/lit/ - Literature

do asians even know about Différance

>>11014712
>Différance
?

Western philosophy:
>has never influenced anything
>only nerds or their equivalents hace ever cared about it

Confucianism:
>molded the oldest, most important civilisation in human history
>all members of the powerful Han and Yamato races are at least aware of its existence and basic principles

>>11014719
>not knowing the main philosophical contribution of 20th century

Western philosophers all assume "changing the world" is a good thing.

>>11014695
Western philosophy:
>*how* to live

Eastern philosophy:
>how to *live*

>>11014734
So, therefore, a combination of the two schools would give you
>*how* to *live*
and the biggest question truly is how to implement these rules of life and continue living peacefully.
To this, I say, your quotation marks used in OP show that we are not yet there.

>>11014744
Dogs soon get hungry
feasting off bones,
left by the others who
see only the meat.

Meat soon grows tiresome,
making men fat.
The bones they once had
reduced to "once that".

The dogs and the pigs
fighting for play,
over a field once so dreamy;
now wrought with decay.

There can be no new growth,
is a field oh so fertile;
if all animals do
is trifle the tundra.

Peace is what's needed
for nature to rise.
from decay, bones, and ash
soon up to the skies;

come beautiful flowers, trees full of green
where the animals once were,
free to roam mean.

>>11014725
Go stare at a wall for a day

>>11014783
Alri

>this whole thread

>>11014806
To listen to wojak
is a sin all its own
a caricature of who?
none other than your own

just keep your mind open
and foul mouth shut
the only true brainlets
are those spouting "rare wo-s"

>>11014695
>Buddhism and Taoism are entirity of Eastern philosophy

>>11014827
>whom*

>>11014829
another one claims
a high ground
not yet standing

look at this brain
it deep and imploding

you are no worse than pol, than lizards or crack
but the but simile of all
is you are like cancer

We're a Taoist board

-

Out of the murk, things come to life. With cunning you declare, "We must analyze this!" You try putting your analysis in words, though it is not something to be put into words. You cannot, however, attain understanding. At the winter sacrifice, you can point to the tripe or the hoof of the sacrificial ox, which can be considered separate things, and yet in a sense cannot be considered separate. A man who goes to look at a house will walk all around the chambers and ancestral shrines, but he will also go to inspect the privies. And so for this reason you launch into your analysis.

Let me try describing this analysis of yours. It takes life as its basis and knowledge as its teacher, and from there proceeds to assign "right" and "wrong." So in the end we have "names" and "realities," and accordingly each man considers himself to be their arbiter. In his efforts to make other men appreciate his devotion to duty, for example, he will go so far as to accept death as his reward for devotion. To such men, he who is useful is considered wise, he who is of no use is considered stupid. He who is successful wins renown; he who runs into trouble is heaped with shame. Analyzers - that is what the men of today are! They are like the cicada and the little dove, who agreed because they were two of a kind.

Hui Shih was a man of many devices and his writings would fill five carriages. But his doctrines were jumbled and perverse and his words wide of the mark. His way of dealing with things may be seen from these sayings:

The largest thing has nothing beyond it; it is called the One of largeness. The smallest thing has nothing within it; it is called the One of smallness.

That which has no thickness cannot be piled up; yet it is a thousand li in dimension.

Heaven is as low as earth; mountains and marshes are on the same level.

The sun at noon is the sun setting. The thing born is the thing dying.

Great similarities are different from little similarities; these are called the little similarities and differences. The ten thousand things are all similar and are all different; these are called the great similarities and differences.

The southern region has no limit and yet has a limit.

I set off for Yueh today and came there yesterday.

Linked rings can be separated.

I know the center of the world: it is north of Yen and south of Yueh.

Let love embrace the ten thousand things; Heaven and earth are a single body.

With savings such as these, Hui Shih tried to introduce a more magnanimous view of the world and to enlighten the rhetoricians. The rhetoricians of the world happily joined in with the following sayings:

An egg has feathers.

A chicken has three legs.

Ying contains the whole world.

A dog can be considered a sheep.

Horses lay eggs.

Toads have tails.

Fire is not hot.

Mountains come out of the mouth.

Wheels never touch the ground.

Eyes do not see.

Pointing to it never gets to it; if it got to it, there would be no separation.

