hu Xi’s practical accomplishments as a government minister
involved the improvement of agriculture and famine relief, as well as
administration of justice. But his lasting legacy is in education. Not
only did he condense and update the ancient Confucian text Record of Ritual
into Family Rituals for the needs of his contemporaries, he also advocated
replacing the Five Confucian Classics with what he called the Four Books:
Lecture 24: Wang Yangming—The Study of Heart-Mind
the Analects, Mencius, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the Great Learning.
Zhu Xi’s commentaries on the Four Books indicate that the crux of all
ethics is “the investigation of things”—not a form of scienti¿c analysis but
a deep investigation of history and morality.
He also recommended periods of “quiet
sitting,” which was not a Buddhist attempt The exams … allowed
to empty the mind but focus on a single fact social mobility to
or situation.
anyone who had access
Zhu Xi’s canon formed the basis of the to the texts and the
Chinese civil service exams from 1313 drive to master them.
until 1905. (This was thanks in part to the
fall of the Song dynasty to the Mongol Yuan
dynasty in 1279 and the Yuan emperors’ need to create a new bureaucracy.)
The exams were designed to ensure that the nation’s bureaucrats were the
most intelligent, most diligent, most educated men in the country, as well
as the most moral and public-minded. They also allowed social mobility to
anyone who had access to the texts and the drive to master them.
74
Wang Yangming (1472–1529), a scholar-of¿cial of the Ming Dynasty (1368–
1644), studied Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism as well as Buddhism, Daoism,
and military affairs. He passed Zhu
Xi’s civil service exams and became
a provincial governor and a military
commander. Despite his grounding
in Neo-Confucianism, he found
Zhu Xi’s emphasis on knowledge
and contemplation dissatisfying and
ultimately came to the conclusion
that true knowledge is innate. It
can be recovered through study and
overcoming desire, but it can be more
directly accessed though introspection.
Because Chinese culture has such a deep respect for history, the slogan
“brand-new” is not really a selling point. Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming, and the
other Neo-Confucians said they were recovering the lost, original meaning
75
of Confucius and Mencius, but what they really did was devise a new,
holistic worldview that provides meaning for individuals, explains the nature
of the world, and offers an ideology that is suited for government service.
Their achievement is even relevant to the Western world, in that it offers the
potential for reason- and science-based ethics independent of metaphysics as
well as some challenging ideas about human nature. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
4. How would our assumptions about the world be different if we, like the
Chinese, had a single word that meant both “heart” and “mind”?
76
Dogen and Hakuin—Zen Buddhism
Lecture 25
M
ost forms of Buddhism include meditation among their practices,
along with scripture study, chanting, reciting the Nembutsu,
making vows, and so forth. Zen Buddhism relies on meditation
exclusively. The path to enlightenment is transmitted directly from mentor to
student, without dependence on language.
© iStockphoto/Thinkstock.
Meditation is a part of most Buddhist and Hindu traditions, but it is the central
practice of Zen Buddhism.
77
Feng Youlan, a 20th-century Chinese Neo-Confucian philosopher, says that
Zen is based on ¿ve precepts: The highest truth is inexpressible; spiritual
cultivation cannot be cultivated; in the last resort, nothing is gained; there is
nothing much in the Buddhist teaching; and in carrying water and chopping
wood, therein lies the wonderful Dao.
There are two types of Japanese Zen: Rinzai, related to the Southern school
of sudden enlightenment; and Soto, related to the Northern school of
gradual enlightenment.
Dogen (1200–1253) brought the more rigorous Soto Zen from China
to Japan. It teaches that the practice of zazen (sitting meditation) and the
experience of enlightenment (satori) are one and the same. Satori is not a
matter of gaining something; it’s a letting go of the self to let the Buddha
nature unfold. Dogen’s Shobogenzo (“Essence of the Buddha’s True
Dharma,” or “True Dharma Eye
Treasury”) was the ¿rst major Buddhist
text to be composed in Japanese. His Koans … are meant to jolt
ideas have been compared with those a person out of rational or
of Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Sartre.
logical thinking habits so he
Lecture 25: Dogen and Hakuin—Zen Buddhism
78
Hakuin had studied under a number of Zen masters, starting at age 15; he did
not achieve enlightenment until age 41. His spiritual journey was marked by
extremes: He spent four years in intense and devoted meditation on the koan
of the dog and the Buddha nature; he experienced a hint of enlightenment
when an old woman was beating him with a broom and another when he
heard the snow falling. His experience was not gradual so much as a series
of major and minor awakenings. Hakuin said that three things are necessary
for the study of Zen: a great root of faith, a great ball of doubt, and great
determination. Anyone who lacks one of these is like a three-legged kettle
with one leg broken.
Today, the Japanese sometimes distinguish the Soto and Rinzai schools as
“farmer Zen” and “warrior Zen.” Dogen’s sitting meditation seems calm,
almost passive, versus Hakuin’s take-charge process. Indeed Rinzai Zen
has long been associated with the samurai, who admired the singleness of
purpose, ¿rmness of will, and indifference to life and death that Zen taught. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
1. What makes Zen different from other forms of Buddhism? Why has this
particular school been more accepted in the West?
79
2. How is a koan like a riddle? How is it not exactly like a riddle? What is
the purpose of koans?
3. What are the different appeals of “warrior Zen” and “farmer Zen”? What
are the main obstacles to enlightenment, according to Zen thinkers?
Lecture 25: Dogen and Hakuin—Zen Buddhism
80
Zeami and Sen no Rikyu—Japanese Aesthetics
Lecture 26
T
he court of Lorenzo de’ Medici in late 15th-century Florence offers
an interesting point of comparison to its Japanese contemporary, the
court of Shogun Yoshimasa. Lorenzo gathered around him a number
of outstanding artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli,
and Michelangelo Buonarroti, who produced extraordinary works of art,
sculpture, literature, and architecture. They were the core of Europe’s High
Renaissance. Meanwhile, Yoshimasa did much the same thing at the other
end of the Eurasian continent.
During Japan’s medieval era, roughly the 12th to the 16th century, the
emperor ruled in name only while the shoguns operated a feudalized military
government. Consequently, Japan suffered almost constant internal warfare
throughout the period. The Ashikaga clan held the shogunate from 1333 to
1573. Ashikaga Yoshimasa was shogun from 1449 to 1473.
Yoshimasa was more interested in art than war and built the Temple of the
Silver Pavilion east of Kyoto as a sort of colony for the greatest artisans of
the day. Here some of Japan’s most characteristic art forms developed: Noh
drama, Àower arranging, linked-verse poetry, monochrome ink painting,
and the tea ceremony. Zen Buddhism had a powerful inÀuence on the
development of all these traditions, as well as Japanese aesthetics as a whole.
