"East is a delicate matter …" Who does not know this famous phrase from the film, which has long been included in the saying? Eastern philosophy is subtle and at the same time multifaceted. It was based on the lines of thinking born of two cultures at once: Chinese and Indian. It is called Ancient. But it has expanded the spatial and temporal framework so much that it is of great interest today.
Eastern philosophy is not at all a set of dogmas and not a historical monument in any way; transformation is impossible here. This is an appeal to the essence of man. To its original essence. A person remains unsolved not only for others, but sometimes even for himself, being unable to comprehend his own inner world. The question is ripening: why, knowing so many directions of solving emerging problems, we want to know how Eastern philosophy explains the human phenomenon? Does it attract exoticism? Maybe. We, subject to varying degrees of Eurocentric influence, will always be surprised at how richer the eastern unity of social and natural processes is, how great the versatility of both physical and intellectual human capabilities is.
What are these features of eastern philosophy? In the synthesis of mythological, rational and religious teachings. Here the teachings of Confucius and Buddha, the Vedas, the 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 hylozoism, animism, associativity and anthropomorphism are traced. Everything is animated, spiritualized. Natural phenomena are likened to man, man to the world.
The relationship between primitive man and nature evoked a sense of inextricable 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 seemed to have a common life, with common features and common vices. In addition to the fact that the gods are omnipotent, they, like people, are capricious, vengeful, malicious, 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.
Chaos gradually streamlined and the universe was attributed to the “first man”: the thousand-headed, thousand-eyed, thousand-legged Purusha, whose mind gave birth to the Moon, mouth - fire, eyes - Sun, breath - wind.
Purusha - both the embodiment of the cosmos, and the human community with the earliest hierarchy (namely social), which manifested itself in the division into “Varna”: brahmanas (or priests) - from the mouth of Purusha, kshatriyas (class of warriors) appeared from his hands, from the hips - vaishya (merchants), and the rest (sudras) - from the feet.
Chinese myths explain the universe in a similar way, only the name of the superman in them is Pangu. A wind with clouds was born with his sigh, thunder was born with his head, the Sun with the Moon came out of his eyes, 4 sides of the world came from arms and legs, rivers - from blood, dew and rain - from sweat, eyes shone with lightning …
Trying to reasonably comprehend the causality of the world in its various manifestations of variability and constancy, a person had to see his place intended for him. There was a feeling of being inextricably linked with the cosmos, but thoughts already appeared 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, which simultaneously reflect the warehouse of the eastern peoples and their social structure. The two pillars contain: centralized despotism (it is based on state ownership of water and land) and a rural community. In the mind, the absolutely unlimited power of the monarch of the East (the omnipotence of the one, with the attributes of the main deity) is refracted.
One in China - 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 universal ancestor is heaven. The "Canon" highlights the social foundations, they need to be maintained and maintained. Somewhat later, the idea of the perfection of a person develops, where humanity and etiquette come first (some enduring values - kindness, courage, moral imperative: “that which I should not do, I will not do to others”, virtue, the strictest obedience to the established social roles: the sovereign must remain 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 there can be no order, and therefore can not be in the state and prosperity. There will be no Lee - there will be no difference between subjects and sovereign, lower and upper classes, old people and youth. Lee - things in the prescribed manner."
A similar picture is taking shape in India. Here Brahma forms the unreal and the real, defines the names and karma, gives a special position. He established caste divisions demanding their unconditional compliance. Here the upper brahmanas (or priests), and service to them is encouraged and evaluated as the “highest cause” of the sudra (commoners).
The Indian reality is in the “earthly circle”, which determined human life so harshly that it did not leave any hope for deliverance from suffering in the event of misconduct. The only way is in the break of "samsara" (a chain of rebirths).
By the way, here lies the source of the mystical search and the path of austerities that are proposed in the Bhagavad Gita, it is brightly and strongly developed in Buddhism: "Only if you are not attached to thoughts, you who defeated yourself, who are left without desires and the estranged person attain perfection …"
Features of the philosophy of the ancient East will stir the minds of many, many generations …
