EASTERN THOUGTS FOR THE WESTERN MIND



EASTERN THOUGTS FOR THE WESTERN MIND

Lecture to Philosophy 101 Classes

(Lecture directed to students)

THIS IS AN UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY

I begin by telling the class the importance of leaning about Eastern philosophy. In your entire life you may probably never hear about Eastern philosophy and religions, but you will encounter many persons who are from the Eastern religious or philosophical background. Some 1 billion people or a fifth of the world’s population have an Eastern perspective of the world. By understanding their religion and deep beliefs, you will understand them better, more importantly you will understand your own beliefs and philosophy in a broader and more universal sense.

DEFINING EASTERN RELIGIONS – What is Eastern?

In the East the philosophy and the religions are intertwined. In order to understand the Eastern mind we need to understand the Eastern religions. When I talk about Eastern religions, I am talking about the religions of the Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent, not the thoughts or philosophies of China or Japan such as Taoism, Shintoism or Confucianism. Why do I distinguish? Because, the oriental thoughts are more like rules of conduct, and ritualistic practices, and the concept of God is not well elaborated in them.

WHAT ARE THE WESTERN RELIGIONS AND EASTERN RELIGION?

I ask the class to tell me the Western religions. With ease they get Judaism and Christianity and there is a heated debate if Islam is an Eastern or a Western Religion. I allow the thought to simmer, reminding them that a religion is defined as Eastern or Western not on the basis of where more of its people live but rather of its deep philosophical belief. We take a vote and the class is split in half. Islam is without doubt a Western religion, which I will explain later.

The Eastern religions are easy, Hinduism, Buddhism and rarely anyone knows about Jainism. Sikhism is unique, that it is a blend of both East and West.

|Western Religions |Eastern Religions |

|Judaism |Hinduism |

|Christianity |Buddhism |

|Islam |Jainism |

| Sikhism | |

SCRIPTURES

In order to determine why Islam is a Western religion, we need to look at the roots of the religions. These foundations of the religion are embedded in the scriptures of the respected tradition.

Next inquiry is, what are the scriptures of the Eastern and the Western Religions?

|Religions |Scriptures |

| | |

|Judaism |Old Testament, Torah |

|Christian |Old testament, New testament |

|Islam |Old testament, New testament, Koran |

|Hinduism |Vedas, Upanishads, and Bhagavad-Gita |

|Buddhism | The Tripitaka |

|Jainism |Agams |

| | |

Islam is a Western religion because its roots and scriptures are common with the Western religions. Likewise, the concept of God and purpose of life are similar. Muslims believe in the Old and New Testament yet believe that the Koran is the final authority or the word of God through the prophet Mohammed.

It is interesting to notice that Christians and Muslims believe in many of the same scriptures, yet the practice of religion is so vastly different. The differences are in the interpretation of the text and the rituals of the religion.

Though the Eastern religions have very similar philosophies, Buddhism and Jainism do not build upon the Hindu scripture such as the Vedas, rather they came to the forefront through protest of the extensive ritualistic practices of Hinduism as written in the Vedas.

DATELINE

|Western |Eastern |

|Tribes of Judaism 2000 BC |3000 BC Vedas |

| | |

| |1500 Upanishad |

|Socrates | |

| |Mahavira |

| |Buddha |

| | |

| | |

|Christianity Jesus Christ 0 A.D. | |

| | |

| | |

|Islam Mohammed | |

| | |

| |2000 AD |

Several points become clear. First religions and philosophies have evolved over the past 4000 years. Major figures such as Socrates, Jesus, Mohammed and Mahavira and Buddha have brought about this evolution. Imagine what the world would be like if they were not born. Our world would be a very different place. Now, imagine if we had twice as many great scholars and teachers how different would we be. The evolution of religion and philosophy must we viewed in a historic perspective.

EASTERN PHILOSPHY AND RELIGION

Hinduism is really not a religion - it is a culture. No concept of religion or differences in belief existed in the Vedic and Upanishad era, yet it was Jainism and Buddhism which forced Hinduism to define itself as a religion. Both Buddha and Mahavira protested the many ritualistic sacrifices in Hinduism. Soon they began a new religious order claiming to be different from Hinduism. Hinduism then and even now tries to embrace these religions. For example Buddha is considered one of the incarnations of God.

In contrast to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism were more focused. They emphasized on the best approach toward salvation. The details of this we will discuss in later classes.

