Download Axial Period

Axial Period: Non-Western
Thought Beyond China
South Asian thought
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Zoroastrian
Hinduism
Buddhism
Jainism
African
Zoroastrianism
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Pre Axial era beginnings but
should be mentioned briefly as a
precursor to Hinduism
Zarathustra (Zoroaster)
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~1400-1200 BCE (though some
put in axial era)
Trained as a priest
Zoroastrianism
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Key concepts
Asha
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Principle of cosmic order to which things adhered
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By observing asha humans would live a fulfilling life,
and in accordance with their true nature
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E.g. sun rise and set, change of seasons
Just, true, filial, devoted
Mainyu
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The invisible inner, sentient spirit of all things
Zoroastrianism
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Ahuras
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Notions of heaven and hell, good vs. evil
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Trinity of gods who were guardians of asha
Mazda, Mithra and Vouruna Apam Napat
The gods created the elements and a plant, animal and
man which were sacrificed to set things in motion and
create the multitude of living things
Evil less power, man with the free will to overcome
Man lived according to asha to empower the gods to
maintain the world
Hinduism
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Shaped by influx of people from outside
the Indian area
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Indo-Iranian (Aryan) 2000-1000 BCE
Zoroastrian
Eventually even Greek toward the end
of the Axial period
It is during the Axial period where
previous (sometimes ancient) thought
became more formal and organized
Not really driven by a single individual
as other philosophical approaches
Hinduism
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Vedic literature
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Vedas
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Brahmanas
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Aranyakas
800-500 BCE
Bhagavadgita
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Prose, more elaborate ritual
Upanishads
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up to 5th century BCE but initially developed much earlier
Rigveda ~1500- 1200 BCE
Ancient, but first written probably during the late Axial period
Various schools of thought, both orthodox (consistent with
Vedas) and non-orthodox (Buddhism as the most extreme)
Hinduism
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Vedas
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some of the oldest surviving texts of humanity
Ultimate authority in Hinduism (revealed knowledge,
shruti)
Four hymns (samhitas). Rough order of compilation:
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Rigveda (oldest)
Samaveda (Rigveda redux)
Yajurveda
Atharvaveda (more independent of Rigveda)
Hinduism
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Rigveda
Indra most popular and powerful deity
Agni, the sacrificial fire, man’s connection to the gods, the
counterpart among the gods as the priests are to men
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Soma
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Also as fire in general, has the properties of being one and many
Deified plant, still not sure which
Seen as a cosmic power, Indra the great soma drinker
These the three the greatest in the pantheon of 33
Hinduism
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Cosmology
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Being born from non-being
World egg floating on waters of chaos out of which the maker of all
(Visvakarman) emerges
Sacrifice of the cosmic person (thousand heads eyes and feet)
which created the beasts, the gods, the hymns
Thus the creating power and the created are interdependent
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“Non-being did not exist, nor did being exist at that time; what
enveloped it, where, whose the protection? Was there water,
profound and deep?”
Answer: don’t know
Hinduism
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Artharvaveda
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Less ritual, more spells
Uses the term Brahman both regarding its
incantations and the universal principle
More hymns concerning creation, including the
notion of a support framework on which the universe
is erected and in which being and non-being exist
Knowledge of the true nature of things as a liberating
force but also practical (e.g. giving power over
others)
Hinduism
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Upanishads
Dialogues recording debates, though still in the ritual world of
the Vedic hymns
Focus on the nature of Brahman, the underlying eternal and
infinite reality
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The power underlying the cosmos
The world has Brahman as its essence and emanates from it
Atman as the permanent self or soul within the individual
In addition, the concept of rebirth is introduced and developed
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How rebirth occurs depends on one’s knowledge and karma (one’s
actions and/or their results)
Hinduism
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Three states of self
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Normal waking
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Dreaming
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Self is projected and operates in the interior world
Deep sleep
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Influenced by the external world
Bliss
Individual objects are only matter, however the formless matter
is true reality
Now being (sat) seen as emerging from non-being
Sat as essence of universe and man
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‘You are that’
Hinduism
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Different facets of atman
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As creator
As intelligence
Brahman as truth, knowledge, infinity
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5 sheaths of man
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Physical
Vital
Mental
Intellectual
True self one with Brahman
Gods ignorant of Brahman, even futilely challenging it
Later Upanishads
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Appeal to tradition
4th stage of being, sum of others opposed to them also
Atman is not born, doesn’t die
More theistic approach (Siva, Vishnu)
Hinduism
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Bhagavadgita
Conversation between
Krishna and Arjuna
which takes place on a
battlefield just before
war
During the
conversation, Krishna
reveals himself to
Arjuna as the supreme
deity
Hinduism
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The conversation summarizes a number of
different philosophies, explaining the
meaning and purpose of life and existence.
