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The purpose of non-theistic devotion in the classical Indian tradition of Sāṃkhya-Yoga

Author(s): Marzenna Jakubczak / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2014

The paper starts with some textual distinctions concerning the concept of God in the metaphysical framework of two classical schools of Hindu philosophy, Sāṃkhya and Yoga. The author then focuses on the functional and pedagogical aspects of prayer as well as practical justification of “religious meditation” in both philosophical schools. Special attention is given to the practice called īśvarapraṇidhāna, recommended in the Yoga school, which is interpreted by the author as a form of non-theistic devotion. The meaning of the central object of this concentration, that is puruṣa-viśeṣa, is reconsidered in detail. The subject matter is discussed in the wider context of yogic self-discipline that enables a practitioner to overcome ignorance (avidyā) and the narrowness of egotic perspective (asmitā), recognized in the Hindu darśanas as the root-cause of all suffering or never-fulfilled-satisfaction (duḥkha). The non-theistic devotion and spiritual pragmatism assumed by the adherents of Sāṃkhya-Yoga redefines the concept of “God” (īśvara) as primarily an object of meditative practice and a special tool convenient for spiritual pedagogy.

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Dharma and Religion in Tagore’s Views

Author(s): Iwona Milewska / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2014

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), one of the greatest contemporary Indian thinkers, discussed the problem of comparative study of religion and faith on the grounds of global pluralism and religious diversity. He presented his views in numerous poetical works but he also delivered many speeches, mostly addressed to Western audiences. In his writing, Tagore often uses the English term “religion” and the Sanskrit term dharma interchangeably. This article focuses on both key terms and on the question whether they may be seen as equivalent according to him. To answer this question one needs to consider their etymological meanings but also Tagore’s concepts of the so called “Man the Eternal” and “Divinity in Man”.

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Konfucjanizm Yong Huanga na rozdrożu pomiędzy tradycją i współczesnością

Author(s): Dawid Rogacz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 12/2015

The aim of my paper is to analyze the philosophy of Yong Huang – leading representative of Confucianism in the 21st century, from the perspective of the evolution of Confucian thought within history and the specificity of contemporary Confucianism. I take into consideration political thought of Yong Huang, which manifests its critical attitude towards both political liberalism (especially that of Richard Rorty) and Christian heritage. By means of putting the thought of Yong Huang in the historical framework, I want to demonstrate which philosophical beliefs remain common for ancient and contemporary Confucianism. In the conclusion of the article I want to show the tension between the tendency to universalize Confucian values and the relativization of cultural narrations, taken from the Western thought.Celem mojego artykułu jest analiza filozofii Yong Huanga, czołowego przedstawiciela konfucjanizmu w XXI wieku, w perspektywie historycznej ewolucji myśli konfucjańskiej oraz specyfiki współczesnego konfucjanizmu. W sposób szczególny uwzględniam myśl polityczną Yong Huanga, która ustosunkowuje się krytycznie zarówno do liberalizmu politycznego, zwłaszcza w wersji Richarda Rorty’ego, jak i do dziedzictwa chrześcijańskiego. Poprzez umieszczenie myśli Yong Huanga w kontekście historycznym zamierzam wykazać, które poglądy filozoficzne pozostały wspólne starożytnemu i współczesnemu konfucjanizmowi. W konkluzji artykułu pragnę pokazać napięcie pomiędzy tendencją do uniwersalizacji wartości konfucjańskich a przejętą z myśli zachodniej relatywizacją kulturowych narracji

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Czy Budda praktykował ascezę w okresie poprzedzającym jego przebudzenie? Krytyczna analiza sutty Māhasīhanāda ze zbioru Majjhimanikāya

Author(s): Grzegorz Polak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

It is widely believed, that the Buddha practiced the most radical forms of asceticism and self mortification prior to his awakening. A critical analysis of the suttas depicting that crucial period of his life shows, however, that the only text which portrays the bodhisatta as a foremost ascetic is the Māhasīhanāda Sutta (MN 12/I, 68). The aim of this paper is to examine the issue of the authenticity of this text and thus to answer the question as to whether there is enough ground to claim that the Buddha was an ascetic at all. Through a comparative analysis, I show that the structure and content of the Māhasīhanāda Sutta cannot be reconciled with other suttas from the Majjhima Nikāya, which describe the bodhisatta’s path to awakening. I point out certain late features of the Māhasīhanāda Sutta. Then, through a comparative analysis I try to show that some parts of the Buddhist text may have been borrowed from the Jain Āyāraṁga Sutta. Next, I attempt to reinterpret the term attakilamathānuyogo from the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta in such a way which will not pertain to asceticism. In the final part of the paper, I try to explain how the view that the Buddha was a foremost ascetic prior to his awakening could have arisen.