The tortoise is longer than the snake.

T squares are not right-angled; compasses cannot make circles.

Holes for chisel handles do not surround the handles.

The flying bird's shadow never moves.

No matter how swift the barbed arrow, there are times when it is neither moving nor at rest.

A dog is not a canine.

A yellow horse and a black cow make three.

White dogs are black.

The orphan colt never had a mother.

Take a pole one foot long, cut away half of it every day, and at the end of ten thousand generations there will still be some left.

>>11014849


Such were the sayings which the rhetoricians used in answer to Hui Shih, rambling on without stop till the end of their days. Huan Tuan and Kung-sun Lung were among such rhetoricians. Dazzling men's minds, unsettling their views, they could outdo others in talking, but could not make them submit in their minds - such were the limitations of the rhetoricians.

Hui Shih day after day used all the knowledge he had in his debates with others, deliberately thinking up ways to astonish the rhetoricians of the world - the examples above will illustrate this. Nevertheless, Hui Shih's manner of speaking showed that he considered himself the ablest man alive. "Heaven and earth - perhaps they are greater!" he used to declare. All he knew how to do was play the hero; he had no real art.

In the south there was an eccentric named Huang Liao who asked why Heaven and earth do not collapse and crumble, or what makes the wind and rain, the thunder and lightning. Hui Shih, undaunted, undertook to answer him; without stopping to think, he began to reply, touching upon every one of the ten thousand things in his peroration, expounding on and on without stop in multitudes of words that never ended. But still it was not enough, and so he began to add on his astonishing assertions. Whatever contradicted other men's views he declared to be the truth, hoping to win a reputation for outwitting others. This was why he never got along with ordinary people. Weak in inner virtue, strong in his concern for external things, he walked a road that was crooked indeed! If we examine Hui Shih's accomplishments from the point of view of the Way of Heaven and earth, they seem like the exertions of a mosquito or a gnat - of what use are they to other things? True, he still deserves to be regarded as the founder of one school, though I say, if he had only shown greater respect for the Way, he would have come nearer being right. Hui Shih, however, could not seem to find any tranquillity for himself in such an approach. Instead he went on tirelessly separating and analyzing the ten thousand things, and in the end was known only for his skill in exposition. What a pity - that Hui Shih abused and dissipated his talents without ever really achieving anything! Chasing after the ten thousand things, never turning back, he was like one who tries to shout an echo into silence or to prove that form can outrun shadow. How sad!

>>11014849
this is all true to life but how do you use it
it is almost like he is trying to hide so esoteric knowledge that was reserved only for those of high rank and high stature

>>11014695
Western "philosophy":
>Provides basic ideas for living within a stable society; useless otherwise
>Offers limited solutions to problems it invents
>Changes the world (not a good thing)

Eastern "philosophy":
>Offers the path from complete detachment from the wheel of becoming
>Has correctly identified the cause of every problem
>Has produced countless enlightened sages

BONUS ROUND
>Has provided a source of social cohesion for massive, pre-industrial civilisation; Western "philosophy" has provided a source of consumption that will wipe humanity from the planet within a few centuries

YOUR MOVE, OP.

>>11014829
>implying hinduism and confucianism are any better

>>11014867
Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu, "I have a big tree of the kind men call shu. Its trunk is too gnarled and bumpy to apply a measuring line to, its branches too bent and twisty to match up to a compass or square. You could stand it by the road and no carpenter would look at it twice. Your words, too, are big and useless, and so everyone alike spurns them!"

Chuang Tzu said, "Maybe you've never seen a wildcat or a weasel. It crouches down and hides, watching for something to come along. It leaps and races east and west, not hesitating to go high or low-until it falls into the trap and dies in the net. Then again there's the yak, big as a cloud covering the sky. It certainly knows how to be big, though it doesn't know how to catch rats. Now You have this big tree and you're distressed because it's useless. Why don't you plant it in Not-Even-Anything Village, or the field of Broad-and-Boundless, relax and do nothing by its side, or lie down for a free and easy sleep under it? Axes will never shorten its life, nothing can ever harm it. If there's no use for it, how can it come to grief or pain?"