DEVELOPMENT OF PHILOSOPHIES

So if you took a class in Western Heritage and you probably learned about the Greek gods and the Romans and Socrates and Plato and so forth. You probably did not learn about the Hindu thinkers and Buddha and Mahavira.

During the same era these thinkers were roaming around on the Eastern continent

Now what were these Eastern thinkers thinking - what is it they passed on to generations

If you were in a Eastern Heritage class these are the things you would have learned.

Something strange happened - in Eastern and Western philosophies. As Western philosophy developed, great philosophers such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle separated philosophy and ethic from religion. No doubt religion and philosophy influenced each other. One reason may have been because of the developments in science and astronomy in the West. While in the East it is difficult or impossible to differentiate between the philosophy and religion.

Eastern philosophy and Eastern religion are very similar. One talks about Hindu religion, or Jain religion which includes the rituals and ceremonies or one talks about Hindu or Jain philosophy which is the metaphysical and the ethical aspects.

My purpose is not to teach you the rituals but the philosophy and more so to compare with the Western thinking so as to put it into a context. A word of caution: I am not comparing to JUDGE if one is better or more accurate than the other but comparing to better understand the two philosophies. It also helps to structure the mind in the most broad perspective.

So what are the major differences in the Easter and Western Religions and Philosophy>

DIFFERENCES IN MAJOR CONCEPTS

I will first write the 4 questions and East and West on the Board and then ask them to answer the question. They all know the Western answer. They slowly begin to learn the East religions perspective- based on what is the Western concept. This table is the core discussion.

| |West |East |

|What is God? |Personal |Impersonal |

|Who is the creator? |God |From infinity to infinity |

|What is our purpose? |Heaven |Salvation |

|What happens to us at death |Heaven or Hell |Reincarnation |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

First let’s look at the concept of God, which is central to all our thinking about religion.

What is God? Who is God? Is he a white bearded man in heaven who watches over you to make sure you do the right things? Does he love you and care for you?

There is a story of a man who was critically ill in the hospital. He almost died and then came back to life. As he recovered he claimed to his family, doctors, nurses and attendants, “I saw God, I saw God”. The staff dismissed him thinking he was delirious from the medications. Yet, he insisted, “I saw God, believe me I saw God.”

A small group of people gather around his bedside to console him, and a young doctors asked, “So, what did he look like, what did God look like.”

With glaring eyes he shouted “SHE IS BLACK.”

The patient engages us and then forces us to visualize God. And when we do visualize God - we picture him as an old wise man with a beard and a staff, much like Michelangelo’s painting on the Sistine Chapel. This is the Western concept of God. Our God in the West is a personal God. We think of him as a he. He looks over us, he listens to us, and talks to us. He has all the characteristics of a perfect human being. He is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. He judges us and punishes us. We as humans develop a close and personal bond with him as we do with our spouse or children. This is our concept of God in the West- simply put God is personal.

What do people in the East believe? Do they also believe in this same personal God?

No! In the Eastern philosophy God is not a person, he is not a he or a she but an it. It does not interact with humans on a personal basis or judge human on their actions. Some religions such as Buddhism say that it, God, does not even exist. God in Hinduism is Brahma - it is all pervasive, present in everyone and everything. In Jainism God is the purified form of the soul. Buddhism does not talk about God. Overall in the Eastern concept God can be thought of as pure consciousness or pure love. All soul are destined to become one with God. So, the Eastern God has many of the same characteristics as the Western God but it is impersonal. Here I qualify that in some Hindu belief God is a personal God – but at the philosophical level it is still an impersonal God.

Discuss the second question – of the creator question.

Again the issue of God comes. While in the Eastern religion it is often coming form infinity and going to infinity. I tell the story of the movie Toy Story and Buzz Light year saying “To infinity and beyond”.

Next we discuss the purpose of life – and introduce the idea of Nirvana. Then the concept of Nirvana is discussed and many realize it is no different from heaven.

Lastly, we discuss how one attains Nirvana. Then we have a detailed discussion on the theory of karma. Using stick models – I make a body, a soul, and karma particles (plus and minus signs) surrounding the soul and show how a specific action such as killing another person may lead to accumulation of negative karmas and that some day these negative karma will come to fruition and result in a negative situation. I show how the soul going from one body to another.

Hence future situations are not predestined but under our control as determined by our present and past actions. Over time one needs to get rid of all negative karmas and then get rid of all positive karmas and then one attains Nirvana.

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