Checkpoint: Eastern Religious Philosopher Quotations
Checkpoint: Eastern Religious Philosopher Quotations
• Buddhism: Siddhartha Gautama
• Taoism: Lao Tzu
• Chuang Tzu
• Confucianism: Confucius
• Mencius
Quotation: Watching humanity, seeking answers, and asking, how can we fix humans and all of their bad deeds? Is it possible that self affliction is the answer? Will we ever know?
I feel that my quotation fits all of the philosophers because each were watchers of people, all were intelligent to know that humanity suffered whether intentional or non-intentional, and we may never know because philosophy only goes so far when we are speaking about human nature.
*Human Suffering and Enlightment*
Gautama Siddhartha was a fifth century b. c. philosopher with great concern for people and suffering. Siddhartha’s philosophy eventually became part of the Buddhism religion throughout Asia. Buddhism religion is based on helping individuals overcome affliction and uncertainty of human survival through the abolition of desire, ego, and achievement of the state of nirvana or peace of soul. Buddha’s Four Noble Truths speak of suffering, specific and identifiable causes, ending suffering, and following the Eight Fold Path for enlightened living (Eastern Philosophy, 2008).
*The Natural Order of Things, the Tao*
Lao Tzu (c. sixth century B.C.E.), founder of Taoism, and Chuang Tzu (c. fourth century B.C.E.) was the main follower of Lao Tzu in the world of Taoism philosophy and religion.
Lao Tzu founder of Taoism believed the Tao or Way was the primary principle which ruled over everything in existence including humans and life. He, like others in the Eastern philosophy realm, believed that people could change their lives for the better by understanding the laws of nature. Those laws contained the development of intuition to build up personal power (a strong personal character?) and using the power attained to live life through love and not force.
No coercion in government.
Chuang Tzu’s philosophy was much the same as Lao Tzu in respect to the basic following of the Tao. The only real differences are seen in Chuang’s beliefs of opposites and the dangers of usefulness. The opposite’s belief is simply another way of stating that all is considered equal within the Tao. The dangers of usefulness explain why we should not over use or over extend ourselves in life if we wish to fulfill our future with natural coming elements from the Tao.
*Humanity and Knowledge*
Confucianism, philosophy of Confucius (551–479 B.C.E.) is humanity centered and has a great deal to do with today’s philosophy where Chinese people are concerned. I found this one most interesting and from a females perspective Confucius had very kind eyes and nice facial features. Although I do not believe that human kind is perfectible like Confucius thought, I do believe he had good ideas for bettering ones self and life in general.
I especially liked this quote from Confucius, “No one begins with wisdom, but with diligence and determined study, wisdom can be acquired. And once acquired, wisdom becomes an instrument for perfecting oneself, the family, and society.” (Moore & Bruder, 2008, p. 546). I feel this is so true for any area of life whether it’s personal, political, or any other. When we do good things for ourselves such as an education, helping others, and being good role models for others, this builds wisdom for life. I also like Confucius’s thoughts on government because he felt “the people” were the most important part and should be governed fairly but with required discipline when needed.
*Human Nature and Human Goodness*
Mencius (c. 371c. - 289 B.C.E.) has much of the same thoughts as Confucius being that humans can better their own situations and lives through actions of good and self reflection. One big difference is Mencius’s thoughts on man and suffering. He felt humans should realize some suffering in life before they could fully enjoy all the good life could be. I think this comes back to Confucius’s concept about wisdom because what is wisdom but a lifetime of experience.
If there has been one thing about all of these philosophers that varied little for all it would be about government run states and how people relate to good and bad governments. This in respect to our current day governments in all nations shows that the philosophers were definitely onto something with those thoughts (Moore & Bruder, 2008).
References:
Eastern Philosophy, Tzu
Moore, B. N., & Bruder, K. (2008). Philosophy: The power of ideas (7th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
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