Arjuna is concerned because it is a civil war
and he does not want to kill his friends and
relatives
Krishna speaks of the undying atman which
transmigrates from entity to entity; Arjuna
cannot kill what truly is
Hinduism
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Krishna suggests that all have a duty to
perform the particular roles society has laid
out
As it is Arjuna’s duty to engage in battle he
should, and do so with a sense of impersonal
detachment
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Disinterested action
So here we see parallels to Confucian and
Taoist perspectives
Hinduism
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The Bhagavadgita and Yoga
Four yogas as means of enlightenment
Raja yoga
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Karma yoga
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The yoga of complete devotion to a deity
Jnana yoga
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The yoga of selfless action in the world.
Bhakti yoga
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The yoga of meditation
yoga of transcendent knowledge.
Varying paths leading to realization of Brahman
Hinduism
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Other Hindu concepts and themes
Maya
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The illusion of the perceptible world
Objectives of life (from base to ultimate goal)
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Kama
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Artha
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Material wealth
Dharma
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Physical pleasure
Cosmic law or guiding principle of which we are to accord ourselves
Act according to our duty
Moksha
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Enlightenment that leads to cessation of karmic rebirth
Goal of yoga
Non-Western Philosophy
Buddhism and other
philosophies
Buddhism
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Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama b. ~623 BCE
Western contemporaries
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Presocratics
Buddha = “the Awakened one”
The Buddha
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Much legend surrounds the Buddha
Born into nobility (a prince) in present day Nepal
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Led a posh existence through young adulthood, excelled in martial arts, even
married and had a son
Although his father tried to shelter him from exposure the evils of the world,
generally dissatisfied, at one point went out alone from the palace and
witnessed on different excursions witnessed the Four Signs
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One story is that of an immaculate conception, that his mother dreamed he entered
the womb as a white elephant
Due to this, predicted to be a great king or spiritual leader
Old man, bent and feeble
Sick man
A corpse
Wandering monk content in his simplicity
It was at this time (age 29) that he left his world behind to seek the good*
*Yep, the Buddha was a deadbeat dad
The Buddha
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He practiced mediation, and
eventually opted at one point
for self-mortification
Finding no satisfaction with the
path of extreme austerity,
chose in sense to ‘find the truth
or else’
Now 35, sat under a tree,
attained bodhi (supreme
enlightenment)
The Buddha
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Gave the first sermon, and here he
presented the Four Noble Truths
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Suffering exists
Suffering arises from attachment to desires*
Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases
Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the
Eightfold Path
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*See the Bhagavadgita
The Buddha
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What is the Eightfold Path?
Three Qualities
Eightfold Path
Wisdom (panna)
Right View
Right Thought
Morality (sila)
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Meditation (samadhi)
Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Contemplation
The Buddha
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What set the Buddha apart from other views of that
time regarded his treatment of tradition and view of
the self
Rejected what could not be experienced (empiricist,
though religious experience included)
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If tradition (even Vedas) dictates something that does not
correspond to experience it must be left behind
No reliance on revelation and traditional authority, instead
on outer and inner observation
The Buddha
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Rejected a permanent self, did not find it necessary
to posit permanent entities underlying the perpetual
change of experience
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The self as a bundle of states or processes (physiological,
perceptual, consciousness)
Rebirth as passing from one state to the next
Nirvana as a change in states that led from rebirth, a
transcendental liberation
Hinduism saw reality as permanent being,
consciousness, bliss
For the Buddha they are impermanence, no
consciousness and suffering
The Buddha
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Core metaphysics
Phenomena are marked by three characteristics:
Anicca
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Dukkha
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The essential flux of experience
All things are impermanent
The reality of suffering for all
‘Whatever is impermanent is subject to change. Whatever is
subject to change is subject to suffering.’