Noh drama reached its maturity with Zeami (c. 1363–1443), an actor,
playwright, and critic. Imperial patronage enabled Zeami to re¿ne his craft
and write 30 or 40 of the most famous Noh plays. Noh is an unusual dramatic
81
Image Copyright Laitr Keiows, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com.
Lecture 26: Zeami and Sen no Rikyu—Japanese Aesthetics
Ashikaga Yoshimasa built the Temple of the Silver Pavilion as a haven and
workshop for the greatest artists of 15th-century Japan.
The tea ceremony as an art form reached its height about a century later, with
Sen no Rikyu, Japan’s greatest tea master. Sen no Rikyu emphasized two
aesthetic ideals: sabi—associated
with age, wear, chilliness,
obscurity—and wabi—a feeling of Yugen, “subtle mystery,” …
solitude and tranquility fostered by [is] related to the idea of aware
rustic, simple, serene surroundings. seen in the Tale of Genji.
Wabi-sabi is the opposite of slick
and polished. So rather than using
shiny, new silver tea sets, Sen no Rikyu and his disciples favored plain,
sometimes misshapen ceramic teacups. The preparation of the tea was slow,
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every movement deliberate and ritualized, virtually without words, so that
host and guest alike could fully concentrate on and savor each moment.
Both Noh drama and the tea ceremony combine Confucian ritual, restraint,
and harmony with Buddhist ideals of contemplation, emptiness, and a
profound truth beyond words. Similarly, ink drawings differ from Western oil
paintings in that they cannot be retouched; when the brush leaves the paper,
the line is ¿nished. Landscape gardening, Àower arranging, calligraphy, even
martial arts, in their impermanence, can all be paths toward meditation and
perceiving ultimate reality.
Although Yoshimasa became a Zen monk after twelve years in the Silver
Pavilion, and the pavilion itself is now a Zen temple, living a re¿ned, tasteful
life in this world was more important to him and his friends than escaping
the bonds of samsara. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
1. How is Noh drama different from Western theater? What emotions does
it try to evoke in its audience?
83
Wonhyo to King Sejong—Korean Philosophy
Lecture 27
Korea has been inÀuenced by Japan and China but has its own
vibrant culture that inÀuenced those nations in turn. Wonhyo, one
of Korea’s greatest Buddhist scholars, wrote commentaries that
inÀuenced China’s Fazang and Huayan schools. King Sejong was an
ideal Confucian ruler whose most important contribution to Korean
culture was promotion of Hangul, one of the most scienti¿c, rational
writing systems ever devised. All the great thinkers of this lecture share
a common cultural preference for harmonizing contradictions and
universalizing applications.
C
hina conquered Korea during the early Han dynasty and held it until
A.D. 313. After this, Korea remained independent until the Japanese
invasion in the early 20th century. Buddhism came to Korea during
Lecture 27: Wonhyo to King Sejong—Korean Philosophy
and Zen the most popular schools. In the 7th century, the Silla kingdom
conquered the peninsula and created a centralized government based on a
Confucian model.
Buddhism was Korea’s dominant religion under the Koryo dynasty (918–
1392), but the doctrinal school (combining Huayan and Tiantai) and the
84
meditation school (Seon, or Zen) disputed the “true” Buddhism. Chinul
(1158–1210), a Zen monk, tried to bridge that divide. First, he harmonized
Northern and Southern (gradual versus sudden) schools of Zen by proposing
that enlightenment began with a sudden realization of one’s potential that
must be followed by an effort to achieve full awakening. Chinul himself
had three awakenings. Through his writings and his reform of Buddhist
monasticism in Korea, Chinul became a major force in revitalizing the faith.
The Choson, or Yi, dynasty governed Korea from 1392 until 1910 with
a Neo-Confucian philosophy. Sejong the Great (r. 1418–1450) was the
Choson’s fourth king, who achieved fame as an innovative military planner,
a sponsor of new agricultural techniques and calendar reform, and a patron
of inventors. He also devised the ¿rst system of
musical notation in East Asia and promoted the
From a linguistic Hangul script still used today.
perspective,
From a linguistic perspective, Hangul is a triumph,
Hangul is a
but it is also breakthrough in social values: The
triumph, but it is idea of universal literacy was a radical notion in
also breakthrough Sejong’s time; Hangul was designed to be simpler
in social values. than Chinese and thus available to those who could
not devote a whole lifetime to study. The shapes
of the Hangul alphabet were created from scratch,
but with connections to Chinese philosophy. The vowel signs comprise
horizontal lines that represent earth (yin), dots that represent heaven (yang),
and vertical lines that represent humans, who walk upright between the two.
In a similar way, the Korean Àag (now South Korean) borrows symbols from
Chinese thought, combined and harmonized in a Korean fashion. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
85
Questions to Consider
86
Padmasambhava to Tsongkhapa—Tibetan Ideas
Lecture 28
Tibetan Buddhism is its own unique tradition with many great thinkers.
Padmasambhava, among the faith’s founders, taught that the key to
liberation is controlling one’s mind by a step-by-step process. Atisha
later revitalized the tradition by introducing ideas from Nagarjuna.
Tsongkhapa wrote philosophical commentaries and practical manuals
for meditation and spiritual progress; the ¿rst Dalai Lama was one of
his students.
T
here are three common misconceptions about Tibet in the West:
1) that it has always been a peaceful, Buddhist nation, 2) that it is
basically a part of China, and 3) that the Buddhism practiced there—
the religion of Dalai Lama—is typical of world Buddhism. Tibet was an
independent, militaristic empire from the
7th century until the Mongol conquest
of Tibet and China in the 13th, and until Padmasambhava is a
the Dalai Lama was forced to Àee from ¿gure of legend, so it
Chinese troops in 1959, was more often
is dif¿cult to determine
separate from China than part of it.
the exact origins of the
Mahayana Buddhism was adopted as practices ascribed to him.
the of¿cial religion of Tibet in the 8th
century. Tibetans practiced tantric,
esoteric elements from India—mantras, mudras, and mandalas—but there
was also strong inÀuence from Bon, the native Shamanistic religion. In time,
Tibetan Buddhism had diverged enough from Theravada and Mahayana
to be classi¿ed as its own form: Vajrayana. Today, there are about 124
million Theravada, 185 million Mahayana, and 20 million Vajrayana
Buddhists worldwide.
87
is a ¿gure of legend, so it is dif¿cult to determine the exact origins of the
practices ascribed to him. He taught that the key to liberation from samsara
is overcoming illusion and controlling one’s mind, which is identical to total
reality. The path to liberation involved many steps, including study under a
guru and rigorous meditation.
