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East versus West Philosophy, Cultural Values, and Mindset |
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By Anastasia Bibikova and Vadim Kotelnikov
"The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." - Theodore Roosevelt
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ISSUE |
EASTERN PHILOSOPHY |
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY |
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Main Schools |
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Main Features |
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under reflection |
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The "Me" concept |
Eternal reality of the universal truth: self-liberation through getting rid of the false "Me" and discovering the true "Me" |
under reflection |
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Relationship with Religion |
Integration |
Opposition |
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Search for Absolute Truth |
"Though he should live a hundred years, not seeing the Truth Sublime; yet better, indeed, is the single day's life of one who sees the Truth Sublime." - Buddha To achieve self-liberation and nirvana you need to perform your duties without expecting any reward for it. - Vedanta, Hindu |
"The truth that survives is simply the lie
that is pleasantest to believe." - H.L.Mencken |
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Future |
"Study the past if you would like to divine the future." - Confucius |
"You can never plan the future by the past." - Edmund Burke |
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Beliefs and Values |
"The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell." - Confucius "By chasing desires you will meet only the outer surface" - Lao Tzu |
under reflection |
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Individualism / Collectivism |
A human being is an integral part of the universe and the society. People are fundamentally connected and duty towards all others is a very serious matter. Collectivism is stronger. |
A human being has an individualistic nature, is an independent part of the universe and the society. Individualism is stronger. |
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Search for Truth & Fundamental Research |
The truth is given is doesn't need to be proven. The philosophic base for and culture of fundamental research is weaker. |
The truth needs to be proven. The philosophic base for and culture of fundamental research is stronger. |
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Improvement / Evolution |
Cyclic development, thus improvement has no limits and ultimate goal. "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." - Confucius |
Linear development, thus improvement has a goal. The development stops when the goal is reached. |
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Radical Innovation / Revolution |
The fundamentals of the status quo should not be questioned. The culture of considering and introducing radical changes is stronger. |
The fundamentals of the status quo can - and often should always be - be questioned. The culture of considering and introducing radical changes is stronger. "Only paranoid survives" |
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Passion & Venturing |
Entrepreneurial creativity and venturing is contained by the habit to control one's passions. "Desires are the cause suffering. If desire, which lies at the route of all human passion, can be removed, then passion will die out and all human suffering will be ended." - Buddhism "Vain indeed is all overweening pride in the conquest even of the entire universe if one has not conquered one's own passions." - Sri Aurobindo |
Entrepreneurial venturing is encouraged emotionally. "Nothing is ever achieved by reasonable men" - J Fred Bucy of Texas Instruments "90% of success is turning up." - Woody Allen "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm... Always do what you are afraid to do... Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson "If you want to succeed, you have to forge new paths and avoid borrowed ones." - John Rockfeller |
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Achievement & Winning |
Winning is inside yourself. "Though he should conquer a thousand men in the battlefield a thousand times, yet he, indeed, who would conquer himself is the noblest victor." - Buddha "He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty." - Lao Tzu "Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." - Confucius |
Winning is outside yourself. "You're not a star until they can spell your name in Karachi" - Roger Moore, actor "Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one stop of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified." - Samuel Johnson "It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult." |
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Implementation |
"To create and develop without any feelings of ownership, to work and guide without any expectation and control, is the best quality" - Lao Tzu |
under reflection |
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Key to Success |
Virtuous life and adherence to performing your duties - Confucianism "If you really want everything, then give up everything" - Lao Tzu, Daoism |
"The secret of success in life, and subsequently of making money, is to enjoy your work. If you do, nothing is hard work - no matter how many hours you put in." - Sir Billy Butlin "Success is that old ABC – ability, breaks and courage." - Charles Luckman "Flaming enthusiasm, backed by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success." - Dale Carnegie |
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Living Principles |
"Be satisfied with whatever you have, and enjoy the same. When you come to know that you have everything, and you are not short of anything, then the whole world will be yours" - Lao Tzu |
"There is no real excellence in all this world which can be separated from right living." - David Starr Jordan |
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Establishing Control Over Your Emotions |
Daoism: A man can separate his/her mind from his/her emotions and control them |
"I can control my passions and emotions if I can understand their nature." - Spinosa |
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Pearls of Wisdom |
Lao Tzu (in a form of a Business Plan) |
Main Principles and Rules
Confucianism (China)
Founder: Confucius, Chinese philosopher and reformer (B.C. 551 - 479)
Core value - balance between individual variety and social harmony.
The main theme - wisdom inside and kindness outside: "The wise man admires water, the kind man admires mountains. The wise man moves, the kind man rests. The wise man is happy, the kind man is firm."
Keys to success: Virtuous life and adherence to performing your duties
Three main principles:
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Jen - humaneness, love of fellow men; the central virtue of Confucianism and the most important characteristic of the ideal man (chün-tzu)
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Li - morality, uprightness, custom, observing rules
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Czi - virtuous life
The practice of jen is governed by li: "To conquer oneself and turn to li; that is humaneness."
To achieve Jen, you must maintain decent relationships (wu-lun) with people, especially in the five pairs of social roles:
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Between father and son
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Between the ruler and the subject
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Between the older and the younger
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Between husband and wife
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Between friends
Practicing Jen - "doing without a purpose" because you must, not because you want
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Shu: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you (mutuality)
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Chung: Don't do unto others as you wouldn't have others do unto you (loyalty)
Zen (Japan)
Japanese way of thinking about the world is based first of all on clarity and preciseness of images, as opposed to the Western approach based on formal logics. The secret of Japanese philosophy is that it can be expressed not only through words and writings, but also through arts, paintings, calligraphy, customs, and ceremonies (e.g. tea ceremony is also some kind of philosophy).
Key ideas of Zen:
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True enlightenment comes suddenly. Special preparations may be necessary, but it' actually comes through experience.
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Action can be achieved by inaction, where the result is achieved by "Not-Me"
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Enlightenment and experience are closely connected, while books, texts and theory don't open the way to nirvana.
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True wizard lives in every person and every thing. The man does not need to seek recluse or to be an ascetic to achieve enlightenment.
Buddhism
According to Buddhism, life is a consistent misery: birth is misery, old age is a misery, separation from a loved one is a misery, inability to achieve a desired goal is a misery. The cause of this suffering is attachment to life, the craving for existence. To end this misery it is necessary to get rid of of this craving by stifling all desire. A person must suppress in himself any aspiration for existence, any desire, passion, attachment to anything. A person would ultimately reach perfection by following the Noble Eightfold Path to become an arhat (a perfect person, saint) and attain Nirvana. Nirvana is the final, ideal state towards which a sage strived. Nirvana signifies the end of the eternal cycle of reincarnation which lead any living creature from one transmigration to another through constant suffering.
The Four Noble Truths - the teaching about misery, the cause of misery, that this cause can be eliminated, and that misery can be ended by following the correct path:
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Everything that exists is filled with suffering
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Suffering is caused by desires
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You can get rid of suffering by stifling all desire
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The Noble Eightfold Path leads to the end of suffering:
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Right mode of seeing things
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Right thinking
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Right speech
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Right action
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Right mode of living
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Right effort in every mode of being
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Right mindfulness
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Right meditation...More about Buddhism
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Bibliography:
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"Eastern Philosophy", Richard Osborn and Borin van Loon, 1995
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"History of Religion", Sergei Tokarev, 1986
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"The Rider Encyclopaedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion", Rider, 1999
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"Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy", Oliver Leaman, 1999
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"A History of Western Philisophy", Bertrand Russell, 1945
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"The Art of Worldly Wisdom", Baltasar Gracian, 1637