Anatta or Anatman
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None possess a permanent ‘self’
The Buddha
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Law of dependent causation (pratityasamutpada)
Phenomena arise together in a mutually
interdependent web of cause and effect
As such the notion of karma is a key factor in
the cycle of rebirth
Problem: getting causality from the no longer
existing source
The Buddha
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Ethics
The middle way (Eightfold path) as a means to act
From it we see parallels to both Western and non-Western thought
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5 percepts or guidelines to aid in the path to enlightenment
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For example, Confucian propriety, Platonic contemplation of the ideal
To refrain from harming living creatures (killing)
To refrain from taking that which is not freely given
To refrain from sexual misconduct
To refrain from incorrect speech
To refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness
Transcendental virtues
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Kindness (maitri)
Compassion (karuna)
Joy in other’s happiness (mudita)
Equanimity (upeksa)
Buddhism
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Schools
Two traditional, competing schools
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Hinayana (Theravada is a school of)
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Mahayana
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Way of the elders
Greater vehicle
Hinayana as Lesser Vehicle
Most of the distinction regards what particular texts are
considered authoritative
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Sutras
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Spoken by Buddha himself
Sastras
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Commentary on Buddha’s teachings
Sayings of the Buddha
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"Mindfulness (sati) is the way to the Immortal, unmindfulness the way
to death. Those who are mindful do not die, (whereas) the unmindful
are like the dead."
"Oneself, indeed, is one's saviour, for what other saviour would there
be? With oneself well controlled one obtains a saviour difficult to find.“
"Let go the past. Let go the future. Let go the present (front, back and
middle). Crossing to the farther shore of existence, with mind released
from everything, do not again undergo birth and decay."
"The mind is hard to check. It is swift and wanders at will. To control it
is good. A controlled mind is conducive to happiness."
"Victory breeds hatred. The defeated live in pain. Happily the peaceful
live, giving up victory and defeat."
"Though one should conquer a thousand times a thousand men in
battle, he who conquers his own self, is the greatest of all conquerors."
Jainism
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In many ways similar in thought to that seen in Hindu
and Buddhist philosophy
Hallmark is an ethical commitment to the value of all,
emphasis on non-violence (ahimsa).
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Living an extreme ascetic lifestyle is the means by which
Jains attain liberation from the cycle of rebirth
Mahavira (6th century BCE)
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Key Axial period spiritual leader
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Eternal truths reveal themselves through the teachings of
various thinkers, of which 24 have been identified
Mahavira as the last
Western contemporaries Presocratics
Jainism
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As each living thing is to be
regarded as having a soul, what
hurts us will obviously injure others
which is to be avoided
Jains practice vegetarianism,
sometimes wear masks to avoid
accidental injury to insects, and
some, believing in the sentience of
plants as well, will starve
themselves to death to prevent
injury to others
Jainism
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Universe has always existed and always will, comprising the whole of
time
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Also contain the notion of atman, the perfect eternal and unchanging
soul which is manifested in an infinite number of ways
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How so depends on karma
The phenomenal world as composed of two substances:
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No creation
Unfolds for the individual consciousness in the flow of time
Jiva, the infinite number of spiritual essences
Ajiva, that which has form and is subject to time, space and motion
Atomistic theory
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Smallest units of matter of 4 kinds (air, water, fire, earth) which combine to
create material objects
Jainism
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Cognition
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2 kinds with 5 aspects
Direct
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Senses
Language comprehension
Clairvoyance
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Past, future, distant
Varying in degree in individuals
Yogis may develop a sort of apprehension of the contents of other’s minds
The liberated soul gains direct cognition of everything
Indirect
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Recollection
Recognition
Inductive reasoning
Other inference
Trustworthy testimony (from a liberated person)
Jainism
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Relativistic notion of truth can be seen as an
extension of non-injury to the problem of
what can be known
No one has claim to absolute truth
Each view as one perspective among many
each as viable
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Maybe-ism
Africa
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Egypt
Pre-axial literature
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Instructions
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Tomb inscriptions
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Descriptions of the person but also hymns and entreaties to the gods
Didactic literature
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Advice from father to son regarding topics such as justice, moderation,
truthfulness
Dialogues regarding ethics and meaning of life
Book of the Dead final form during the Presocratic period
Compilation of spells regarding the afterlife and provides an
ethics by which one can claim innocence
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The weighing of the heart against ‘Truth’ Ma’at
Book of the Dead
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Means to achieve eternal life, but to obtain one must
establish their innocence
Of note are some things that have relation to other
ethics discussed, but in general practical
considerations for how one should live life
‘Commandmentesque’
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Do not harm others, commit adultery, lie, cheat, steal, curse
the gods, talk needlessly etc.
So with this we can see a concern for ritual and a
concrete ethic for how to conduct oneself