The Geluk school (Order of Virtue, also known as the Yellow Hats) was
Lecture 28: Padmasambhava to Tsongkhapa—Tibetan Ideas
88
million Tibetans were killed. Yet the Dalai Lama has always urged Buddhist
solutions to terrible political problems, and in 1989 he was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize. Although it is too early to tell, he may one day be
regarded as a great mind of the Eastern intellectual tradition. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
3. Who is the Dalai Lama, and how does he ¿t into traditional Tibetan
culture?
89
Science and Technology in Premodern Asia
Lecture 29
I
n 1620, the British philosopher Francis Bacon identi¿ed three inventions
that drove European progress: printing, gunpowder, and the magnetic
compass, not realizing each of these had originated in China. The devices
and processes invented in China are myriad, but the great minds behind them
are often unknown to us, their names lost to history. When their names are
Lecture 29: Science and Technology in Premodern Asia
known, usually little else is. For example, Cai Lun, a court eunuch of the 1st
century A.D., is known as the inventor of paper, but we know nothing else
about his life or other ideas.
Also, what these intelligent, observant people were doing in Asia was
not exactly science as we de¿ne it today—not systematically derived or
empirically supported. Take the work of Zhang Heng (78–139)—astronomer,
inventor, cartographer, poet, and statesman—for example. Among his many
works was the invention of the world’s ¿rst seismograph in 132. Unlike a
modern device, it didn’t measure the strength of an earthquake but the
direction to the epicenter. This was not important (or not only important)
for sending disaster relief; since earthquakes were regarded as portents from
heaven, the government needed to ¿nd the quake’s origin and root out the
corruption there that evoked heaven’s wrath.
90
¿rst known thinker to suggest that the earth rotates, accurately estimating
both the daily (23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds) and yearly (365 days, 6
hours, 12 minutes, 3 minutes too long) motion of the planet. This is closer to
modern science: Aryabhata is doing mathematical, veri¿able astronomy. Yet
his book begins with an invocation of Brahman and an estimation of the long
Hindu cycles of creation and destruction. His interest in astronomy is based
on the Hindu ritual calendar and driven by a desire to perfect it.
When Europeans started showing up regularly in Asia in the 16th century, they
didn’t have much to offer, technologically speaking. Yet by the 19th century,
Europeans had military and industrial capacities far beyond anything that
91
Asian empires had ever seen. This came as quite a shock and presented new
intellectual challenges to the great minds of the East. Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
1. What is the relationship between math and science? Can you have one
without the other?
92
Muhammad Iqbal and Rabindranath Tagore
Lecture 30
Once East met West, the primary challenge to Eastern thinkers was
whether to accept, reject, or adapt to the political and economic
changes contact had wrought. Among Indian intellectuals, Muhammad
Iqbal, a Muslim, suggested humans could best reach their potential
within religious communities and tried to move Islam toward freedom,
equality, and solidarity. In contrast, Rabindranath Tagore, a Hindu,
saw the divisions of religion and nationality as obstacles to progress and
human Àourishing.
A
lthough we have seen cultural exchanges between the civilizations
of Asia, their differences have still been quite pronounced. In the
modern era, each will respond
to the challenge of the West in its own
speci¿c way. In general, however,
they had four choices: reassert the
superiority of their own tradition,
hold on to some of that tradition while
93
was inÀuenced by Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Bergson, but his primary
inspiration was the Qur’an and Persian literature, including the Su¿ poet
Rumi. To him, Western science represented progress but had also brought
exploitation of the weak and the poor. He looked to Islam for elements that
could be built on to meet the challenge of the West.
Tagore believed both Western and Eastern civilizations had gotten off track:
The West was consumed with materialism and power, while India was mired
in empty spiritualism and cruel tradition. He was constantly involved in
rural development programs and educational reforms. He believed deeply
in freedom and equality and thought universal education was essential to
ful¿ll these ideals. In his experimental school, called Shantiniketan (Abode
of Peace), he encouraged students to learn their own Indian traditions and
those of other cultures. Ŷ
94
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
95
Mohandas Gandhi—Satyagraha, or Soul-Force
Lecture 31
M
ost people in the West know at least a little something about
Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) and his pioneering work in
nonviolent resistance and human rights. Gandhi was actually
a pretty complicated fellow, more of a spiritual and political leader than a
systematic thinker or philosopher. His ideas were sometimes vague and they
Lecture 31: Mohandas Gandhi—Satyagraha, or Soul-Force
The 1982 ¿lm Gandhi offers a good introduction to his life. The cornerstone
of his philosophy was Satyagraha. Satyagraha is connected to the Jain
ideal of ahimsa (nonviolence), and the Bhagavad Gita ideal of conquest,
reinterpreted as a spiritual struggle. It is not passive but active resistance, and
it’s not for the weak; it takes great courage to be insulted, beaten, or jailed
and not ¿ght back. Nor is the idea to emotionally blackmail one’s opponent;
rather, it’s to awaken his sense of justice through your behavior.
Gandhi originally taught that God is Truth, just as Christians say God is
Love, but later he decided that Truth is God, too. Reality is spiritual, all
people are interconnected (Atman = Brahman), and everyone has a share of
divine goodness within. So to do harm to anyone is to harm God, and to serve
others is to serve God. God was not a person to Gandhi but “an inde¿nable,
mysterious power that pervades everything.” From this perspective, all the
great religions of the world are true, “different roads converging to the same
point.” But in his personal practice, Gandhi remained Hindu.
96
Although Gandhi is celebrated today, many of his ideas are still controversial.
He was very critical of European civilization. He felt that modern life was
unnatural, unhealthy, and spiritually empty. Gandhi worried that many of his
fellow Indian nationalists wanted “English rule without the Englishmen.”
His goal was a more humane way of life, based on self-governing, self-
suf¿cient, traditional Indian villages, where
small is beautiful, the pace is slow, people
Although Gandhi is are connected by family and community, and
celebrated today, everyone has enough because they keep their
many of his ideas are desires in check.
still controversial.
Many of Gandhi’s associates, including
Tagore, found his ideas too extreme, too
religious. Still, Gandhi pushed himself, experimenting with renunciation and
self-sacri¿ce, from fasting to sexual abstinence to long periods of silence.
He founded ashrams where men and women from different castes and
even different religions could live and work together in manual labor and
voluntary simplicity.