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Oko i Skarbiec Prawdziwego Prawa, zwój siódmy: Głęboka wiara w przyczynę i skutek

Author(s): Dōgen Kigen / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

[U] czcigodnego Huáihǎia mistrza medytacji Dàzhì z góry Báizhàngshān wśród przybywających doń uczniów był pewien starzec, który zawsze ze zgromadzeniem przysłuchiwał się Prawu. Gdy członkowie zgromadzenia odchodzili, starzec ów również odchodził. Niespodziewanie pewnego dnia nie odszedł.

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Harmony in Diveristy

Author(s): Han Wang / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

“和”, which means harmony or being concordant, is one of the key point of the Chinese culture. However, it hasn’t been well distinguished with a similar aspect, “同”, which means sameness, uniformity. One of the purpose of this article is to clearly tell the difference between “和” and “同”, the other one is to clarify that the Chinese culture admires the diversity and pursues the har￾mony at the same time.

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Жените и китайските бойни изкуства

Author(s): Georgi Zlatev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2019

An interesting and important aspect of Chinese martial arts is women’s contribution to its evolution and development. Although a predominantly male activity, the martial arts have attracted some remarkable followers from the other sex. Their involvement once again confirms that the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts is perpetuating mind, will and spirit and that physical strength is less important. The romantic ideas of women who are experienced in martial arts exist in both art and reality, and their contributions can be seen today.

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Даоски бизнес решения

Author(s): Valeri Ivanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2021

Nowadays we no longer consider it necessary to look for evidence that we cannot find one unambiguous and generally-accepted truth that explains the phenomena we observe around us and within us. Man, standing on the edge, is simultaneously inclined to bring about his own destruction and making an unartful attempt to follow the thin contour of the outline made by the order that is hidden within the chaos. We need not be confused by the fact that science is just arriving at the discovery of that outline. This does not mean that man has not always felt that outline’s challenge through his entire existence. Business, being a small but increasingly important part of human interaction, is becoming aware of the challenges of its own complexity. Just as any other science, the conception and theory of business management have reached the unknown, the risky and the uncertain, which are difficult notions to describe, let alone control or understand. Every manager is expected to make decisions in the apparent complexity of this environment and in its increasingly perceivable indefiniteness. If we think that these decisions are mostly intuitive, then the hidden reason why this intuition is present, and the almost intangible way in which it acts and can be used, have most probably been a subject of examination since ancient times. It is interesting to explore them as the roots of the Daoist understanding of the world and examine the text of Tao te Ching.

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Dharmarāja and Dhammarāja (I) Yudhiṣṭhira on anger, patience, forgiveness and peace (Mahābhārata 3,30)

Author(s): Przemysław Szczurek / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Yudhiṣṭhira, often referred to in the Mahābhārata (MBh) as Dharmarāja and created for an ideal ruler, is also portrayed as a hero full of doubts about his status and duties, sometimes even advocating ideas that are at odds with his status and social affiliation. This is the case in the passage analysed here in this paper, MBh 3,30. The king, deprived of his kingdom and humiliated in exile, presents a diatribe of sorts in the presence of his brothers and wife in which he condemns anger as a reaction to wrongs suffered while praising patience and forgiveness, while also being a supporter of peace. The reactions to his words, which are expressed in the follow‐ ing chapters, as well as the general approach to the role of kṣatriya and the ruler in the epic, may indicate that Yudhiṣṭhira’s words were not fully accepted. On the other hand, a comparison of Chapter 3,30 with selected parts of the Pāli Canon allows us to see how much the ideas put in Yudhiṣṭhira’s mouth have in common with those that can be found in the texts of early Buddhism. On the basis of the proposed intertextual analysis, the author of the paper would also like to purposively reflect on the inclusion in the epic of passages that are a departure from the ethos of warrior and ruler, widely promoted in the epic.