>>11014867
Cloud Chief was traveling east and had passed the branches of the Fu-yao when he suddenly came upon Big Concealment. Big Concealment at the moment was amusing himself by slapping his thighs and hopping around like a sparrow. When Cloud Chief saw this, he stopped in bewilderment, stood dead still in his tracks, and said, "Old gentleman, who are you? What is this you're doing?"

Big Concealment, without interrupting his thigh-slapping and sparrow-hopping, replied to Cloud Chief, "Amusing myself."

"I would like to ask a question," said Cloud Chief.

"Oh dear!" said Big Concealment, for the first time raising his head and looking at Cloud Chief.

"The breath of heaven is out of harmony, the breath of earth tangles and snarls," said Cloud Chief. "The six breaths do not blend properly," the four seasons do not stay in order. Now I would like to harmonize the essences of the six breaths in order to bring nourishment to all living creatures. How should I go about it?"

Big Concealment, still thigh-slapping and sparrow-hopping, shook his head. "I have no idea! I have no idea!"

So Cloud Chief got no answer. Three years later he was again traveling east and, as he passed the fields of Sung, happened upon Big Concealment once more. Cloud Chief, overjoyed, dashed forward and presented himself, saying, "Heavenly Master, have you forgotten me? Have you forgotten me?" Then he bowed his head twice and begged for some instruction from Big Concealment.

Big Concealment said, "Aimless wandering does not know what it seeks; demented drifting does not know where it goes. A wanderer, idle, unbound, I view the sights of Undeception. What more do I know?"

Cloud Chief said, "I too consider myself a demented drifter, but the people follow me wherever I go and I have no choice but to think of them. It is for their sake now that I beg one word of instruction!"

Big Concealment said, "If you confuse the constant strands of Heaven and violate the true form of things, then Dark Heaven will reach no fulfillment. Instead, the beasts will scatter from their herds, the birds will cry all night, disaster will come to the grass and trees, misfortune will reach even to the insects. Ah, this is the fault of men who `govern'!"

>>11014880
"Then what should I do?" said Cloud Chief.

"Ah," said Big Concealment, "you are too far gone! Up, up, stir yourself and be off!"

Cloud Chief said, "Heavenly Master, it has been hard indeed for me to meet with you - I beg one word of instruction!"

"Well, then - mind-nourishment!" said Big Concealment. "You have only to rest in inaction and things will transform themselves. Smash your form and body, spit out hearing and eyesight, forget you are a thing among other things, and you may join in great unity with the deep and boundless. Undo the mind, slough off spirit, be blank and soulless, and the ten thousand things one by one will return to the root - return to the root and not know why. Dark and undifferentiated chaos - to the end of life none will depart from it. But if you try to know it, you have already departed from it. Do not ask what its name is, do not try to observe its form. Things will live naturally and of themselves."

Cloud Chief said, "The Heavenly Master has favored me with this Virtue, instructed me in this Silence. All my life I have been looking for it, and now at last I have it!" He bowed his head twice, stood up, took his leave, and went away.

>>11014867
Nan-po Tzu-k'uei said to the Woman Crookback, "You are old in years and yet your complexion is that of a child. Why is this?"

"I have heard the Way!"

"Can the Way be learned?" asked Nan-po Tzu-k'uei.

"Goodness, how could that be? Anyway, you aren't the man to do it. Now there's Pu-liang Yi - he has the talent of a sage but not the Way of a sage, whereas I have the Way of a sage but not the talent of a sage. I thought I would try to teach him and see if I could really get anywhere near to making him a sage. It's easier to explain the Way of a sage to someone who has the talent of a sage, you know. So I began explaining and kept at him for three days, and after that he was able to put the world outside himself. When he had put the world outside himself, I kept at him for seven days more, and after that he was able to put things outside himself. When he had put things outside himself, I kept at him for nine davs more, and after that he was able to put life outside himself. After he had put life outside himself, he was able to achieve the brightness of dawn, and when he had achieved the brightness of dawn, he could see his own aloneness. After he had managed to see his own aloneness, he could do away with past and present, and after he had done away with past and present, he was able to enter where there is no life and no death. That which kills life does not die; that which gives life to life does not live. This is the kind of thing it is: there's nothing it doesn't send off, nothing it doesn't welcome, nothing it doesn't destroy, nothing it doesn't complete. Its name is Peace-in-Strife. After the strife, it attains completion."