97
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
98
Fukuzawa Yukichi and Han Yongun
Lecture 32
J
apan’s Warring States period ended when Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated
his rivals to take the shogunate in 1603. After more than a century of
turmoil, Tokugawa wanted to stabilize Japan, and he did so by freezing
its social structure: Social classes were made hereditary. Trade with the
outside world came to a halt. Christianity was outlawed, and foreigners
were expelled, except for a few Dutch traders con¿ned to an island in
Nagasaki harbor.
This shaky embargo came to an end in July 1853 when Commodore Matthew
Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay with four U.S. warships and demanded the
opening of trade. A treaty between the United States and Japan was followed
by treaties with Britain, France, Holland, and Russia. In 1868, samurai-class
bureaucrats seized control of the government in the name of the emperor, and
the Tokugawa Shogunate collapsed. The following Meiji Restoration was
probably the most successful, most rapid modernization in world history.
99
© iStockphoto/Thinkstock.
Fukuzawa Yukichi was an ardent Japanese nationalist and one of the foremost
Westernizers of the Meiji period.
Han Yongun felt compassion was sorely lacking in the modern world. He
emphasized compassionate action and laid the groundwork for a more
100
socially engaged form of Buddhism. Although these are clearly reformist
ideas, they are based in Buddhism, not Western society, so Han can still be
labeled a traditionalist.
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
1. How have the fates of Japan and Korea been intertwined in the
modern era?
2. Why is it that great thinkers sometimes have dif¿culty taking their own
advice? Is consistency between words and actions important, or can a
person’s ideas outrun his or her own life-choices?
3. How are religious and political reforms connected? And what do they
have to do with love poetry?
101
Kang Youwei and Hu Shi
Lecture 33
China had the most dif¿cult transition to the modern world of any Asian
nation, in part because it had the farthest to go. Kang Youwei argued
that Confucianism could still lead the way to an Age of Great Peace
and rule by the people, but his reforms were quashed by the imperial
elite. Hu Shi was an American-educated pragmatist philosopher who
advocated gradual reform, but his most important contribution to
modernization was his advocacy of vernacular Chinese writing.
I
n 1644, the Manchus, a pastoral Korean people from north of Korea,
conquered China and established the decidedly Confucian and highly
successful Qing dynasty (1661–1796). But by the mid-19th century, the
Qing were in decline, in part because of a disastrous treaty with the British
that forced China to keep importing opium. After the Taiping Rebellion, the
Sino-French and Sino-Japanese wars, and the Boxer Rebellion, it looked like
China would soon be carved up by foreign powers.
102
Peace (rule by the people) and supported a British-style constitutional
monarchy for China. During the Hundred Days’ Reform (1898), Emperor
Guangzu, guided by Kang, ordered government modernization and the
creation of popularly elected local assemblies. But the Dowager Empress
and several conservative generals staged a coup, and Kang Àed to Japan.
In 1912, the last emperor of China abdicated the throne, and a republic
was proclaimed, but the real power was held by regional warlords. Kang
was involved with two attempts to restore the emperor to power, in 1917
and 1924. Both failed miserably. His defense of a constitutional monarchy
steadily lost ground to Sun Yatsen’s appeals for revolution.
Most people never realized how radical Kang’s thinking was until his Book
of Great Unity was published in 1935, eight years after his death. He wrote
of a one-world utopia with no nations, classes, or races; the family would
be obsolete, with government-sponsored nurseries, schools, and retirement
homes. There would be perfect equality between the sexes, and marriage
would be replaced by one-year renewable contracts. This Age of Great Peace
sounds like a Communist paradise, yet Kang’s ideas were derived not from
Marx but from Mozi, Mencius, and
Buddhism. Not surprisingly, Kang was
admired by Mao Zedong.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-hec-27227.
103
Chinese—equivalent to Latin in the West. Hu argued that the Chinese should
write what they spoke. This would make it easier to express new ideas and
make basic literacy possible for many
more people. Elementary schools
began teaching written colloquial The students in Tiananmen
Chinese in 1920. Square on May 4, 1989, knew
The galvanizing event in the New this history, although their
Culture movement came in 1919, now own protest ended tragically.
called the May 4th movement. Some
3,000 university students gathered in
Tiananmen Square to protest the Versailles Peace Treaty, which gave Japan
control of part of China. Hundreds of sympathetic strikes, demonstrations,
and boycotts followed all over the country, and the government backed
down. (The students in Tiananmen Square on May 4, 1989, knew this
history, although their own protest ended tragically.)
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
104
2. Which is the better way to bring about substantive governmental change:
working within the system or trying to overthrow the institution? When,
if ever, is revolution a good idea?
105
Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong
Lecture 34
Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong were likely the two most important
thinkers in 20th-century China. Sun, regarded as a hero in both
mainland China and Taiwan, was a prominent revolutionary who
advocated for nationalism, democracy, and the people’s livelihood. Mao
was without a doubt the most inÀuential Chinese leader of the century;
he kept China uni¿ed and independent of Western domination, but at
a tremendous social cost.
S
un Yat-sen (1866–1925) was a modern-style politician, organizer, and
revolutionary, an adopter who wanted to import some Western ideas
but build on the foundation of traditional Chinese culture. A Christian
educated in Hawaii and China, he devoted most of his early career to raising
money from Chinese living abroad. When the emperor was overthrown
(without Sun’s involvement) in 1911, Sun was elected the provisional
president of the newly established Republic of China.
106
Sun formed his own government in Guangdong and planned a military
campaign with his protégé Chiang Kai-shek to reunite China. But Sun died
of cancer in 1925 before his goals could be accomplished.
Sun Yat-sen is famous for his revision of the traditional Chinese slogan “to
know is not dif¿cult, but to practice is dif¿cult.” He said that was backwards:
It’s easy enough to take action, but knowing what to do is the hard part.
Today Sun Yat-sen is considered
the father of modern China by
Communists and Taiwanese The ideas of Mao Zedong (1893–
Nationalists alike, sometimes 1976) have affected more people,
compared to George Washington. to a larger extent, than almost
anyone else in modern history.
The ideas of Mao Zedong (1893–
1976) have affected more people,
to a larger extent, than almost anyone else in modern history. He was a
founding member of the Chinese Communist Party, and his armies defeated
Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists in 1949.
107
a standstill, emptied universities, and pitted citizens against each other in
antitraditionalist fervor. Hundreds of millions were persecuted. The conÀicts
nearly became a civil war; the turmoil only subsided after Mao’s death
in 1976.
How did a foreign ideology like Marxism capture the imagination of the
Chinese populace? Arguably, it seemed to offer a relief from imperialism
and capitalist exploitation as well as the authoritarian excesses of traditional
Chinese culture. But the appeal was that Mao’s ideas were familiar. Old
habits were redirected. Mao’s “Little Red Book” was a new Analects.
