PHILOSOPHICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE ORIENT

MARLON PATRICK P. LOFREDO

St. Paul University Quezon City

00

00

1946

1946

00

00

00
1946

00

1946

00

HUMAN NATURE IN CHINESE THOUGHT

00

1946

00

00
1946

MAJOR SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN CHINA

1. Tao Chia, or Taoist School (Taoism)
2. Ju Chia, or Mohist School (Mohism) 3. Fa Chia, or Legalist School (Legalism) 4. Yin-Yang Chia, or Yin-Yang School (Occultism) 5. Ming Chia, or School of Names (Sophism)
00
1946

00

1946

00

00

1946

CONFUCIUS - the Latinized form of Kung-fu-tse, or Master Kung. He was born in Shantung of a noble family, got married at 19, a teacher at 22, a governor at 52, went into exile and wandered for 13 years, died at 72.
00

He laid no claim to being more than a man but when he died he was revered in China almost as a god.

00

1946

CONFUCIANISM
Though Confucianism is called a religion, it is rather a system of ethics or good conduct. He did not teach about any god, rather his attention was centered on making humanity better in this life.
00
1946

00

1946

00

CONFUCIANISM
An ideal individual lives a righteous life, harmonizes the family, brings good government to the country, and brings peace to the whole world.
Being human is of two equally important and totally indistinctive natures: the spiritual and the material.
00
1946

00

1946

00

CONFUCIANISM
The ANALECTS of Confucius contains a code remarkable for simplicity, even crudity, the practical sagacity, and insight into the needs of the hour. The affairs and the needs of the body must be worked out and satisfied together with those of his soul.
00
1946

00

1946

00

CONFUCIANISM
Being part of nature, human beings live in accordance with the natural law that governs and guides the movements of all things.

Treat others as you wish them to treat you.

00

1946

00

00
1946

CONFUCIANISM
The fulfillment of ones nature is realized only in the context of a deep respect for the individual. Ones social nature cannot and must not conflict with ones nature as an individual.
00
1946

00

1946

00

CONFUCIANISM

00

1946

MAN IS THE MASTER OF NATURE, AND IT IS HIS DUTY TO BRING NATURE TO SERVE HIS ENDS.
00

00

1946

CONFUCIANISM
All that happens in the universe is a continuous whole like a chain of natural consequences.
All events in the world follow a transitional process due to the primeval pair, the yang and the yin.
00
1946

00

1946

00

CONFUCIANISM
Human beings happiness lies in his conformity with nature or tao; the wise therefore conforms with tao and is happy.
00
1946

00

1946

00

CONFUCIANISM
Life is desirable - a more optimistic view than that of Buddhism and Hinduism.
Theory of the Rectification of Names and the Theory of the jen and the yi.
00
1946

00

1946

00

CONFUCIANISM
THEORY OF THE RECTIFICATION OF NAMES

00

1946

Names constitute essences and when they do not, either one changes ones name or one changes ones essence.
00

00

1946

CONFUCIANISM
On the Virtue of the Individual
JEN - Human Heartedness.
It is respect and love for humanity. It is the positive aspect of benevolence, and includes love for ones self. The man of jen is the perfect man.
00
1946

00

1946

00

CONFUCIANISM
On the Virtue of the Individual
YI - Oughtness of Good Actions.

00

1946

Righteousness for its own sake, duty for dutys sake, or doing a good thing for its own sake regardless of personal profit or utilitarian consequences.
00

00

1946

CONFUCIANISM
On the Virtue of the Individual
LI - Propriety.
It is the way things ought to be done. Coterminous with manners and morals. It means living by the doctrine of mean or central harmony.
00
1946

00

1946

00

CONFUCIANISM
On the Virtue of the Individual
WEN - the act of peace.
It stands for the totality of culture that nurture the aesthetic sense, enliven leisure, and ennoble the human spirit.

TEN - Power
It means power by which men are governed and the power by which rulers govern human beings effectively. This power comes from giving moral example.
00
1946

00

1946

00

00

1946

Founded by LAO-TZU, a critic of Confucianism, who published a book entitled TAO-TE-CHING (Classic of the Way and its Virtue), which advocated non-action and practical tactics for action.
00

00

1946

It teaches submission, but strongly opposes oppressive government. Taoism is not a philosophy of withdrawal, rather the world must be ruled with noninterference.

00

1946

00

00
1946

Humanity is to follow Nature but in doing so is not eliminated; instead, humanitys nature is fulfilled.

