Eastern philosophy

"The East is a delicate matter ..." Who does not know this famous phrase from the film, which has long been included in the proverb? Eastern philosophy is subtle and at the same time multifaceted. It was based on the directions of thinking, born by two cultures at once: Chinese and Indian. It is called Ancient. But it has so broadened the spatial and temporal framework, which is of great interest today.

Eastern philosophy - not a set of dogmas and not a historical monument, it is impossible to transform. This is an appeal to the essence of man. To its original essence. A person remains undiscovered not only for others, but sometimes even for himself, being unable to comprehend his own inner world. The question arises: why, knowing so many directions of the solution of arising problems, we want to know how the Eastern philosophy explains the phenomenon of man? Attracts exotic? Maybe. We, who are, to some extent, influenced by the Eurocentric, will always be surprised at how much more rich the eastern unity of social and natural processes is, how great the diversity of both physical and intellectual human capabilities.

What are they, these features of eastern philosophy? In the synthesis of mythological, rational and religious teachings. Here, the teachings of Confucius and Buddha, the Vedas, "Avesta" intertwined. This is a holistic vision of man. Eastern philosophy considers both the world and man himself as the creation of the gods. Here, one can trace hylozoism, animism, associativity and anthropomorphism. Everything is animated, spiritualized. Natural phenomena are likened to man, man to the world.

The relationship of the primitive man and nature evoked sensations of an inseparable connection: in the images of the gods, the forces of nature are personified (a person, experiencing the power of the gods, was powerless to resist them), the gods and people have a common life, with common features and common vices. In addition to the fact that the gods are all-powerful, they are still, like people, capricious, vindictive, pernicious, loving, etc. At the same time, the heroes of myths are endowed with fantastic abilities to overcome evil on the way to the triumph of justice.

The chaos gradually became ordered and the universe began to ascribe to the "first man": the thousand-headed, thousand-eyed, thousand-strong Purusha whose mind spawned the Moon, the mouth - fire, the eyes - the Sun, the breath - the wind.

Purusha is both the embodiment of the cosmos and the human community with the very early hierarchy (namely, social) that manifested itself in the division into "varnas": the brahmanas (or priests) - from the mouth of Purusha, from his hands appeared the kshatriyas (warrior class) From the hips - vaisyas (merchants), and the rest (sudras) - from the feet.

Chinese myths explain the universe in this way, only the name of the superman in them is Pangu. A wind with clouds was born in his sigh, his head was born thunder, the Sun with the Moon came out of his eyes, four sides of the world came from the hands and feet, the rivers from the blood, dew and rain from sweat, the glitter of the eyes became lightning ...

Trying to reason intelligibly the causality of the world in its various manifestations of variability and constancy, a man had to see his own place, assigned to him. Remained feeling in an indissoluble connection with the cosmos, but already there were thoughts about a certain absolute, about the existence of the root cause, about the fundamental principles of being. The human connection with the absolute is already beginning to take shape in two models, where both the storehouse of the eastern peoples and their social structure are reflected simultaneously. The two pillars contain: centralized despotism (it is based on state ownership of water and land) and the rural community. In consciousness, the absolutely boundless power of the monarch of the East is refracted (omnipotence of the one, with the attributes of the main deity).

The one in China is the "great beginning," which is capable of giving birth, endowing, killing a person, is now deified in Heaven (or "Tien"). In the "Canon of Poems" ("Shi Jing"), the common progenitor is the sky. The "Canon" highlights public foundations, they need to be maintained and preserved. Somewhat later, there is an idea of the perfection of man, where humaneness and etiquette (some kind of enduring values - kindness, courage, moral imperative - "what they should not do to me, I will not do to others" are in the first place, virtue, strict subordination to the established Social roles: the sovereign should remain the sovereign, the son - the son, and the father - the father).

The ideological foundation of Chinese society was Confucianism, which indicated the norm, rules, ceremonial in the cornerstones of social organization. In the canonical treatise "Li Tzu" Confucius wrote: "Without Lee, order can not be, and therefore, there can not be in the state and prosperity." There will be no Li, there will be no difference between subjects and sovereigns, the lower classes and the upper classes, the old and the youth. Lee - things in the prescribed manner. "

A similar picture is emerging in India. Here Brahma forms the unreal and the real, determines the names and karma, gives a special position. He also established caste divisions with the requirement of unconditional observance. Here the tops are the brahmanas (or priests), and service is encouraged and evaluated as "the highest business" of sudras (commoners).

The Indian reality is in the "earthly circle," which determined human life so harshly that it did not leave any hope of getting rid of suffering in the event of a fault. The only way is to break the "samsara" (the chain of rebirths).

Incidentally, here lies the source of the mystical search and the path of asceticism that are offered in the Bhagavad Gita, it is vividly and strongly unfolded in Buddhism: "Only if not tied to one's thoughts, self-conquered, left without desire and a detached person will attain perfection ..."

The peculiarities of the philosophy of the ancient East will take the minds of many more generations ...