Suggested Reading
Lecture 34: Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong
Questions to Consider
1. How did Sun Yat-sen manage to retain the respect of both the
Communists and the Nationalists?
108
2. Which has had the greater impact in China, Mao’s ideas or his actions?
109
Modern Legacies
Lecture 35
We have now met more than 70 great minds of the Eastern intellectual
tradition. Now we turn to the signi¿cance of these thinkers in modern-
day India, China, and Japan, as well as in the West. Asian customs
that seem strange to Westerners usually have historical roots that make
sense within their own cultural context. Quite often, there is some great
mind behind the attitude or practice as well.
T
he great minds in this course offer you a basic understanding of Asian
intellectual history and a solid foundation for further study. None of
the people discussed are trivial or obscure, at least not to people who
grew up in Asian countries. They are still studied and debated, but their ideas
have penetrated deeply into society and culture.
Most Indians are Hindus, and the concepts of samsara, karma, dharma,
and moksha continue to affect everyday life in India, from the prevalence
of vegetarianism to the emphasis on familial and caste obligations.
Unfortunately, cross-caste discrimination still exists. More positively,
respect for family members, particularly one’s elders, is a key social value,
as commonly seen in the plots
of Bollywood ¿lms. Formal
education is highly valued, Thus the ideas of our great thinkers
yet direct insight, as offered are still very much in play today, as
through yogic practices, is
they are challenged, adapted, and
Lecture 35: Modern Legacies
110
our great thinkers are still very much in play today, as they are challenged,
adapted, and revised in light of changing social and political circumstances.
That said, the Daoist legacy is a keen appreciation of nature and its cycles as
well as spontaneous, effortless action. Chinese are often enthusiastic about
visiting scenic sites, and the ideals of retirement, tranquility, and simplicity
continue to resonate with many Chinese, even those living in the midst of
hectic cities. In addition, the Daoist concepts of yin and yang are essential to
Chinese medicine and even Chinese cooking.
Suggested Reading
Mitchell, Buddhism.
Reid, Confucius Lives Next Door.
111
Questions to Consider
1. What aspects of modern India and China are due to the heritage of great
thinkers in those civilizations?
3. Give some examples of customs that make sense in their own cultural
context, but which might be puzzling to outsiders.
Lecture 35: Modern Legacies
112
East and West
Lecture 36
I
n Chinese thought, the family is often regarded as the model for social
relations and the incubator of morality. Government authority has also
often been rather paternal, which at its best means concern for the
well-being of the common people but at its worst can be highly controlling
and intrusive.
In contrast to India, China has had a strong central government for most of
its history. There are no longer civil service exams on the Confucian classics,
but there is a highly competitive national higher education entrance exam,
administered by the government.
Daoists like Laozi and Zhuangzi argued that there were multiple valid
perspectives and were suspicious of absolute claims and values. This meant
someone could be both Daoist and Confucian, or both Theravada and
Mahayana. Today the Chinese feel a strong cultural urge toward syncretism
and harmony.
Chinese has the oldest continuously used writing system in the world, and
high rate of literacy in a dif¿cult script is one of the great achievements of
113
modern China. Yet there has long been an awareness that words, written or
verbal, can be deceptive.
114
Although the Persian Zoroastrians proposed an evil divinity, most of Asian
thought on the nature of evil looked inward, to our own behaviors and habits
of mind: karma, ignorance, putting oneself at odds with nature, materialism,
and sel¿sh desire. Finally, The Eastern tradition offers many instances of
practical advice for dealing with life and death, as well as thinkers who took
delight in virtue, nature, community, art, and learning.
Now that you have a good sense of the sweep and variety of Asian
intellectual history, you may want to read some of the key texts mentioned
in this course. I would particularly recommend the Analects, the Daodejing,
the Bhagavad Gita, the Tale of Genji, and the Pillow Book. If you want to go
deeper, try the Yoga Sutra and Hakuin’s autobiography. From the modern
era, consider Iqbal’s Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (though
you should ¿rst read the Qur’an), the Penguin Gandhi Reader, and Han
Yongun’s Everything Yearned For.
Of course, your most important next step is to try to make use of some
the ideas you’ve encountered. Remember Confucius’s words: “To learn
something and then to put it into practice at the right time—Is this not
a joy?” Ŷ
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
1. What major themes in Chinese and Japanese culture are most different
from the West?
115
Timeline
116
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
c. 3500 Earliest
B.C. civilizations in
Mesopotamia
c. 2575– Construction
2465 B.C. of the
Pyramids
at Giza
c. 2500- Harrapan
1500 B.C. civilization
in the Indus
Timeline
Valley
c. 2350 Rise of the
B.C. Sumerian
Empire
c. 2000 Hebrew
B.C. migration from
Ur to Canaan
c. 2000– Development
1500 B.C. of the Chinese
writing system
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
c. 1760– The Shang,
1122 China’s ¿rst
historical
dynasty, rules
the North
China Plain
c. 1500– The Vedas are
1000 B.C. composed
1400–1000 Zoroastrianism
B.C. is founded
1045 B.C. The Zhou
dynasty is
founded
1020–721 Kingdom
B.C. of Israel
900–500 The Upani-
B.C. shads are
composed
c. 800 B.C. Life of Uddal-
aka, history’s
¿rst known
philosopher
c. 680 The Yijing is
composed
117
Timeline
118
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
563–483 Life of the
B.C. Buddha
c. 551–479 Life of
B.C. Confucius
550 B.C. Achaemenid
Empire
founded in
Persia
540–468 Life of
B.C. Mahavira
509 B.C. Roman Re-
public founded
c. 500 B.C. Life of Laozi;
composition
of the
Daodejing
480–390 Life of Mozi
B.C.
470–399 Life of
B.C. Socrates
427–327 Life of Plato
B.C.
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
c. 400–200 The
B.C. Mahabharata,
including the
Bhagavad
Gita, is
composed
4th century Sunzi (Sun Choson
B.C. Wu) writes civilization
The Art of War established
384–322 Life of Aristotle
B.C.
380–305 Life of Huizi
B.C.
372–289 Life of
B.C. Mencius
369–286 Life of
B.C. Zhuangzi
350–275 Life of Kautilya
B.C.
330 B.C. Alexander
the Great
conquers the
Achaemenid
Empire
119
Timeline
120
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
322–185 The Mauryan
B.C. Empire unites
the Indian
subcontinent
300–c. 210 Life of Xunzi
B.C.