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Synkretyczne pouczenie jogiczne w Ćarakasanhicie (Śarirasthana 1.137–155)

Author(s): Nina Budziszewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2021

A syncretic yogic instruction in Carakasanhita (Śārīrasthāna 1.137-155): Śārīrasthāna (ŚS) 1.137-155, contained in Book 4 of the Ćarakasaṃhitā (1st century BCE — 2nd century CE), is a short treatise on yoga presented for āyurvedic purposes. In its yogic interpretation, the work comprises the Upaniṣads, the Mahābhārata, some Sāṃkhya’s and Vaiśeṣika’s notions as well as the meditative interpretation present in the Buddhist tradition. The ŚS gives a threefold path (ayana) leading to mokṣa (ŚS 150-151), the state of supreme brahman with which the conscious being, bhūtātman, becomes one (ŚS 155): yoga, smṛti, and sāṃkhya. The path to liberation is based on yoga, which is the reinforcement of the manas in the ātman (ŚS 138) and the stopping of suffering by breaking the connection between the erroneous identification of ātman with manas and the senses (ŚS 138-139). On the path of yoga, a powerful eight-fold magical power (eight siddhis) is created through which the yogi is able to overcome external adversities (ŚS 140-141). In the next step, the recognition of the one’s true identity — according to the sāṃkhya — is made through buddhi by the power of jñāna (ŚS 152-153). However, in order for this recognition to be realized, the state of purity of sattva (ŚS 141) must first appear, induced by the practice of the eight-step smṛti realized by eighteen perfections (ŚS 143-147).

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Dharmarāja and Dhammarāja (II)

Author(s): Przemysław Szczurek / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

The paper offers a close examination of the Mahābhārata’s adhyāya 5,70, one of the more interesting and representative chapters to analyse Yudhiṣṭhira’s attitude on the dharma of the king and warfare. In this long chapter addressing Kṛṣṇa (before the latter’s diplomatic mission to Kauravas), the king deprived of his kingdom presents two different attitudes. On one hand, he states that even though peaceful conflict resolution would be the best to regain the kingdom, the war must be accepted if it is inevitable. On the other hand, he expresses his disapproval of war as evil in any form (MBh 5,70.44-66). Yudhiṣṭhira’s ambivalent utterance is analysed against the background of early Buddhist ethics (as represented in the Pāli Canon), totally condemning war, and other passages from the Mahābhārata, especially those glorifying the dharma of kṣatriyas.

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Barbarians No More. Revisiting the Eastern Contributions to Early Greek Philosophy

Author(s): Constantin C. Lupascu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

We often assume that our present world alone has experienced the phenomenon of globalization and that it is necessarily a feature of the modern age. And in this we like to imagine the world of the past as made up of homogeneous monolithic blocks with rigid and well-defined impenetrable boundaries. Nothing could be further from the truth. The ancient world enjoyed an interconnectedness as tight if not tighter than ours is today. Nowhere do we see this connection better than between the Greek and the Persian world. The conflict between the two serves as the starting point of the archetypal conflict between the Orient and the Occident. However, at the same time, Persian culture served as a foundation for Greek moral philosophy and by extension, had a major influence on later Jewish, Christian and Islamic philosophy. The transition from mythological to philosophical knowledge occurs in Greek thought when it encounters these Magi. In this regard, we shall see that Plato had a special relationship with the Magi, and the Magi in turn held Plato in high regard. However, Plato’s example is by no means an isolated case. We have other equally famous examples of Greek philosophers who we are told went to study in Persia before Plato, namely Pythagoras and Democritus.

