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/lit/ - Literature

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12353101 No.12353101 [Reply] [Original]

What are the best works of Eastern Philosophy. Preferably ones that have nothing to do with Renee Guenon.

>> No.12353192

Eastern philosophy is a very broad category, so you could get a million different answers depending on what it is you're specifically looking for.

>> No.12353198

None. The reason western philosophy is so much better is because the Greeks developed it faster than anyone else.

>> No.12353235
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12353235

Okay, Rene Guenon was a big fan of Advaita Vedanta and Sufism, the picture of you posted is of Advaita's main thinker Adi Shankara. Advaita exists as a subject independent of Guenon and is a fascinating school of thought to study. If you are so autistic that you can't study Advaita without constantly being reminded of Guenon, then you'd be better off sticking with something else but if you can separate them in your mind it's worth studying.

"Best" is worthless if you won't understand it. In order to understand the texts which many people would consider the 'best' you'd have to read some shorter texts first you you understand the concepts being talked about, although of course there still exist beginner-friendly eastern texts which are amazing in themselves. Some good beginner Advaita texts are Ashtavakra Gita, Vivekachudamani, Atma-Bodha. Some other general Hindu texts that are great include the Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita. There are some interesting texts for other Hindu schools too like Yoga etc. If you are curious about Tantric philosophy check out Kashmir Shaivism. For Taoism you want the Tao Te Ching and the Zhuangzi, if you are curious about Confucianism then the Analects of Confucius too. With Buddhism there is a huge amount of stuff to choose from depending on what school you want to study. You can start with the Dhammapada and Bodhi's 'In the Buddha's Words' to get started, and then research other schools and decide where to go from there. With Islam you have everything from Islamic Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism to Vedantic/Daoist mysticism with Sufi poets like Rumi, Attar etc. Did you have any questions about a specific school of thought?

>> No.12353263
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12353263

Try this, along with his Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China.

>> No.12353279
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12353279

>> No.12353378

>>12353235
>"Best" is worthless if you won't understand it. In order to understand the texts which many people would consider the 'best' you'd have to read some shorter texts first you you understand the concepts being talked about,

This, the best works of Eastern philosophy are often predicted on the past several hundreds years of thinkers or even the past millennium. You can't just pick up a text like that and expect to get it, even with copious annotations and notes by the translator, like how someone who has not read at least a moderate amount of the Greeks, Decartes, Hume, Leibniz, Berkeley, Spinoza would struggle to understand some of the works of the German Idealists or Heidegger. It does not take that much time to read about the various schools, figure out what major texts you want to work towards and what to read as a precursor.

>> No.12353389

Read eliades history of religion or coomaraswamys books on indian art

>> No.12353498

Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa is none other than the Personality of Godhead. Read His Śrīmat Bhagavad Gītā and free yourself from this mortal coil