2nd century Composition
B.C.? of the Yoga
Sutra
280–233 Life of Han
B.C. Feizi
269–232 Reign of the
B.C. Mauryan
emperor
Ashoka;
spread of
Buddhism
throughout
India and
Sri Lanka
247 B.C.– Parthian
224 Empire rules
Persia
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
221 B.C. China is united
under the ¿rst
Qin emperor
200 B.C.– The Han
200 dynasty
c. 195-105 Life of Dong
B.C. Zhongshu
c. 145–86 Life of Sima
B.C. Qian
110 B.C. Sima Qian
begins writing
the Shiji
108 B.C. China over-
throws the
Choson ruler
57–18 B.C. The Three
Kingdoms
(Koguryo,
Paekche, and
Silla) arise
in the lower
peninsula
121
Timeline
122
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
27 B.C. The Roman
Republic
becomes
the Roman
Empire
c. 4 B.C.– Life of Jesus
A.D. 30 of Nazareth
1st century Development Buddhism is
of Mahayana introduced
Buddhism into China
45–116 Life of
Ban Zhao
2nd century Life of Nagar-
juna; develop-
ment of the
Madhyamaka
school of Bud-
dhism
105 Cai Lun
invents paper
132 Zhang Heng
invents the
seismograph
216–276 Life of Mani
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
224–651 Sassanid
Empire rules
Persia
283–343 Life of
Ge Hong
4th century Life of
Vasubandhu;
development
of the Yogacara
school of
Buddhism
4th–6th cen- The Vedas are
turies written down
mid-4th First uni¿ed
century Japanese
state founded
c. 313 The Three Edict of
Kingdoms Milan legalizes
break free Christianity
of Chinese in Rome
dominance
354–430 Life of
Augustine
of Hippo
123
Timeline
124
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
late 4th Life of Ishvara-
century krishna
552 Korean
monks bring
Buddhism
to Japan
476 Fall of the
Roman
Empire in
the West
c. 499 Aryabhata
composes his
treatise on
mathematics
570–632 Life of
Muhammad
573–621 Life of Prince
Shotoku
597 Augustine of
Canterbury
reestablishes
Christianity
in England
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
600-664 Life of
Xuanzang
604 Shotoku
issues the
17-Article
Constitution
610 Muhammad
receives his
¿rst revelation;
Islam founded
617–686 Life of
Wonhyo
622 The Hijirah
(Àight from
Mecca);
Muslim
calendar
begins
629 Songtsän
Gampo
crowned;
beginning of
Tibet’s
recorded
history
125
Timeline
126
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
c. 640s Development
of Chan (Zen)
Buddhism
661–750 Umayyad
caliphs spread
Islam through-
out North
Africa and
into Spain
668 Silla
overthrows
Koguryo and
Paekche and
uni¿es the
peninsula
c. 670s Development
of Su¿ Islam
711 Umayyad
Muslim army
conquers Sind
(southwestern
Pakistan)
750–1258 Abbasid
caliphate
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
755–763 An Lushan
Rebellion
763 King Khrisong
Detsen invites
Chinese
and Indian
monks into
his kingdom;
start of Tibet’s
conversion to
Buddhism
768–824 Life of
Han Yu
775 Padmasamb-
hava (Guru
Rinpoche)
arrives from
India to found
Tibet’s ¿rst
monastery
788 Mount Hiei
Buddhist
temple
founded
127
Timeline
128
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
788–822 Life of
Shankara
794–1186 Heian period
9th century Tibet and
China agree to
a peace treaty
800 Charlemagne
is crowned
Holy Roman
Emperor
804 Saicho and
Kukai visit
China to study
Buddhist
doctrine
843–845 Daoist em-
peror Wuzong
persecutes
Chinese
Buddhists,
Christians, and
Zoroastrians
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
980–1052 Life of Atisha;
second
dissemination
of Buddhism
to Tibet
918–1392 Koryo
dynasty
960-1279 Song dynasty;
urban and
commercial
expansion
throughout
China
966–1017 Life of Sei
Shonagon
973–1014 Life of
Murasaki
Shikibu
973–1048 Life of
Al-Biruni
997–1030 Mahmud’s Reign of
raids and Al- Mahmud
Biruni’s visits in Ghazna
to India (Afghanistan)
129
Timeline
130
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
c. 1000 Rise of Neo-
Confucianism
1012–1096 Life of
Milarepa
1017– Life of Rama-
1137? juna
1030 Al-Biruni
writes
Researches
on India
1095 Pope Urban
II calls for the
First Crusade
1130–1200 Life of Zhu Xi
1058–1111 Life of
Al-Ghazali
1066 Norman
Conquest
of England
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1133–1212 Life of Honen;
establishment
of Pure Land
Buddhism
1158–1210 Life of
Chinul; reform
of Buddhist
monasticism
1160 The University
of Paris
is founded
1173–1263 Life of Shinran
1191 Eisai brings
Rinzai (sudden
enlightenment)
Zen to Japan
1197–1276 Life of
Madhva
1222-1282 Life of Nichiren
1225–1274 Life of Thomas
Aquinas
131
Timeline
132
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1227 Dogen brings
Soto (gradual
enlightenment)
Zen to Japan
1231 Pope Gregory
IX establishes
the Inquisition
1236–1251 Monks
undertake
the printing
of the entire
1,512-volume
Buddhist
canon
Mongol
conquest;
Tibet is
of¿cially a
province of
Yuan dynasty
China
1274–1281 Failed Mongol
invasions of
Japan
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1292 Marco Polo
arrives in
Fuzhou, China
1313 Zhu Xi’s
commentaries
on the Four
Books are
added to the
civil service
exam
curriculum
1333–1573 Muromachi
period
1357–1419 Life of
Tsongkhapa;
Geluk school
and the
line of the
Dalai Lama
established
1363–1443 Life of Zeami;
Noh drama
comes to
maturity
133
Timeline
134
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1368 Mongol Yuan
dynasty
collapses;
Tibet regains
independence
1392–1910 Choson (Yi)
dynasty
1418–1450 Reign of
Sejong the
Great;
development
of the Hangul
writing system
1449–1473 Shogunate
of Ashikaga
Yoshimasa;
Àowering of
Japanese
aesthetics,
called the
Higeshiyama
period
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1453 Fall of the
Byzantine
Empire
(the Roman
Empire in
the East)
1469–1492 Lorenzo de’
Medici’s
patronage of
the great
artists of
Europe sparks
the High
Renaissance
1469–1530 Life of
Guru Nanak
1472–1529 Life of Wang
Yangming
135
Timeline
136
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1492 Spanish
Christians
complete the
Reconquista,
driving the
Muslims from
Spain;
Christopher
Colombus
embarks on
his Atlantic
crossing
c. 1499 Guru Nanak
founds
Sikhism
16th century Lives of
Yi Hwang
(Yi T’oegye)
and Yi I (Yi
Yulgok); rise
of the Four-
Seven debate
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1517 Martin Luther
issues the
95 Theses;
Protestant
Reformation
begins
1522–1591 Life of Sen
no Rikyu;
re¿nement of
wabicha (tea
ceremony)
as a Zen
art form
1542–1605 Life of Akbar
the Great
1564–1624 Life of Sirhindi
1575 Akbar
constructs
the House of
Worship as
a center for
open religious
debate
137
Timeline
138
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1603 Tokugawa
Ieyasu
becomes
shogun and
unites Japan
1603–1620 First
permanent
English
colonies
(Virginia and
Plymouth)
founded in
the Americas
1609–1610 Johannes Ke-
pler develops
the laws of
motion; Galileo
Galilei
discovers
Jupiter’s
moons
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1644 Treaty
between the
Dalai Lama
and the
Manchu
emperor
of China,
establishing
each other’s
spheres of
authority
1644–1911 Manchu (Quin)
dynasty, the
last Chinese
dynasty, rules
China, Tibet,
and Mongolia
1686–1769 Life of Hakuin
1775–1783 American
Revolution
139
Timeline
140
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1785 Charles
Wilkins
creates the
¿rst English
translation
of the
Bhagavad
Gita
1787–1799 French
Revolution
1816 Dogen’s
Shobogenzo
is ¿rst
published,
almost 600
years after its
composition
1835–1901 Life of
Fukuzawa
Yukichi
1848 Karl Marx
publishes The
Communist
Manifesto.