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A Re-Interpretation of the Post-Modernist Tradition in the Discourse of African Philosophy

Author(s): Festus Adegboyega Akinola / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

It is a truism in our world today that the effects of Post-Modernism have crept into many African societies and are already having impacts on the people’s culture and philosophy. Many Africans are consciously or unconsciously exhibiting postmodern tendencies, some of which negate core African culture, values and philosophy. African philosophy is a unique philosophy with its own culture that may not agree many times with post-modern culture. This is because its concern is the promotion and preservation of fundamental African values and culture. The concern of this paper is the way post-modern culture is fast eroding the core existential values of the people of Africa. Some of these values are important to the livelihood and existence of the people. Sequel to this, this paper evaluates post modernism in the light of its effects on fundamental African culture and philosophy. Ultimately, the purpose is to find out how core African values can be protected in the midst of postmodern incursion. It is also to interrogate post-modernism in a manner that reveals its tenets and also exposes these tenets to African understanding.

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ბუნება, ნივთები და აზროვნება: აღმოსავლური სიბრძნე და თანამედროვეობა (ალან უოტსი)

Author(s): Vardo Beridze / Language(s): Georgian Issue: 1/2023

The world outlook of the 20th-century British writer and philosopher Alan Watts is rendered in the article. The analysis presented is based on his lectures concerning nature, things and thinking in the context of the influence of Eastern philosophy. Alan Watts is known for Western thinking as an interpreter of Eastern wisdom. His books and public lectures greatly enhanced the popularization of Eastern philosophy in the West. The book “Eastern Wisdom and Modernity” (1959) belongs to the most fruitful decade of Alan Watts’s life and creative work. He paved the road to such ideas and methods of knowledge which proved to be important in creatingthe cultural environment of the 60s and the following years. Watts studied the limits of human knowledge where cognition and knowledge link to the questions of yin and yang: “What is man?” “What is the sense of life?” “Why do we exist in this world?”.In the cycle of lectures dedicated to wisdom and modernity “Man and Nature” Alan Watts in order to explain the fundamental principles of Chinese philosophy refers to nature as an external world and speaks about the importance of the concepts of human nature and nature itself in man’s life. The author discusses the contrast between the classic Chinese and Western historical attitudes to the place of man in nature. Watts aims at proving the unity existing between the whole system of nature and man with the help of Eastern thinking and using the Eastern elements of reasoning.

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Rola metafor w soteriologii wczesnego buddyzmu tantrycznego

Author(s): Marek Szymański / Language(s): Polish Issue: 64/2023

The functions of new metaphors in early tantric Buddhism are analysed in the paper. Two models of religious practice are concerned. According to both of them, the goal of tantric practice is permanent modification of the practitioner’s cognitive activity. That modification can be understood as willingness to implement particular metaphors spontaneously into the process of perceptive data interpretation. Those metaphorical concepts are closely related to the conception of buddha nature. Religious practice of Vajrayāna can be seen as striving for experiential substantiation for the main of those metaphors (mind is mandala). Special act of visualization in ritual context is expected to be such substantiation. Six types of metaphors important in the soteriology of the early Vajrayāna can be distinguished. All of them are discussed in the paper.

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Еднолинейност и/или вариативност. Източни и западни разбирания за предопределеността

Author(s): Antoaneta Nikolova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2023

The article is based on the postmodern understanding about the collapse of grand narratives (Lyotard). One of the most significant grand narratives is the narrative about unidirectionality and irreversibility of development. Part of the roots of this narrative can be found in the ancient Greek idea of the inevitability of fate, Ananke, seen primarily as a necessity. In parallel to the ancient Greek thought, however, philosophical ideas in Ancient India and China were also developed. Therefore, the ideas of karma in Ancient India and the related idea of svadharma, as well as the Chinese ideas of min, the will of Heaven, and of dao, the path as a reservoir of possibilities, are presented in comparative terms. The aim by highlighting these various options is to reveal the possibilities for different readings of the contemporary situation.