Nan-po Tzu-k'uei asked, "Where did you happen to hear this? "

"I heard it from the son of Aided-by-Ink, and Aided-by-Ink heard it from the grandson of Repeated-Recitation, and the grandson of Repeated-Recitation heard it from Seeing-Brightly, and Seeing-Brightly heard it from Whispered-Agreement, and Whispered-Agreement heard it from Waiting-for-Use, and Waiting-for-Use heard it from Exclaimed-Wonder, and Exclaimed-Wonder heard it from Dark-Obscurity, and Dark-Obscurity heard it from Participation-in-Mystery, and Participation-in-Mystery heard it from Copy-the-Source!"

>>11014870
So Eastern philosophy is just anti-social bullshit? That was my original point.

Also
>the East has correctly identified the cause of every problem
Hmm try again sweetie :)

>>11014720
>has never influenced anything

lmao, our philosophy is so potent that the chinks had to implement one of ours to get own our civilian kill count level

>>11014941
>>11014695
Of course the insecurity and overcompensation for this retarded association dickmeasuring can only come from a christlarper

>>11014695
And remember:
Christ is always depicted with his eyes open.
Buddha always with his eyes shut.

>>11014872
Hinduism likely developed the first well-established school of thought, teaching of the relationship of truth and human understanding. Confucius taught how to live, likely creating the first iteration of the "Golden rule". His teachings likely saved the Eastern hemisphere. Hinduism and Confucianism are better.

>Buddha's last words were literally "be dilligent"
>Neckbeards somehow use Buddhism as excuse to be detatch from the world as a whole and continue being disgusting NEETs

>>11014695
>Offers real solutions to real problems
that's science you mongoloid

>>11014712
>muh le fancy french terminology
western philosophy is just an intellectual fashion statement at this point

>>11014712
1>3>2

>>11015041
Jesus was originally pictured as a blonde teenage male with womens hips and small breasts. Times change.

>>11014870
Western philosophy
>destabilizes the fuck out of societies.
>rarely offers solutions to anything, mostly an academic circlejerk
>Changes the world (not a good thing)

slightly amended the first two points

>>11014941
>So Eastern philosophy is just anti-social bullshit? That was my original point.

The social and moral degeneration of the modern West is a direct consequence of all the nihilism and relativism found in western philosophy

>>11014695
you're begging the question by presupposing a set of "problems"

>>11014720

>>11014941
>Anti-social bullshit
Define socializing. Because all the West does is circlejerk or sperg out. I’d rather live In a cave with some Taoists. Inb4 NEET Larper

>>11014720

>>11014695
I love almost everything about Jordan Peterson except that he's a fucking faggot eastern mystic.

>>11014744
Middle Ground Fallacy skipper

>Western man, sitting on the surface of moon, tired and spent
>"Nothing ventured, nothing gained"
>Eastern man, sitting next to a pile of dog shit, by the side of a hut made of twigs and dirt, looking up into the sky with twinkling eyes and absolute profundity
>"Nothing ventured, nothing lost"

>>11014695
>Western philosophy
Literally covers the exact same ideas as eastern philosophy, but with massive egotistical posturing, and flashy and self-promoting social climbing. That doesn't mean it's wrong or bad, but you clearly don't understand anything about either western or eastern philosophy. All of the greatest western philosophers have studied eastern philosophy.

This thread is so irreparably galaxy brain, my IQ is expanding just by reading these amazing comments

>>11017307
>All of the greatest western philosophers have studied eastern philosophy.
got to know whats wrong before you can figure out whats right

>>11017331
Nah, they were big fans of it. Eastern philosophy was flourishing a thousand years before the Greeks. Philosophy traveled west to Europe. Europe was a barbaric backwater before it was civilized by eastern civilization.

western philosophy:
>provides material for white and burger mutt teenagers to posture over

eastern philosophy:
>provides material for white and burger mutt teenagers to posture over

>>11015041
except when he is dead lol

>>11017358
South pole philosophy > *

Eat fish and huddle together

>>11017371
lol

>>11014720

> Has never influenced anything


Literally served as the foundation to the Western Civilization (the best one)

>>11016463
>implying Western & Eastern schools are opposites

>>11017329
is that bukowsko?

>>11014725
Fuck back off to the woods, Rousseau.

>>11014720
>oldest, most important civilisation in human history