00

1946

00

00
1946

That a good man does not argue; he who argues is not a good man. A wise man has no extensive knowledge; he who has extensive knowledge is not a wise man. The sage does not accumulate for himself. The more he uses for others, the more he has himself. The more he gives to others, the more he possesses of his own. The Way of Heaven is to benefit and not to injure. The Way of the Sage is to act but not compete.
00

1946

(Lao-Tzu)
00

00

1946

The philosophy of the creative artist and those suffering defeat or disillusionment in the mad race for official preferment. The Taoist was there to remind humanity that behind the everlasting change and sufferings of life lay something real and permanent - this is Tao.
00

1946

Tao means to road or highway.

00

00

1946

TAOISM
Taoism invites humankind to disregard the ephemeral things and concentrate on the eternal. Employed practical recipes: meditationconcentration, breathing exercise, calisthenics, special diets, and a sexual hygiene. In politics, they advocate the doctrine of wu-wei, non-action or noninterference. Minimal government was optimal government.
00
1946

00

1946

00

TAOISM
CONFUCIANISM
Humanity is actively one with nature (activity).

TAOISM
Humanity as essentially passive (passivity), called to harmonize with the different rhythms of nature.
Nature is the master of man. Transcendentalism, a philosophy of the Beyond, an attempt to prove the mysterious nature of the Ultimate Reality.

Man is the master of nature. Philosophy of political and social order and workable relationships.
00

1946

00

00
1946

TAOISM
Humanity is merely one element, no more and no less important than all the other elements of the natural world. Since humanity is confused about its own place in the universal plan, it does not know how to think and behave properly. Thus, it has no peace and society is in troubled state.
00
1946

00

1946

00

TAOISM
To escape from this unfortunate situation, human beings must find the Tao or the Way of the universe.

00

1946

The Tao is a built-in natural mechanism that guarantees order, law, life, and well-being. It is the way a man should live and behave, hence, the moral law or morality.
00

00

1946

TAOISM
Freedom of Spirit and Peace in the intuitive contemplation of the Tao.

If you want to be free of suffering, retreat from the world!

The Taoist goal is to become one with all things and to coexist with Heaven and Earth. One does not reject the world, rather he enlarges it to include the whole universe.
00
1946

00

1946

00

BUDDHISM
Founded by the highborn Prince Gautama of the Sakya clan in the kingdom of Magadha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama Buddha (560-477 BCE).

DHARMA or Law of Salvation

A simple presentation of the gospel of inner cultivation of right spiritual attitudes, coupled with a self-imposed discipline whereby bodily desires would be channeled in the right directions.
00
1946

00

1946

00

BUDDHISM
1. Life is full of suffering; 2. Suffering is caused by passionate desires, lusts, cravings; 3. Only as these are obliterated, will suffering cease;

00

1946

4. Such eradication of desire may be accomplished only by following the Eightfold Path of earnest endeavor.
00

00

1946

BUDDHISM
1. Right belief in and acceptance of the Fourfold Truth.
2. Right aspiration for ones self and for others. 3. Right speech that harms no one. 4. Right conduct, motivated by goodwill toward all human beings.
00

1946

5. Right means of livelihood, or earning ones living by honorable means.

00

00

1946

BUDDHISM
6. Right endeavor, or effort to direct ones energies toward wise ends;
7. Right mindfulness in choosing topics for thought; 8. Right meditation, or concentration to the point of complete absorption in mystic ecstasy.
[1 and 2 enjoins us to develop wisdom (cease to do evil), 3-5 urges us to practice virtue and avoid vice (learn to do good), and 6-8 tells us to practice meditation (purify your own mind).]
00

1946

00

00

1946

BUDDHISM
The way of salvation lies through self-abnegation, rigid discipline of mind and body, a consuming love for all living creatures, and the final achievement of that state of consciousness which marks an individuals full preparation for entering the Nirvana (enlightened wisdom) of complete selflessness.
00
1946

00

1946

00

BUDDHISM
In the state of Nirvana, the effects of the Law of Cause and Effect (karma) are overcome; the Cycle of Rebirth (Reincarnation) is broken; and one may rest in the calm assurance of having attained a heavenly bliss that will stretch into all eternity.
00
1946

00

1946

00

00

1946

00

00
1946

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
PURUSARTHAS (four basic ends of life):

Dharma Artha Kama Moksa

00

All philosophies in India, except materialism, are philosophies of life.

00

1946

00

1946

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Derived from the Sanskrit root word dhr, which means to sustain, to maintain, to support.
Dharma are the duties and obligations of the individual toward himself and the society as well as those of the society toward the individual.
00
1946

00

1946

00

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
Artha is that which one seeks. Broadly speaking, artha may be translated as ones means of supporting ones life.

All means of livelihood is artha. Material well-being is necessary condition for spiritual life.
Human beings should not earn their living and acquire wealth in violation of dharma.
00
1946

00

1946

00

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

KAMA is the purpose of wealth. It means pleasure and enjoyment. It also means wish or any kind of desire.