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Shamanism in XXI Century China: Social Functions and Local Specifics

Author(s): Maxim Mikhalev / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

This paper elaborates on the phenomenon of shamanism revival in modern China based on the fieldwork data gathered among Shenehen Buryats living in the north-eastern part of the country. It discovers that traditional shamanism that was often labeled as pheudalistic superstition and has been long predicted to vanish, grows in popularity despite the current economic growth and the rise of living standards. Hidden and concealed, it remains an integral part of modern Chinese society as it helps people cope with the challenges of everyday life and pays attention to the needs of an individual that are often ignored by the other institutions. Unlike in the neighboring countries, shamans in China do not venture into the politics and limit their role to that of an individual crisis manager, occupying relatively small, but nevertheless an important niche of “folk healers and psychologists.” The recent growth of popularity of such sort of shamanism proves that modern society lacks this kind of service and modern shamans simply feel this gap. The paper concludes that shamanism is almost impossible to eradicate completely. Even suppressed and ousted, it can mimicry and find refuge at the fringes of social structure, from where it may still address the problems of common people.

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Unity in Diversity: Hindu Perspective

Author(s): Seema Bose / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

Both accommodation and resistance were parts of Hindu behaviour pattern. caste is related to intolerance and much more. Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar fought for the rights and upliftment of the ‘untouchables’ thereby giving them their due place in society. Not letting them flourish in every possible way is a denial of humanity. Kant’s advice can be emphasised here: “A social order requires defining the freedom of the individual in such a way that it discovers its own limits in other people.” Hinduism accommodates a great variety of life styles and practices. Hindu communities assimilated people, customs and ideas despite having a hierarchy based on caste, age sex, and also despite having geographical diversity and thus bringing in unity without uniformity in diversity without fragmentation. Within the Hindufold there are numerous evidences of crosscultural fertilization. Their religious outlook is unitary. Monier-Williams, a British scholar, wrote that Hinduism was like ‘the sacred fig-tree of India (the banyan), which from a single stem sends out numerous branches destined to send roots to the ground and become trees themselves, till the parent stock is lost in a dense forest of its own offshoots.’ Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall, a British literary historian, also wrote: ‘Nowhere but in India can we now survey with our own eyes an indigenous polytheism in full growth, flourishing like a secular green bay tree among a people of ancient culture. The sects of the Hindus are numerous and new sects are coming up but Hindu sectarianism is not exclusive. The perfect harmony of relationships in this world is realised through one’s union with other leaving behind the barrier of social inhibitions, thereby fulfilling the highest mission of the present age-the unification of mankind.’ This is an ideal for which the present-day world must strive.

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Krytyka ethosu ru 儒 w Daodejingu

Author(s): Katarzyna Pejda / Language(s): Polish Issue: 9/2023

The Dao De Jing is a text traditionally attributed to the Daoist school of early Chinese thought. There are two dominant terms in this text – dao and de – which appear in every school of early Chinese thought, but in Daoism they are connected with mysticism. The Dao De Jing discusses the oneness of dao, which is shared by giving names to things that cannot endure, because reality itself is constantly changing. Using names or language which is inadequate to describe the reality of dao creates a superficial social world – and, for that, Daoists blame the Confucian school of thought. The main aim of this article is to analyse this criticism of the Confucian ethos, its main ideas of self-development in a social context and the acquirement of social skills, as well as of adjusting oneself to dao, understood as the traditions of Former Kings and the natural order. Daoists claim that Confucian teachings divert us from dao by creating a partial reality and morality which is merely a substitute for the undivided reality of dao, as language becomes a tool for social control. Instead of natural dao and its attributes – spontainety ziran, and non-action wuwei – the Confucian morality of ren appears. This is the main concern for the authors of the Dao De Jing, who call for the abandonment of knowledge, i.e. of Confucian moral rules, and for a return to the newborn child’s state of mind.

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Kult przodków w Chinach — geneza, formy, znaczenie

Author(s): Wiktoria Karpińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2023

Worshiping the spirits of departed ancestors is an essential element of traditional Chinese beliefs. As time passed, these beliefs underwent many transformations, but the cult of the dead remained a fundamental pillar of Chinese culture, linking the beliefs of the Chinese people from the Neolithic to the present. Thanks to Confucianism, it developed significantly and gained a new meaning, thanks to which it has a significant influence on Chinese society to this day. This article presents the origin and development of ancestor worship, indicates the role of Confucianism in its development, as well as discusses the most important feasts in honor of the dead and funeral rites. In addition, the author drew attention to the political dimension and place of ancestor worship in Chinese culture to this day.

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