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1850–1864 Taiping
Rebellion
1853–1854 Commodore
Matthew Perry
forces Japan
to open itself
to European
trade
1858 British crown
of¿cially takes
control of India
1858–1927 Life of Kang
Youwei
1861–1865 American
Civil War
1861–1941 Life of
Rabindranath
Tagore
1866–1925 Life of Sun
Yat-sen
141
Timeline
142
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1868 The Meiji
Restoration
begins
1869–1948 Life of
Mohandas
(Mahatma)
Gandhi
1879–1944 Life of Han
Yongun
(Manhae)
1873–1938 Life of Muham-
mad Iqbal
1887–1975 Life of Chiang
Kai-shek
1891–1962 Life of Hu Shi
1893 Parliament
of World
Religions;
Vivekananda’s
plea for
religious
tolerance
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1893–1976 Life of
Mao Zedong
1898 The Hundred
Days’ Reform
1898–1901 Boxer
Rebellion
1905 Confucian Japan claims
civil service Korea as a
exams are protectorate
discontinued
1912 China is
declared
a republic;
Sun Yat-sen
is elected
provisional
president but
is overthrown
two months
later
143
Timeline
144
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1914–1918 -------------------------------------------- World War I ---------------------------------------------
1917 Gandhi Sun Yat-sen Russian
organizes the and Chiang Revolution
indigo workers’ Kai-shek establishes
Satyagraha, establish the the Bolshevik
the ¿rst Nationalist government
of his ¿ve government
major Indian and begin
Satyagrahas a military
campaign to
retake China
1919 The May 4th Korean declare
Movement independence
protests the from Japan,
Treaty of followed by
Versailles in massive but
Tiananmen unsuccessful
Square uprisings
1920 Schools begin
teaching col-
loquial, as well
as classical,
written Chinese
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1921 Chinese
Communist
Party founded
1929–1939 The Great
Depression
1935 Birth of Tenzin
Gyatso, 14th
Dalai Lama
1937 Japan invades
China,
1939–1945 -------------------------------------------- World War II --------------------------------------------
1945 Nationalist-
Communist
civil war;
Communists
establish
the People’s
Republic of
China under
Mao on the
mainland, and
the Nationalist
government
under Chiang
retreats to
Taiwan
145
Timeline
146
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1947 India and
Pakistan are
established
as separate,
independent
states
1950 Chinese
invasion
reestablishes
China’s rule
1950–1953 Korean War;
division of
Korea into the
communist
North and
republican
South.
1958-1961 The Great
Leap Forward
reorganizes
Chinese
agriculture,
leading to
massive
famine
Year India Tibet China Japan Korea The Middle
East and
the West
1959 The Dalai
Lama and his
government
Àee to India
1966–1976 Persecution The Cultural
of Buddhists Revolution,
during China’s ending with
Cultural the death of
Revolution Mao and the
ascension of
Deng Xiaoping
1989 Student The Dalai
protests in Lama is
Tiananmen awarded the
Square on the Nobel Peace
anniversary Prize
of the May
4th Movement
protests
147
Bibliography
Boyce, Mary. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. 2nd ed.
London: Routledge, 2001. The religion of Zarathustra can be a puzzling faith
to outsiders, but Boyce provides clear explanations of its origins, scriptures,
and later history.
148
Chan, Wing-tsit, trans. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969. If you go with only one book of
Chinese philosophy in translation, this should be it. Chan covers the entire
range of Chinese thought from Confucius to Maoism. He includes the entire
Daodejing and is particularly thorough with the texts of Chinese Buddhism.
His introductions alone make this a classic in the ¿eld.
149
De Bary, William Theodore, and Irene Bloom, eds. Sources of Chinese
Tradition, Vol. 1: From Earliest Times to 1600. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2000. This is one of the most comprehensive collections of
excerpts from Chinese intellectual history available. It was a classic when
it was ¿rst published in 1960, and it has since been updated with the most
recent archaeologically recovered texts. The translations and introductions
set the standard for Chinese studies.
De Bary, William Theodore, Donald Keene, George Tanabe, and Paul Varley,
eds. Sources of Japanese Tradition. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2001–2005. In similar manner to their sister volumes in
the Sources series, these two books provide a comprehensive overview of
Japanese history as recorded in primary sources. The Japanese great minds
in this course are all well represented, along with dozens and dozens or
additional thinkers.
Dundas, Paul. The Jains. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2002. An authoritative
yet accessible introduction to the thought of Mahavira and the religion
he founded.
Durrant, Stephen W. The Cloudy Mirror: Tension and ConÀict in the Writings
of Sima Qian. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995. Durrant
Bibliography
draws connections between Sima Qian’s history and the story of his life, in
particular Sima’s relationship with the Confucian tradition.
150
Earhart, H. Byron. Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity. 4th ed. Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth, 2003. Much of the history of Japanese thought is focused
on religion, and Earhart’s textbook covers many great Japanese minds in
relationship to each other and also in their historical contexts.