00

1946

Artha and Kama be in harmony with each other and with dharma.
00

00

1946

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
Derived from the root muk, meaning to free, to emancipate, to release. Moksa, is complete freedom.

00

Moksa as the ultimate goal of life points to the extraordinary significance of the essentially spiritual nature of humanity.
00

1946

00

1946

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
Humanity state of suffering and unfreedom is not due to any original sin on its part but to original ignorance (avidya) of its true being and nature.
The Upanishads teach that a human being in his true being is Atman (Brahman, the ultimate reality). In his ignorance, a human being identifies himself with the finite and perishable things, such as his body, mind, and ego, and thereby develops attachments to them and suffers sorrow and misery when he loses them as he inevitably does.
00
1946

00

1946

00

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
Ultimate reality is attained by knowledge of ones true being; only then can a person conquer ignorance and bondage, and become free.
Freedom consists in selfrealization - the realization that a human being is the infinite, eternal, immortal Pure Being.
00
1946

00

1946

00

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
Moksa is not a state that one looks forward to after death. It is to be attained here and now. Thus, the body is seen as a vehicle for attaining moksa. Yoga or other physical-mental discipline is necessary for the attainment of moksa.
Two kinds of moksa: jivan mukti (while still alive), and para mukti (after death).
00

1946

00

00
1946

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
HINDUISM is the oldest religion characterized by a belief in many gods and in many aspects or forms of each god. It is also a way of life. Hindus recognize for the most part a triple canon of sacred books:
1. Upanishads
2. Vedanta-sutras of Badarayana
00

1946

3. Bahagavd-Gita
00

00

1946

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

BRAHMAN - The Great. The highest power and the highest knowledge.
Brahman presides over the past and the future, and is residing within our hearts and to be the self that never decays but is selfexistent and satisfied.
00
1946

00

1946

00

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

REINCARNATION
metempsychosis, or the transmigration of the soul.
A persons soul passes into some other creature, human or animal. If the person led a good life, he is promoted to a higher scale. If the person lived an evil life, he is demoted to a lower form of life.
00
1946

00

1946

00

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

KARMA
Everything in this life is a consequence of actions performed in previous existence. Only by building up a fine record, or karma can final salvation be achieved.
00
1946

00

1946

00

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

BRAHMAN IS SELF-HOOD
At the heart of Hinduism lies the idea of human beings quest for absolute truth, so that ones soul and the Brahman or Atman (Absolute Soul) might become one. Human beings have a dual nature: the spiritual and immortal (soul), and the empirical life and character. The soul is real, the body an illusion and an obstacle to self-realization.

00

1946

00

00
1946

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

BRAHMAN IS SELF-HOOD
The soul is eternal but is bound by the law of Karma (action) to the world of matter, which it can escape only after spiritual progress through an endless series of rebirths.

00

1946

00

Since human beings are encased in a body, humanitys basic goal in life is the liberation (moksa) of spirit (jiva).
00

1946

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

BRAHMAN IS SELF-HOOD
Humanitys life is a continuous cycle (samsara). There will be no end to the cycle unless the individual exerts real efforts to break away or liberate ones spirit from the monotonous cycle.
00
1946

00

1946

00

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

BRAHMAN IS SELF-HOOD
The goal of human life is to overcome congenital ignorance. True knowledge (vidya) consists in an understanding and realization of the individuals real self (atman) as opposed to lower knowledge (avidya) that is limited to an interpretation of reality based solely on the data offered by sense experience.

00

1946

00

00
1946

BUDDHISM
Buddhism centers on nirvana, impermanence, and the no self view (annata)
00

1946

00

00
1946

BUDDHISM
NIRVANA means blown out (Puligandla), connoting negative interpretation as annihilation and cessation of existence.
NIRVANA is the state in which one is completely free from all forms of bondage and attachment, having overcome and removed the cause of suffering. It is also the perfect insight into the nature of existence.
00
1946

00

1946

00

BUDDHISM
One who attains nirvana has perfect knowledge, perfect peace, and perfect wisdom.
One who has attained enlightenment is a man of knowledge, discipline, and nonattachment.

00

1946

00

00
1946

BUDDHISM

Everything in the world is changing and impermanent. There is nothing that endures and abides eternally. Wherever there is a beginning, there is an end. The Buddha taught that change and impermanence are the basic traits of all existence.
00
1946

00

1946

00

BUDDHISM
The most radical view of human nature that completely denies the existence of an enduring self.
The self is in a constant flux. What we call the self is utterly transient. As a permanently abiding individual entity, then the self does not exist.
00
1946

00

1946

00

BUDDHISM
For Buddha, the idea of self is an illusory belief that is the source of suffering and produces harmful thoughts of me, mine, desire, vanity, egoism, and ill will.

00

1946

00

Salvation is achievable only by giving up the craving for self-identity and the striving of personal success and selffulfillment.
00

1946