Embree, Ainsley T., ed. Sources of Indian Tradition, Vol. 1: From the
Beginning to 1800. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. This
is an anthology of fairly short excerpts (with wonderful introductions) of
primary sources in Indian philosophy. Along with the other volumes in the
series, this collection offers an excellent introduction to the actual writings
of Asian thinkers.
151
Hardy, Grant. Worlds of Bronze and Bamboo: Sima Qian’s Conquest of
History. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. A study of Sima
Qian’s Shiji that ¿nds meaning in the unusual, fragmented structure of that
early Chinese history.
Hay, Stephen N., ed. Sources of Indian Tradition, Vol 2: Modern India and
Pakistan. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. Along with
the other volumes in the Columbia Introduction to Oriental Civilizations
series (Sources of India, China, and Japan), this collection offers an excellent
introduction to the actual writings of Asian thinkers.
Ivanhoe, Philip J., and Bryan W. Van Norden, eds. Readings in Classical
Chinese Philosophy. 2nd ed. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 2001. New translations
of most of the key early Chinese thinkers. A great place to start reading the
philosophers themselves.
Keene, Donald. Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion: The Creation of the Soul
of Japan. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. Donald Keene, one
of the eminent scholars of Japan, introduces readers to the artistic Àowering
in the medieval court of the Shogun Yoshimasa and then demonstrates how
Bibliography
those sensibilities have informed Japanese culture ever since. The topics he
covers include theater, painting, architecture, sand gardens, poetry, the tea
ceremony, and Zen.
152
Kohn, Livia. Daoism and Chinese Culture. Cambridge, MA: Three Pines
Press, 2001. Kohn offers not just an introduction to Laozi and Zhuangzi but
also an exploration of how their ideas were adopted by and adapted to later
generations of Chinese thinkers, including people like Ge Hong.
Laozi. Daodejing. More than any other text mentioned in this course, students
will bene¿t from reading multiple versions of the Daodejing. Fortunately,
Laozi’s book is quite short, and there are many reputable translations. I
recommend four: D. C. Lau, Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching (Penguin, 1964), Victor
Mair, Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way (Bantam,
1990), Robert G. Hendricks, Lao-Tzu: Te-Tao Ching (Ballantine, 1992), and
Philip J. Ivanhoe, The Daodejing of Laozi (Hackett, 2003).
McGreal, Ian P., ed. Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. New York:
HarperCollins, 1995. This is probably the book that best mirrors the contents
of this course. Highly recommended.
153
Mencius. Mencius. Translated by Irene Bloom. Edited by Philip J. Ivanhoe.
New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. A recent, readable translation
of the second greatest Confucian thinker after Confucius himself.
Morris, Ivan. The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan.
New York: Kodansha, 1994. Originally published in 1964, this classic study
Bibliography
offers a fascinating glimpse into the unique historical setting that made
possible both Murasaki Shikibu’s Tale of Genji and Sei Shonagon’s Pillow
Book. In fact, those two works are primary sources for Morris’s historical
reconstruction of the era.
154
Nagarjuna. The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna’s
Mulamadhyamakakarika. Translation and commentary by Jay L. Gar¿eld.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. There’s no getting around it;
this is a dif¿cult text. But it is worth taking a look at to get a sense of the
philosophical sophistication of the Buddhist tradition. This translation, from
Tibetan sources, is in some ways easier to follow than earlier renditions from
the original Sanskrit.
Powers, John. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. Rev. ed. Ithaca, New York:
Snow Lion Publications, 2007. The subject of Tibetan Buddhism can be
frustratingly complex and confusing. Powers does a ¿ne job in identifying
major themes and ¿gures in a comprehensive, yet accessible manner.
Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught, Rev. and exp. ed. New York:
Grove Press, 1974. A classic introduction to the ideas of the Buddha, with
translations from major sutras (or suttas, as they are known in Pali).
Reid, T. R. Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East Teaches Us
about Living in the West. New York: Vintage, 1999. A humorous, intriguing
investigation of the continuing inÀuence of Confucianism in modern East
Asia and how that social system compares with Western culture.
155
Schram, Stuart. The Thought of Mao Tse-Tung. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1989. A detailed analysis of the ins and outs of Mao’s ever-
changing ideology, which continues to be prominent in contemporary China,
at least in theory.
Sima Qian. The First Emperor: Selections from the Historical Records.
Translated by Raymond Dawson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
If you are new to Sima Qian, or even to Chinese history, these engaging
chapters concerning the uni¿cation of the China under the ¿rst emperor in
221 B.C. are a great place to begin.
Swann, Nancy Lee. Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of China. Ann
Arbor, MI: Center for Chinese Studies, 2001. This biography of Ban Zhao
(formerly spelled Pan Chao) was ¿rst published in 1932, but it is still the
best study available, in part because it includes an annotated translation of
all her extant works.
Sunzi. Sun Tzu: The Art of War. Translated by Samuel B. Grif¿th. London:
Oxford, 1963. This is the classic version of the text, though Ralph D.
Sawyer’s translation, The Complete Art of War (Boulder, CO: Westview,
1996) includes a related, recently discovered manuscript as well.
Bibliography
156
Terrill, Ross. Mao: A Biography. Rev. and exp. ed. Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 2000. Mao remains a very controversial ¿gure, but Terrill
offers one of the more balanced and readable biographies available. For a
shorter introduction, see Jonathan Spence’s 1999 book Mao Zedong, in the
Penguin Lives series.
Thapar, Romila. Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. Rev. ed. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1998. This study, by one of India’s most prominent
historians, places Emperor Ashoka’s rule and ideas into their original
historical contexts. A classic work updated.
Varley, Paul. Japanese Culture. 4th ed. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press,
2000. More than just a series of essays, this is a comprehensive history of
Japan with a focus on culture, art, and thought. It is an ideal introduction to
a unique civilization.
Wriggins, Sally. The Silk Road Journey with Xuanzang. New York: Basic
Books, 2003. This is a fun example of popular history that still takes care to
get the facts straight. Xuanzang’s was an amazing pilgrimage that took him
from China to India, and Wriggins (who actually retraces his steps) tells his
story in an engaging fashion.
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Series
For those looking for brief overviews, the Very Short Introductions series
published by Oxford University Press has volumes devoted to Buddhism,
Hinduism, Gandhi, Buddha, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Ethics, Sikhism,
Modern China, and Modern Japan.
Internet Sources
Sivin, Nathan. “Why the Scienti¿c Revolution Did Not Take Place in
Bibliography
158
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.
html. A massive database of philosophical essays written by experts. Many
of the great minds in this course have articles devoted to them.
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